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Bushido: The Soul of Japan
Bushido, meaning "Way of the Warrior", is a Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death. Born of two main influences, the violent existence of the samurai was tempered by the wisdom and serenity of Japanese Shinto and Buddhism. Bushido developed between the 9th and 12th centuries and numerous translated documents dating from the 12th to 16th centuries demonstrate its wide influence across the whole of Japan, although some scholars have noted "the term bushido itself is rarely attested in pre-modern literature."

According to the Japanese dictionary Shogakukan Kokugo Daijiten, "Bushido is defined as a unique philosophy (ronri) that spread through the warrior class from the Muromachi (chusei) period."

In Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1899), author Nitobe Inazo wrote:

"...Bushido, 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."

Nitobe was not the first person to document Japanese chivalry in this way. In his text Feudal and Modern Japan, (1896) 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. The fine instinct of honor demanding it was in the very blood..."

1116756368
Bushido: The Soul of Japan
Bushido, meaning "Way of the Warrior", is a Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death. Born of two main influences, the violent existence of the samurai was tempered by the wisdom and serenity of Japanese Shinto and Buddhism. Bushido developed between the 9th and 12th centuries and numerous translated documents dating from the 12th to 16th centuries demonstrate its wide influence across the whole of Japan, although some scholars have noted "the term bushido itself is rarely attested in pre-modern literature."

According to the Japanese dictionary Shogakukan Kokugo Daijiten, "Bushido is defined as a unique philosophy (ronri) that spread through the warrior class from the Muromachi (chusei) period."

In Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1899), author Nitobe Inazo wrote:

"...Bushido, 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."

Nitobe was not the first person to document Japanese chivalry in this way. In his text Feudal and Modern Japan, (1896) 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. The fine instinct of honor demanding it was in the very blood..."

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Bushido: The Soul of Japan

Bushido: The Soul of Japan

by Inazo Nitobe
Bushido: The Soul of Japan

Bushido: The Soul of Japan

by Inazo Nitobe

Overview

Bushido, meaning "Way of the Warrior", is a Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death. Born of two main influences, the violent existence of the samurai was tempered by the wisdom and serenity of Japanese Shinto and Buddhism. Bushido developed between the 9th and 12th centuries and numerous translated documents dating from the 12th to 16th centuries demonstrate its wide influence across the whole of Japan, although some scholars have noted "the term bushido itself is rarely attested in pre-modern literature."

According to the Japanese dictionary Shogakukan Kokugo Daijiten, "Bushido is defined as a unique philosophy (ronri) that spread through the warrior class from the Muromachi (chusei) period."

In Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1899), author Nitobe Inazo wrote:

"...Bushido, 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."

Nitobe was not the first person to document Japanese chivalry in this way. In his text Feudal and Modern Japan, (1896) 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. The fine instinct of honor demanding it was in the very blood..."

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781461179061
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date: 05/25/2011
Pages: 84
Product dimensions: 8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.17(d)

About the Author

INAZO NITOBE was born in 1862 and began the study of English at the age of nine. He entered the Sapporo Agricultural College in 1877, and in 1883 Tokyo Imperial University. In the United States, he studied politics and international relations at Johns Hopkins University from 1884 to 1887. In Germany from 1887 to 1890, he studied at several universities, receiving a doctorate (the first of five) in agricultural economics.

As an educator, Nitobe first taught at Sapporo Agricultural College. Between 1903 and 1919, he held a professorship at Kyoto Imperial University, was headmaster of the First Higher School in Tokyo and then a professor at Tokyo Imperial University. He was also the first president of Tokyo Women's Christian University.

As a public servant, he was a colonial administrator in Taiwan from 1901 to 1903. In 1918 he attended the Versailles Peace Conference, then became the under-secretary of the League of Nations. He was a member of the House of Peers from 1926 to 1933, and from 1929 to 1933 chairman of the Institute of Pacific Relations.

While still at Tokyo Imperial University, Nitobe expressed a desire to become a bridge between East and West. He was on just such a mission, leading a Japanese delegation to an international conference in Canada, when he died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1933.

Table of Contents

Bushido as an Ethical System 1

Sources of Bushido 7

Rectitude or Justice 14

Courage, the Spirit of Daring and Bearing 17

Benevolence, the Feeling of Distress 22

Politeness 31

Veracity or Truthfulness 38

Honor 44

The Duty of Loyalty 50

Education and Training of a Samurai 57

Self-Control 62

The Institutions of Suicide and Redress 67

The Sword, the Soul of the Samurai 81

The Training and Position of Woman 85

The Influence of Bushido 97

Is Bushido Still Alive? 103

The Future of Bushido 112

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Related Subjects

Philosophy
Religion
Social Sciences
Asian Philosophy
General & Miscellaneous Religion
Social Sciences - General & Miscellaneous
Japanese Philosophy
Religion - General & Miscellaneous
Philosophy
Religion
Social Sciences
Asian Philosophy
General & Miscellaneous Religion
Social Sciences - General & Miscellaneous
Japanese Philosophy
Religion - General & Miscellaneous

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