"13th century bushido in Ghost of Tsushima" Topic

So I've been playing and enjoying this game lately, but the plot revolves around a certain dilemma that I'm not sure is entirely feasible.

Short summary: In 1274, a Mongol invasion force lands on the island of Tsushima and the samurai protagonist "Jin Sakai" becomes the central figure of the Japanese resistance. Only by engaging in guerilla warfare he manages to give his people a fighting chance, which however is deemed dishonorable by his fellow samurai, leading to him being branded a traitor.

Wouldn't this notion of honorable combat be an Edo period development and thus anachronistic in this context? Did samurai in the 13th century have a similar code of conduct that went to these extremes or is it just another modern idealization of the samurai?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

By way of explanation, Ghost of Tsushima is a 2020 action-adventure videogame developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

This is one of the best available games on the PS4/5. It is also one of, if not, the, best game/s depicting samurai fighting and culture. It feels like you're wielding a katana even though you're holding a console controller.

Just enjoy a fantastic playing experience and stop over-thinking it.

Or are you just trying to dazzle us with your incomparable knowledge of medieval Japan?

How is this related to "Miniatures" on The MINIATURES Page?

It is my understanding that honor in Samurai fighting was true all the way back to the Genpei wars.

Ghost of Tsushima is a fantastic, but fictional game. However, Samurai honor codes were very much a thing in the period of the Mongol invasions.

@Archon64: Thanks for this elaborate "don't ask questions, just consoom". I really like the game and wanted someone with more expertise than me to comment on this question, specifically because my knowledge is not incomparable. What a worthless reply and shameful display.

@Dye4minis: It stands to reason that there might be experts around here, so I gave it a shot. There are threads about movies, series and historical essays and articles on here as well btw.

@Tgerritsen: That seems fair, I was just wondering about the specifics. Was poisoning deemed dishonorable? What about assassination? Was it a matter of opinion or were there regional/clan differences? Stuff like that.

Well, it sounds like an idea with a lot of potential for a miniatures game campaign to me….

Embarassingly little expertise on this myself, but I remember reading something about how the Samurai approached the invading Mongol Horde (that one which did manage to brefly land) proclaiming their names and lineage ready for single combat – only to be shot down by Mongol archers who had absolutely no respect for their Bushido code!

How far, or for how long, their somewhat anachronistic code of honour would have applied to, or lasted toward, an enemy who had no such scruples is certainly an interesting question.

Once an enemy becomes sufficiently "othered" it becomes permissible to treat then as less than human, so the rules would quickly cease to apply to them is what I'm guessing…