Yagyu Jubei: History

[Guest Daisho2004]

Here is a good link I found on Yagyu Jubei, definitely worth a read.

www.furyu.com/archives/issue9/jubei.html

[Guest Daisho2004]

An interesting facet of Jubei's perception among people is that Jubei's is almost always depicted as being a hero of the common people, so much so that nearly every work about him contains at least one scene where he saves innocent peasants from the wrath of overly proud samurai. In Jubei's time, samurai had the right to cut down peasants for any reason with little or no consequence, especially if the peasant disrespected them in some way. While certainly heroic, considering the strict caste system of the time, this would be considered inappropriate for someone of the samurai caste like Jubei's which in turn provokes speculation about how this perception began, and if there was something about the real Jubei's that inspired it, or if it is a case of film makers and writers making Jubei's yet more heroic.

The Eyepatch Legend

Legend has it that Yagyu Jubei had the use of only one eye; most legends state that he lost it in a sword sparring session where his father, Yagyu Munenori, struck him accidentally. However, portraits from Jubei's time portray him as having both eyes. The truth is unknown and several authors of recent have chosen to portray Jubei as having both eyes, though the classical "eyepatch" look remains standard. Others have chosen to have Jubei lose an eye as an adult in order to incorporate the eyepatch legend.

In popular culture, Jubei's eye patch is usually just a sword guard with leather wrapped through it. An alternate dramatization to this is found in the manga Samurai Legend, in which a swordsman is seen walking with a sword guard on his right eye, matching the popular culture image, while another character of similar stature follows behind. A group of samurai recognize the eye-patched man as Yagyu (Jubei's) Mitsuyoshi, although this identity is not volunteered. This Jubei is literally disarmed five pages in, only for the two-eyed Yagyu Jubei following behind to reveal himself a second later. The fiction appears to imply that Yagyu Jubei is known through local reputation to have an eye-patch; hence his body double wore one to convince others that he is the real Jubei (even though the real Jubei's has the use of both eyes). There is no further explanation in the story or by the author why the body-double has this eye patch or where this reputation came from. Near the middle of this manga, the real Jubei loses his right eye in a swordfight and for the final chapters, he wears an eye-patch. Another exception lies in Jubei-chan, in which the eyepatch passed onto Jubei-chan is heart-shaped and pink.

Jubei as a Ninja

Although a samurai, Yagyu Jubei in popular culture is occasionally depicted with ninja traits; during the missing twelve years of his life, he could have been doing secret missions for the emperor. Also, his family did come from the same region, Iga, as the ninja, and his father was known to have ties to the intelligence networks. Note, however, that Ninja Scroll, Ninja Resurrection, and Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl do not show him as a ninja. The "ninja" in Ninja Scroll is about a different character; the other two series have had their title changed for American release and did not originally mention ninja.