Medieval Lunch. Blood Runs Through It: The Indeterminate World of Loyalty in Japan's Warrior Society

How did fighting men, high and low, cope with the reality of uncertainty, especially unpredictable human relations in the age of violence (14-16c)? By defining war beyond the battlefield to a more dynamic “war system,” we can see how the human anatomy’s most vital liquid, blood, became implicated in reorganizing the social and military landscape of the late medieval archipelago. The evolving practice of “keppan,” or “blood seal,” applied near or on one’s signature at the end of a document, promoted a sense of order for the warriors. The practice of keppan spread alongside the discourse of disembowelment, as did the gendered meaning that blood was acquiring.