Japanese samurai are world famous as brave warriors, fearless and rarely surrender to the enemy. However, the children of the samurai were not in the same good health as their fathers. Some samurai even gave birth to disabled children. Why is that so?
Before this incident, experts found out why the children of samurai were often weak, even more disabled than other children.
The children of the samurai were not in the same good health as their fathers.
Tamiji Nakashima from the Japan University of Environmental and Occupational Health caused a stir when it was revealed that the children of samurai had unhealthy bodies because of lead poisoning .
This comes from the samurai wife’s makeup . In fact, the wives of these boxers always use white powder for makeup. This white powder is made from mercury chloride and white lead. Due to long-term use, the samurai’s wife was poisoned with lead.
So, right from the time of pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding, the samurai’s wife unknowingly exposed her children to lead poisoning. As a result, the children of samurai often had reduced intelligence, or were sick, sick, or even disabled. There are cases where children of samurai from childhood have convulsions, coma and lead to death.
Experts found some of the remains of the children of samurai and found lead levels dozens of times higher than safe levels. There were even cases where the children of samurai had lead poisoning worse than the mother. This is said to be one of the reasons why the samurai class in Japan gradually disappeared from history.