Bushido
Bushidō was the set of codes of honour and ideals that dictated the samurai way of life, loosely analogous to the European concept of chivalry.
The "way" originates from the samurai moral values, most commonly stressing some combination of sincerity, frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honour until death. Born from Neo-Confucianism during times of peace in the Edo period and following Confucian texts, while also being influenced by Shinto and Zen Buddhism, allowing the violent existence of the samurai to be tempered by wisdom, patience and serenity. Bushidō developed between the 16th and 20th centuries, debated by pundits who believed they were building on a legacy dating back to the 10th century, although some scholars have noted that the term bushidō itself is "rarely attested in pre-modern literature".
Under the Tokugawa shogunate, some aspects of warrior values became formalized into Japanese feudal law.
The word bushidō was first used in Japan during the 17th century in Kōyō Gunkan, but did not come into common usage until after the 1899 publication of Nitobe Inazō's . In Bushido, Nitobe wrote:
Bushidō, then, is the code of moral principles which the samurai were required or instructed to observe ... More frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten ... It was an organic growth of decades and centuries of military career. In order to become a samurai this code has to be mastered.
Nitobe was the first to document Japanese chivalry in this way. In Feudal and Modern Japan, historian Arthur May Knapp wrote:
The samurai of thirty years ago had behind him a thousand years of training in the law of honor, obedience, duty, and self-sacrifice ... It was not needed to create or establish them. As a child he had but to be instructed, as indeed he was from his earliest years, in the etiquette of self-immolation.
Etymology
Bushidō is a Japanese word literally meaning "the way of the warrior": 武 means «warrior, military, chivalry, arms », 士 means «man or person particularly one who is well-respected », 道 means road, path, way »Historical development
Early history to 16th century
Many early literary works of Japan talk of warriors, but the term bushidō does not appear in text until the Edo period.The first mention of this word is made in the Koyo Gunkan, written around 1616, but the appearance of bushido is linked to that of feudal Japan and first shogun at the time of Minamoto no Yoritomo in the 12th century. However, the own moral dimension bushido gradually appears in the warrior culture and landmark in stories and military treaties only from the 14th and 15th century. We thus note a permanence of the modern representation of its antiquity in Japanese culture and its diffusion.
Thus, at the time of the Genpei War, it was called “Way of the Bow and the Horse” because of the major importance of this style of combat for the warriors of the time, and because it was considered a traditional method, that of the oldest samurai heroes, such as Prince Shōtoku, Minamoto no Yorimitsu and Minamoto no Yoshiie. According to Louis Frédéric, the kyūba no michi appeared around the 10th century as a set of rules and unwritten customs that samurai were expected to comply.
The different editions of the Heike Monogatari shed light on the notion of the way: This is perfectly clear in the anecdote of the abandonment of prisoner Michitsune by his brother Michikiyo who declares "whoever was caught alive deserves only death". Angry Mitchitsune retorts "that a warrior is caught alive, isn't that a habit?". Habit or custom "narai" indicates a frequent situation without moral connotation even if it can be subject to discussion.
Compiled over the course of three centuries, beginning in the 1180s, the Heike Monogatari depicts an idealized story of the Genpei War with a struggle between two powerful samurai clans, the Minamoto and the Taira at the end of the 12th century. Clearly depicted throughout the epic is the ideal of the cultivated warrior. During the early modern era, these ideals were vigorously pursued in the upper echelons of warrior society and recommended as the proper form of the Japanese man of arms. The influence of Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism in the Bushido's early development instilled among those who live by the code a religious respect for it. Yamaga-Soko, the Japanese philosopher given credit for establishing Bushido, said that "the first and surest means to enter into communion with the Divine is by sincerity."
Carl Steenstrup noted that 13th- and 14th-century writings "portrayed the bushi in their natural element, war, eulogizing such virtues as reckless bravery, fierce family pride, and selfless, at times senseless devotion of master and man".
The sayings of Sengoku-period retainers and warlords such as Katō Kiyomasa and Nabeshima Naoshige were generally recorded or passed down to posterity around the turn of the 16th century when Japan had entered a period of relative peace. In a handbook addressed to "all samurai, regardless of rank", Katō states:
Katō was a ferocious warrior who banned even recitation of poetry, stating:
Naoshige says similarly, that it is shameful for any man to die without having risked his life in battle, regardless of rank, and that "bushidō is in being crazy to die. Fifty or more could not kill one such a man". However, Naoshige also suggests that "everyone should personally know exertion as it is known in the lower classes".
17th to 19th centuries
Japan enjoyed a period of relative peace from 1600 to the mid-19th century. During this period, the samurai class played a central role in the policing and administration of the country. The bushidō literature of this time contains much thought relevant to a warrior class seeking more general application of martial principles and experience in peacetime, as well as reflection on the land's long history of war. The literature of this time includes:- Budo Shōshinshu by Taira Shigesuke, Daidōji Yūzan
- Hagakure as related by Yamamoto Tsunetomo to Tsuramoto Tashiro.
- Bugei Juhappan
- A Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
Tokugawa-era rōnin, scholar and strategist Yamaga Sokō wrote extensively on matters relating to bushidō, bukyō, and a more general shidō, a "way of gentlemen" intended for application to all stations of society. Sokō attempts to codify a kind of "universal bushidō" with a special emphasis on "pure" Confucian values,, while at the same time calling for recognition of the singular and divine nature of Japan and Japanese culture. These radical concepts—including ultimate devotion to the Emperor, regardless of rank or clan—put him at odds with the reigning shogunate. He was exiled to the Akō domain,, and his works were not widely read until the rise of nationalism in the early 20th century.
committing seppuku, 1703
The aging Yamamoto Tsunetomo's interpretation of bushidō is perhaps more illustrative of the philosophy refined by his unique station and experience, at once dutiful and defiant, ultimately incompatible with the laws of an emerging civil society. Of the 47 rōnin—to this day, generally regarded as exemplars of bushidō—Tsunetomo felt they were remiss in hatching such a wily, delayed plot for revenge, and had been over-concerned with the success of their undertaking. Instead, Tsunetomo felt true samurai should act without hesitation to fulfill their duties, without regard for success or failure.
This romantic sentiment is of course expressed by warriors throughout history, though it may run counter to the art of war itself. This ambivalence is found in the heart of bushidō, and perhaps all such "warrior codes". Some combination of traditional bushidō
19th to 21st centuries
Recent scholarship in both Japan and abroad has focused on differences between the samurai caste and the bushidō theories that developed in modern Japan. Bushidō in the prewar period was often emperor-centered and placed much greater value on the virtues of loyalty and self-sacrifice than did many Tokugawa-era interpretations. Bushidō was used as a propaganda tool by the government and military, who doctored it to suit their needs. Scholars of Japanese history agree that the bushidō that spread throughout modern Japan was not simply a continuation of earlier traditions."If, during the Middle Ages, letters became the cultural preserve of the aristocrats of the imperial court, in the Edo period, they were that of Confucian scholars. If letters are the sign of the teaching of Confucianism, it is that is to say of Chinese culture, the profession of arms embodies truly Japanese values. The Opium War was a trauma for Japan "since it ended with the invasion of China by the English. Along with the sense of urgency, one of the consequences created by the crisis has been the rise of nationalism, voices are raised in favor of the need to re-value the profession of arms. "The revival of bushidô was thus linked to nationalism. The term becomes very frequent and with a positive connotation by the thinkers of the xenophobic movement of the years 1853-1867 favorable to the imperial restoration and takes a nationalist coloring absent at the end of the Middle Ages ". It disappeared again during the Meiji summer until it reappeared from the 1880s to symbolically express the loss of traditional values during the rapid introduction of Western civilization from 1868 and the feeling of urgency, again, to defend the magnificent Japanese tradition. "Confucianism and Buddhism are embedded, then, in the traditional values to be defended against the West while in the Edo period bushido as a Japanese tradition was rather used as an alternative to Confucianism."
The victory of Japan over China in 1895 "changes the paradigm, it is no longer the urgency but the pride of the tradition of bushido which is at the origin of military success abnegation and surpassing oneself" are put forward by forgetting "the moral hesitations of the warrior on the means of victory"
Oleg Benesch argued that the modern concept of bushidō changed throughout the modern era as a response to foreign stimuli in the 1880s. Such as the English concept of "gentlemanship", by Japanese with considerable exposure to Western culture. Nitobe Inazo's bushidō interpretations followed a similar trajectory, although he was following earlier trends. This relatively pacifistic bushidō was then hijacked and adapted by militarists and the government from the early 1900s onward as nationalism increased around the time of the Russo-Japanese War.
After the Meiji Restoration, the martial arts etiquette represented by Ogasawara-ryū popularized practice education for the people in 1938. The junshi suicide of General Nogi Maresuke and his wife on the death of Emperor Meiji occasioned both praise, as an example to the decaying morals of Japan, and criticism, explicitly declaring that the spirit of bushidō thus exemplified should not be revived.
against Chinese POWs in Nanjing, c. 1937
During pre-World War II and World War II Shōwa Japan, bushido was pressed into use for militarism, to present war as purifying, and death a duty. This was presented as revitalizing traditional values and "transcending the modern". Bushidō would provide a spiritual shield to let soldiers fight to the end. As the war turned, the spirit of bushidō was invoked to urge that all depended on the firm and united soul of the nation. When the Battle of Attu was lost, attempts were made to make the more than two thousand Japanese deaths an inspirational epic for the fighting spirit of the nation. Arguments that the plans for the Battle of Leyte Gulf, involving all Japanese ships, would expose Japan to serious danger if they failed, were countered with the plea that the Navy be permitted to "bloom as flowers of death". The first proposals of organized suicide attacks met resistance because although bushidō called for a warrior to be always aware of death, they were not to view it as the sole end. Nonetheless, the desperate straits brought about acceptance and such attacks were acclaimed as the true spirit of bushidō.
Japanese propaganda during World War II claimed that prisoners of war denied being mistreated, and declared that they were being well-treated by virtue of bushidō generosity. Broadcast interviews with prisoners were also described as being not propaganda but out of sympathy with the enemy, such sympathy as only bushidō could inspire.
In Nitobe Inazō's book the, published in the United States in 1900, "this was a discourse although different from that which the nationalists held on Bushido but of in a way, he joined them because he helped to increase their prestige and participated in the ambient mode of revival of the Way of the Warrior. Subsequently, after the defeat nationalist theories on bushido were denounced but not the work of Nitobe Inazaö which escaped disavowal to the point that it even became the best representative of bushido trials in Japan.
After World War 2, the Bank of Japan changed the design of the banknotes in 1984, using Fukuzawa Yukichi for the 10,000 yen note, Nitobe Inazō for the 5,000 yen note, and Natsume Soseki for the 1,000 yen note. These three people all expressed their positive appreciation of Bushido. Although the views of the three people are similar and there are subtle differences, they also said that the Japanese in the Meiji period were quite influenced by Bushido.
Contemporary Bushido
We can consider that today bushido is still present in the social and economic organization of Japan, because it is the mode of thought which historically structured the capitalist activity in the 20th century. Business relations, the close relationship between the individual and the group to which he or she belongs, the notions of trust, respect and harmony within the Japanese business world are directly based on bushido. This would therefore be at the origin of the ideology of :fr:Harmonie_industrielle|industrial harmony of modern Japan, which allowed the country to become, with the Japanese economic miracle of the post-war years of the 1950-1960s, the leader of the Asian economy.In martial arts
Both bushido and other martial arts are different in the modern world. Modern Bushido focuses more on self-defense, fighting, sports, tournaments and just physical fitness training. While all of these things are important to the martial arts, a much more important thing is missing, which is personal development. Bushido’s art taught soldiers the important secrets of life, how to raise children, how to dress, how to treat family and other people, how to cultivate personality, things related to finances. All of these things are important to be a respected soldier. Although the modern Bushido is guided by eight virtues, that alone is not enough. Bushido not only taught him how to become a soldier, but all the sages of life. The warrior described by Bushido is not a profession but a way of life. It is not necessary to be in the army to be a soldier. The term “warrior” refers to a person who is fighting for something, not necessarily physically. Man is a true warrior because of what is in his heart, mind, and soul. Everything else is just tools in the creation to make it perfect. Bushido is a way of life that means living in every moment, honorably and honestly. All this is of great importance in the life of a soldier, both now and in the past.The iaidō, in its transmission and its practice, is the martial art which takes up in its entirety Bushido by the etiquette, the code of honor, the dress, the carrying of the sword and the fight against oneself rather than against the opponent. Modern combat sports like kendo derive their philosophy from Bushido; Unlike other martial arts, prolonged contact or multiple hits tend to be disadvantaged in favor of simple, clean attacks on the body. Bushido has also inspired the code of honor for disciplines such as aikijutsu, aikido, aikibudo, judo, jujitsu, or the chanbara.
Tenets
Bushidō expanded and formalized the earlier code of the samurai, and stressed sincerity, frugality, loyalty, mastery of martial arts, and honour to the death. Under the bushidō ideal, if a samurai failed to uphold his honor he could only regain it by performing seppuku.In an excerpt from his book Samurai: The World of the Warrior, historian Stephen Turnbull describes the role of seppuku in feudal Japan:
In the world of the warrior, seppuku was a deed of bravery that was admirable in a samurai who knew he was defeated, disgraced, or mortally wounded. It meant that he could end his days with his transgressions wiped away and with his reputation not merely intact but actually enhanced. The cutting of the abdomen released the samurai’s spirit in the most dramatic fashion, but it was an extremely painful and unpleasant way to die, and sometimes the samurai who was performing the act asked a loyal comrade to cut off his head at the moment of agony.
Bushidō varied dramatically over time, and across the geographic and socio-economic backgrounds of the samurai, who represented somewhere between 5% and 10% of the Japanese population. The first Meiji-era census at the end of the 19th century counted 1,282,000 members of the "high samurai", allowed to ride a horse, and 492,000 members of the "low samurai", allowed to wear two swords but not to ride a horse, in a country of about 25 million.
Some versions of bushidō include compassion for those of lower station, and for the preservation of one's name. Early bushidō literature further enforces the requirement to conduct oneself with calmness, fairness, justice, and propriety. The relationship between learning and the way of the warrior is clearly articulated, one being a natural partner to the other.
Other pundits pontificating on the warrior philosophy covered methods of raising children, appearance, and grooming, but all of this may be seen as part of one's constant preparation for death—to die a good death with one's honor intact, the ultimate aim in a life lived according to bushidō. Indeed, a "good death" is its own reward, and by no means assurance of "future rewards" in the afterlife. Some samurai, though certainly not all, have throughout history held such aims or beliefs in disdain, or expressed the awareness that their station—as it involves killing—precludes such reward, especially in Buddhism. Japanese beliefs surrounding the samurai and the afterlife are complex and often contradictory, while the soul of a noble warrior suffering in hell or as a lingering spirit occasionally appears in Japanese art and literature, so does the idea of a warrior being reborn upon a lotus throne in paradise
Eight virtues of Bushidō (as envisioned by [Nitobe Inazō])
The bushidō code is typified by eight virtues:- Righteousness
- Heroic Courage
- Charity
- Respect
- Honesty
- Honour
- Duty and Loyalty
- Self-control
Associated virtues
- Filial piety
- Wisdom
- Fraternity
Modern translations
Primary research into bushidō was later conducted by William Scott Wilson in his 1982 text Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors. The writings span hundreds of years, family lineage, geography, social class and writing style—yet share a common set of values. Wilson's work also examined older Japanese writings unrelated to the warrior class: the Kojiki, Shoku Nihongi, the Kokin Wakashū and the Konjaku Monogatari, as well as the Chinese Classics.
In May 2008, Thomas Cleary translated a collection of 22 writings on bushidō by warriors, scholars, political advisers, and educators, spanning 500 years from the 14th to the 19th centuries. Titled Training the Samurai Mind: A Bushido Sourcebook, it gave an insider's view of the samurai world: "the moral and psychological development of the warrior, the ethical standards they were meant to uphold, their training in both martial arts and strategy, and the enormous role that the traditions of Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism had in influencing samurai ideals".
Major figures associated with Bushidō
- Asano Naganori
- Imagawa Ryōshun
- Katō Kiyomasa
- Sakanoue no Tamuramaro
- Honda Tadakatsu
- Tokugawa Ieyasu
- Torii Mototada
- Sasaki Kojirō
- Saigō Takamori
- Yamaga Sokō
- Yamamoto Tsunetomo
- Yamaoka Tesshū
- Yukio Mishima
- Hijikata Toshizō
- Miyamoto Musashi