Films like Seven Samurai, Ran and Heaven and Earth have made Japan’s historic Samurai warriors famous But now, their skeletons have been examined in forensic detail by Japanese and British scientists.
A leading British specialist in forensic anthropology has been investigating battle wounds sustained by medieval Japanese warriors almost 700 years ago. Working with Japanese colleagues, Dr Michael Wysocki of the University of Central Lancashire’s School of Forensic and Investigative Sciences, has found evidence of sword and arrow wounds, ritualized coup de grace death blows, and even evidence of Samurai heads being taken as trophies by their enemies.
The newly analysed evidence, which was presented by Britain’s Channel 4 in a documentary called Samurai: Back From The Dead earlier this week, shed important new light on the origins of Japan’s Samurai warrior tradition.
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