alt.hn

4/21/2025 at 1:40:00 AM

Samurai Cops: Inside Edo's Police Force During Feudal Japan

 https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/japanese-culture/samurai-cops-inside-edos-police-force-during-feudal-japan/

by cdplayer96

4/23/2025 at 8:27:17 PM

"Each bugyo commanded 25 middle-ranked samurai known as yoriki. [...] During the Edo period, three of the most popular professions chosen by commoners were sumo wrestling, firefighting and assisting police squads as a yoriki."

So, middle-ranked samurai were also commoners?

by lif

4/23/2025 at 11:43:25 PM

My reading of it was that the commoners chose their favorite profession, as in they were polled and the results tallied and made public. Not that they themselves had these professions.

by Henchman21

4/24/2025 at 12:10:29 AM

The little detail about them using glass in the powder to blind people was interesting, I'm ignorant of the history and really only familiar with movie/television depictions of the time period and don't really remember seeing a lot of glass in buildings or glassware, more ceramics and wooden bowls. They shared the fondness for torture of accused criminals with the ancient Romans.

by stevenwoo

4/24/2025 at 7:52:05 AM

> They shared the fondness for torture of accused criminals with the ancient Romans.

Well, with their "hostage justice" using torture tactics to extract false confessions relied on in court and their actual prisons where you have to work 8 hours a day and aren't allowed to say a single word while you do, I guess modern day Japan still has a thing for torturing accused criminals.

by latentsea

4/24/2025 at 6:20:27 AM

> They shared the fondness for torture of accused criminals with the ancient Romans.

And with modern Americans (Guantanamo Bay and various "secret prisons" in Europe).

by hulitu

4/24/2025 at 11:57:08 AM

>> Being acquitted in court after refusing to confess was technically possible but it was extremely rare ...

FYI, this remains true today both in Japan and the west. There are courtrooms in the US that havent heard a "not guilty" verdict for many years.

by sandworm101