In those days, soldiers brought back the heads of high-ranked enemy officers that they had killed to have them examined as evidence of the achievement, and farmer soldiers or low ranked soldiers brought back noses (ears) to prove how many of the enemy soldiers they had killed.
当時は戦功の証として、敵の高級将校は死体の首（漢語では頭のこと）をとって検分したが、一揆（兵農分離前の農民軍）や足軽など身分の低いものは鼻（耳）でその数を証した。