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Bushido

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"Bushido" redirects here. For other uses, see Bushido (disambiguation).
Japanese samurai in Armour, 1860s. Photograph by Felice Beato

Bushidō (武士道), meaning "Way of the Warrior", is a name in common usage since the late 19th century which is used to describe a uniquely Japanese code of conduct adhered to by samurai since time immemorial, and loosely analogous to Western concepts of chivalry. This code is said to have emphasized virtues such as loyalty, honor, obedience, duty, filial piety, and self-sacrifice.

Although Chinese-derived Confucian concepts such as loyalty and filial piety were certainly extolled in Japanese texts from the medieval period, the actual term bushidō is extremely rare in ancient texts, and does not even appear in famous texts supposedly describing this code, such as the [Hagakure] of Yamamoto Tsunetomo. Moreover, although at various points in Japanese history certain feudal lords promulgated prescriptive "House Codes" to guide the actions of their retainers, there never existed a single, unified "samurai code" which all Japanese warriors adhered to or were even aware of.

The first person to popularize the term bushidō was Japanese author Nitobe Inazō, a converted Quaker living in Philadelphia and married to an American wife, in his 1899 book Bushidō: The Soul of Japan, which was originally written and published in English and only later translated into Japanese. In this work, scoured Japanese tradition in an effort to recover an indigenous code of behavior analogous to the Western ideal of chivalry, which he then embedded with his own Christian ideology. Although Nitobe presented this concept as a timeless Japanese tradition which he had simply been taught as a child, he obscured his own numerous interpolations and extrapolations, and his efforts to unite diverse strands of Shintō and Buddhist teachings into a single unified code. Upon publication Nitobe's work was a massive success, and has returned to Japanese best-seller lists on numerous occasions (most recently in early 2004 following the release of the American film The Last Samurai), and the term quickly entered into widespread use in both Japanese and Western texts from that time.

Texts Sometimes Associated with the Concept of Bushidō

Early history to the 16th century

  • The four Confucian classics — the Analects, the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the Mencius
  • The "Chikubasho" by Shiba Yoshimasa (1350-1410 A.D.)

As illustrated by these various writings and house codes, feudal lords often exhorted retainers on the merits of showing loyalty to one's master, filial piety, and reverence toward one's superiors.

17th to 19th centuries

Japan enjoyed a period of relative peace during the Sakoku ("closed country") period from 1600 to the mid-19th century, (the so-called "Pax Tokugawa"). During this period, the samurai evolved into a technocratic class of bureaucrats charged with administration of the country under the Tokugawa shogunate. The writings of this time occasionally spoke to the efforts of warrior class no longer able to partake in war and thus seeking a more general application of martial principles and to the challenges of peacetime.

The Hagakure contains many of the sayings of Sengoku-period retainer Nabeshima Naoshige (1537-1619) noted down early in the 18th century by samurai-bureaucrat Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659-1719), a former retainer to Naoshige's grandson, Nabeshima Mitsushige. The Hagakure was compiled in the early 18th century, but was kept as a kind of "secret teaching" of the Nabeshima clan and did not find widespread readership until the late 19th century.

Also of note, due to their popularity in the 2oth century as key works of "bushidō" are the works of Tokugawa-era scholar Yamaga Sokō (1622-1685) wrote extensively on matters relating to what he termed bukyō ("warrior's creed"), and a more general shido, or "way of gentlemen" intended for application to all stations of society, placing special special emphasis on what he called "pure" Confucian values, (rejecting the mystical influences of Tao and Buddhism in Neo-Confucian orthodoxy), 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, (the future setting of the 47 Rōnin incident), and his works were not widely read till the rise of nationalism in the early 20th century.

Tenets Associated with Bushidō

The "Seven Virtues of Bushidō"[citation needed]:

Others that are sometimes added to these:

Figures Sometimes Associated with Bushidō

  1. ^ The Last Statement of Torii Mototada
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