Dueling
Reading the duelling argument in a nearby thread brought me to post this alternative approach, which draws partially on Japanese history and mostly on samurai movies, TV shows, anime and manga rather than on the Western tradition of the quick-draw revolver duel at high noon.
For purposes of this post, a duel is defined as a one-on-one contest of ki and arms (usually, though not always) in that order between two participants. While the most common situation is for each duellist to be holding a katana in hand when the duel begins, each duellist is free to choose whatever weapon (or fighting method, including starting with a sheathed sword) they prefer.
Duels come in several variations:<*>The Spontaneous Duel
Two samurai are walking, and one deliberately walks in such a way as to make his scabbard hit the other samurai's -- a clear insult and breach of etiquette. The offended samurai will immediately demand an apology; if none is forthcoming, weapons are drawn and a duel ensues. This can apply to just about any situation where deliberate insult, or even accidental insult without apology, is given.
<*>The Competition Duel
Some high-ranking lords enjoy holding annual competitions among the recognised famous martial artists in their lands, or even further, should they be able to get famous people from more distant lands to accept an invitation to their competition. In such competitions, wooden weapons are used, and things are more formal. The court is divided into an East and West side, and someone is assigned to calling out the participants. There is also a judge for each match. Usually, the same person judges every match in a day). Once they are called out, the participants walk to the middle of the fighting area, face the lord holding the competition and bow, then turn and bow to one another and take their stance. On the judge's signal, they begin to fight, and the fight continues until one or the other scores a hit. Such duels aren't usually lethal, but the risk of death is still present, and broken limbs are not uncommon.
<*>The Training Duel
This is what we see in the warrior's pilgrimage. A warrior seeking to hone his or her martial skills travels across the land, challenging any and all other martial artists to matches. In cases where the challenge involves going into a do¯jo¯ and issuing a challenge, the match is held much the same way as the competition duel described above, with (usually) non-lethal wooden weapons. If the travelling warrior loses the challenge, he or she will often beg to be apprenticed to the do¯jo¯ where they lost.<1>
In a somewhat less peaceful version of the setting, where there are fewer established do¯jo¯, the challenge will generally be person-to-person, and will be performed with live blades. More often than not, this means that whoever loses the duel will be dead, but sometimes, both survive, and in such a case, the loser will often request permission to become the winner's apprentice.<2>
<*>The Succession Duel
Sometimes, when the head of a school is ready to retire, he finds himself with a dilemma as to whom, among his senior students, he should appoint as the next head of the school, because there is more than one qualified candidate. Other times, the head of the school dies suddenly, before having a chance to name his successor. In such cases, the matter is often decided by having all eligible candidates duel, with the winner being appointed as new head of the school. In those cases where the previous head of the school died before appointing a successor, the duel(s) are supervised by the school's patron. If a school has no patron, it usually ends up breaking up as the school divides into factions each supporting a different candidate, often leading to bitter recriminations as each candidate establishes his or her own school, each claiming to be the true heir to the tradition.
<*>The Vendetta Duel
This can come about either as a result of one samurai seeking revenge against another for the killing of a family member, or can be the result of some other major point of disagreement between two samurai, in which case the recriminations simply build up over time to the point where each of them feels that the disagreement can only be resolved at sword point. In some cases, it is a matter of natural competition between two students of roughly equal ability being carried a little too far. The duel is often arranged by the parties, either in person or by letter, agreeing on the time and place of the duel. Sometimes, one or both parties will bring along a witness who is responsible for ensuring that there is no outside interference<3> and, if their "side" loses, to make proper arrangements for notifying the family, returning the swords, etc. The witness also serves to bear notice that the grudge has been settled fairly. Note that if a samurai is pursuing a vendetta to avenge the killing of a family member, he doesn't necessarily do so via a challenge to a duel -- he might simply gather a few (or many) helpers and plan to ambush his quarry when the opportunity arises.It is important to note that duelling is not, by a long shot, the only way to resolve disagreements between two samurai, nor is it even the most common. Usually, only the gravest of insults or the brashest of samurai will resort to resolving their differences through such extreme means as a duel. More typically, samurai will, engage in another type of contest, such as a game of sho¯gi or go, or a poetry competition. More politically minded samurai might pretend to ignore the slight, then strike back through indirect means, such as: undermining the offender's reputation, arranging to have him demoted, or having a rival of the offender's promoted to a position of authority over said offender. The higher the samurai's social and political rank, the less likely he or she is to engage in a duel -- drawing a weapon within a lord's castle's precincts is generally considered a capital offense, making duels an unacceptable way of settling differences, as even if the duel is won, the winner will then have to commit seppuku to atone for his crime of drawing a weapon (a crime defined as treason against the castle's lord).
And that brings up issues of legality and illegality. The five types of duels described above assume that there is no law against duelling. However, it is quite likely that there are a number of provinces, districts, or cities where duels are are prohibited by law. In such places they will either proceed differently, or the winner may well find himself or herself in legal hot waters.
For the spontaneous duel, it is very likely that, with tempers having flared up already, the two samurai will go at it right away, consequences be damned. If the offended party wins, the law is likely to be rather lenient anyway -- especially if the samurai wastes no time in reporting the incident to the proper authorities -- as long as there was due provocation (the law won't be so lenient if the "offense" was trivial). If the two samurai remain relatively cool-headed, they might agree on a time and place to meet far away from potential witness and prying eyes. This will usually avoid legal hassles if only by virtue of the fact that by the time the body is discovered (assuming the loser dies), and, in some cases, identified (if the loser isn't well-known in the area), there will be no way to track down the other duellist, assuming, of course that it is obvious the samurai died in a duel -- it's easy to see that someone was cut down, but whether that was in a duel or not isn't necessarily going to be evident.
For competition duels, there should be no problem, since they are, in fact, non-lethal (for the most part) and sponsored by the local lord; in fact, they likely serve as an outlet for energetic samurai who want to exercise and test their swordsmanship (or other martial) ability. In cases where duels are illegal, it is quite likely that samurai who have legitimate grievance will petition the local lord (via the local authorities, perhaps) to grant them a duel, in which case it will take place before the lord and be held as a (theoretically non-lethal) competition duel. Training duels of the non-lethal, in-do¯jo¯ type will also present no problems in the eyes of the law, as they do not disturb the peace; however, the individual famous swordsmen duelling it out with live blades will have to agree on a time and place far away from prying eyes if they want to test their mettle on one another without having to do so in a competition duel style.
Succession duels will also present no problem in the eyes of the law, as long as they are of the non-lethal type. However, lethal, live blade duels might attract undesirable attention from the authorities and lead to the school being shut down.
Vendetta duels are somewhat of a special case: where the vendetta is a matter of revenge for the honour of the family, a duel will not be considered illegal, as avenging a murdered family member is part and parcel of the samurai's way of life. Other types of private vendetta, however, will have to either be held away from prying eyes, or be held as a competition duel through the sanction of the local lord.
In certain special cases, a local lord might actually sponsor a duel with live blades, in which case things will be kept hush-hush and held not at the lord's castle or mansion, but in some remote location far away from unauthorised prying eyes. This sometimes happen with tacit, "plausible deniability" consent from higher authority if one, or both, of the participants are considered "dangerous" or "a threat to the system" and the true intent behind sponsoring the duel is to ensure that the undesirable participants (or even both participants) not leave the remote location alive.
Even in areas where the law frowns upon duels, however, the authorities aren't likely to search high and low for the perpetrator if they find a victim who obviously fought and lost (as opposed to someone who was obviously killed from ambush, for instance). The main reason for outlawing duels is to preserve the public peace (and, somewhat secondarily, avoid collateral damage or incidental victims). If the duel took place out of the way and didn't disturb anyone, it isn't likely to become a major case unless the victim is a samurai of some importance and the authorities are under a lot of pressure from above to resolve the case.
As for "first blood" duels, my own vision of a samurai setting doesn't really allow for them; although the underlying idea of having a way to resolve duels non-lethally is good, the specific concept of "only drawing blood with a live blade" is a little difficult to accept, at least as a universal. Warriors going into a duel with live weapons do so with the expectation that one, or even both, of the people involved will not come out of it alive. This doesn't preclude the possibility that both duellists will actually survive, but neither does it seem all that reasonable to expect the survival of both participants in a duel involving live blades. After all, even wooden training weapons can be lethal or cause permanent injury...
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Notes:
<1> Of course, this postulates a setting where there are a number of small schools, or sub-schools, rather than only a few extremely large ones each monopolised by a single ruling House.
<2> A popular variation on this in fiction is "do¯jo¯-busting" (which can also tie in with the Vendetta duel, as in the Blade of the Immortal series), where the warrior sets out to challenge other schools and destroy them by defeating all of the top students and even the head of the school and then claiming the school's placard as his own. This effectively destroys that particular school's reputation, which means no one will want to train there again; only two options are open to allow such a school's survival: one of the remaining students could manage to defeat the do¯jo¯-buster and restore the school's honour, or the school's members could resort to ambush, poisoning or other underhanded means to deal with the do¯jo¯-buster before word of their defeat can be spread).
<3> Or, alternately, to ensure that interference allows one's own side to win and eliminate any witnesses to such interference...
