Bushido: Encyclopedia - Bushido

Bushido

Japanese samurai in armour, 1860s. Photograph by Felice Beato.

Bushido (Japanese: 武士道; bushidō, "way of the warrior"), is a way of life, somewhat analogous to the European concept of chivalry. It includes elements of a philosophy, except that is it generally not textual in nature, and it involves, but is not equivalent to, a code of conduct. Bushido developed between the 11th to 14th centuries and was formalized during the opening years of the Tokugawa shogunate for the members of the Samurai class. 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."

Inazo Nitobe, author of Bushido: The Soul of Japan describes Bushido as an unwritten code: "...Bushido, then, is the code of moral principles which the samurais were required or instructed to observe. It is not a written code; at best it consists of a few maxims handed down from mouth to mouth or coming from the pen of some well-known warrior or savant. More frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten, possessing all the more the powerful sanction of veritable deed, and of a law written on the fleshly tablets of the heart. It was founded not on the creation of one brain, however able, or on the life of a single personage, however renowned. It was an organic growth of decades and centuries of military career."

Bushido - History

In the year 1256 CE, the Shogunal Deputy in Kyoto, Hojo Shigetoki (1198-1261 CE) wrote a letter to his son and house elders of his clan. The letter, now known as "The Message Of Master Gokurakuji," emphasized the importance of loyalty to one's master:

Written in kanamajiri style, "The Message Of Master Gokurakuji" is described as being "....basically concerned with man's moral duties and the ideal behavior for leaders of the warrior class. The predominant tone of the work is a Buddhist sympathy for all living beings and an awareness of the functions of karma. Women, children, and those of lower social standing are to be treated kindly and with regard, and even the concept of loyalty to superiors is dealt with more in a religious sense than a Confucian one."

In 1383 CE the feudal lord Shiba Yoshimasa (1350-1410 CE) wrote THE CHIKUBASHO, a set of precepts for the young men of his clan. Shiba Yoshimasa was a warrior leader during the Namboku and Muromachi Periods, and was known as an administrator, general, and poet. William Scott Wilson, Author of "Ideals of the Samurai" describes the Chikubasho as "A short list of precepts written in a classical Japanese style, the Chikubasho displays both the ethical morality of the warrior and the tasteful lifestyle of the aristocracy. Its tone is a combination of a manly Confucian approach reflecting honesty and fairness, and a Buddhist sympathy for others."

In his writings, Shiba Yoshimasa dictated that a warrior should not hesitate to lay down his life for an important cause such as the defense of the emperor:

The famous warlord Imagawa Ryoshun wrote in 1412:

Imagawa Ryoshun was a leading general and strategist of his time. He wrote prolifically despite being posted to military hotspots by the Shogun. His job was to suppress rebellion by rival samurai clans. Famed for his writings "Nan Taiheiki" and "Michiyukiburi", he penned THE REGULATIONS, to his brother Tadaki in traditional Kanbun script. They were a required study for traditional Japanese as a guide to proper moral behavior. Widely respected, THE REGULATIONS remained popular until World War II. Having taken Buddhist vows, Ryoshun is greatly admired as having achieved the warrior ideal—striking a balance between the military and literary arts.

Several famous Sengoku Daimyo mention Bushido in their writings. Lord Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611) orders his men to follow it:

Kato Kiyomasa was one of the most ferocious Samurai who ever lived. Distinguishing himself in battle at the age of 18, his ferocity quickly became legendary in Hideyoshi's Korean campaigns. Known for hunting tigers armed with only a spear during his leisure time, the Koreans greatly feared Kato Kiyomasa and began to call him "Kishokan"--"The Devil General". William Scott Wilson describes Kato Kiyomasa thus: "He was a military man first and last, outlawing even the recitation of poetry, putting the martial arts above all else. His precepts show the single-mindedness and Spartan attitudes of the man, (they) demonstrate emphatically that the warrior's first duty in the early 17th century was simply to "grasp the sword and die." Contemporary accounts of Kato describe him as awe-inspiring, yet not unfriendly, and a natural leader of men."

In August 1600, Torii Mototada, a feudal Lord in the service of Ieyasu Tokugawa was forewarned by spies that an army of 40,000 battle hardened followers of Toyotomi Hideyoshi were annihilating everything in their path on their march to Fushimi Castle. Even though he was badly outnumbered and could have easily escaped, Torii chose to remain behind with his garrison. He pledged that he and his bastion would fight to the finish and cited Bushido as his reason for doing so. Torii Mototada and Ieyasu Tokugawa parted ways sadly knowing that they would never see each other again:

In the end, with the castle in flames around him, Mototada ordered his men to charge headlong into battle over and over again until only ten men remained. The castle defenders fought heroically to the last man. As was custom, he killed himself rather than be captured alive.

The siege of Fushimi Castle stalled the advancement of the 40,000 troops by ten days, allowing Tokugawa to escape.

Torii Mototada's actions changed the course of Japanese history as Tokugawa would raise an army of 90,000 and confront Pro-Toyotomi forces at Sekigahara in open battle on the Kanto plain—-where he had the advantage. In a massive bloodletting, more than 180,000 warriors would clash violently and more than 70,000 would perish in the next two days as the remnants of Ishida's vanquished army were hunted down and executed. The battle of Sekigahara was a decisive one, resulting in the unification of Japan, and Tokugawa’s family would rule the entire country for the next 268 years.

In 1645 CE the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi wrote in his famous book Go Rin No Sho (A Book of Five Rings):

In the 15th year of Genroku, the 47 Ronin of Ako cited Confucian edict as the reason for their famous vendetta. (As Translated by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford (1837-1916), Lord Redesdale, British Ambassador to Japan in his book Tales of Old Japan.)

"...still we, who have eaten of your food, could not without blushing repeat the verse, 'Thou shalt not live under the same heaven nor tread the same earth with the enemy of thy father or lord,' nor could we have dared to leave hell and present ourselves before you in paradise, unless we had carried out the vengeance which you began."

In the 1860s, Lord Redesdale lived in a house within sight of Sengaku-ji where the 47 Ronin were buried. Impressed by the loyalty displayed by the ronin, he toured Sengaku-ji and finding tattered and yellowed letters amongst the relics, he translated them for his book "Tales of Old Japan." Each of the ronin carried letters spelling out their intentions in case they were captured or killed. Also translated were the receipt provided by the relatives of Lord Kira for the return of his head and the final statement placed by the men on Lord Asano's tomb before surrendering for court martial.

Each of the men were aware of the seriousness of their actions. Onodera Junai would state in a letter to his wife in Kyoto:

"..Even if my dead body is shown, I think my duty will be fulfilled because my dead body will demonstrate Samurai loyalty to the entire country and it will strengthen their resolve."

In John Allyn's book, "The 47 Ronin Story", the leader of the 47 Ronin Oishi Kuranosuke is quoted as saying:

In describing the 47 Ronin's sense of duty, Author Inazo Nitobe made a comparison to Western history in "Bushido: The Soul of Japan":

"What is the most beautiful thing on earth?" said Osiris to Horus. The reply was, "To avenge a parent's wrongs," -- to which a Japanese would have added, "and a master's." (Nitobe, 1899, p. 128)

Today, Sengakuji is a national shrine. Visitors to the temple at first notice what appears to be fog, but is actually the smoke from incense which has not gone out in hundreds of years the men have been buried there. Each year, thousands of people from around the world come to pay respects before the headstones of the faithful men. The 47 Ronin are considered national heroes, forever guarding the honor of their beloved Lord Asano.

Jadkins.com: "Sengakuji Temple (Resting Place of the 47 Ronin)"

Bushido - Bushido ethics

Bushido expanded and formalized the earlier code of the samurai, and stressed frugality, loyalty, mastery of martial arts, and honor to the death. Under the Bushido ideal, if a samurai failed to uphold his honor he could regain it by performing seppuku (ritual suicide). In an excerpt from the chapter "AN ACCOUNT OF THE HARA-KIRI" in Mitford's "Tales of Old Japan", the author describes a friend witnessing an act of Seppuku:

"There are many stories on record of extraordinary heroism being displayed in the hara-kiri. The case of a young fellow, only twenty years old, of the Choshiu clan, which was told to me the other day by an eye-witness, deserves mention as a marvellous instance of determination. Not content with giving himself the one necessary cut, he slashed himself thrice horizontally and twice vertically. Then he stabbed himself in the throat until the dirk protruded on the other side, with its sharp edge to the front; setting his teeth in one supreme effort, he drove the knife forward with both hands through his throat, and fell dead."

According to Inazo Nitobe, Author of "Bushido: The Soul of Japan", "As to strictly ethical doctrines, the teachings of Confucius were the most prolific source of Bushido.....Next to Confucius, Mencius exercised an immense authority over Bushido. His forcible and often quite democratic theories were exceedingly taking to sympathetic natures, and they were even thought dangerous to, and subversive of, the existing social order, hence his works were for a long time under censure. Still, the words of this master mind found permanent lodgment in the heart of the samurai."

Bushido ethics were also influenced by Shintoism, the Chinese Classics, and the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism, which promoted austerity, detachment and "no-mind" concentration as an ultimate approach to combat situations as well as daily life, and considered martial arts as a way to self-realization and to the expression of one's Buddha-nature.

Bushido was widely practiced and it is surprising how uniform the samurai code remained over time, crossing over all geographic and socio-economic backgrounds of the samurai. The samurai represented a wide populace numbering between 7 to 10% of the Japanese population, and the first Meiji era census at the end of the 19th century counted 1,282,000 members of the "high samurais", 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. ("Japan. A historical survey" Mikiso Hane). Although Japan enjoyed a period of peace during the Sakoku ("Closed country") period from the 17th to the mid-19th century, the samurai class remained and continued to play a center role in the policing of the country. The status of the samurai was abolished after the Meiji Restoration, but the former samurai continued to play a key role in the industrialization of Japan and its traditions remain alive today, seen in cultural features as mundane as the outfit worn by Japanese firefighters.

Bushido ethics enjoyed a revival during World War II as a way to build up Japanese fighting spirit. It was particularly reinforced among the fighting forces as a means of portraying the value of self-sacrifice and loyalty, and reached its apotheosis with the self-sacrifice of the kamikaze pilots.

Bushido - Seven virtues associated with bushido

• 義 – Gi – Rectitude (Right Decisions) (Should be Justice and Morality)
• 勇 – Yu – Courage
• 仁 – Jin – Benevolence
• 礼 – Rei – Respect
• 誠 – Makoto or 信 - Shin– Honesty
• 名誉 – Meiyo – Honor,Glory
• 忠義 – Chūgi – Loyalty

           -Translations from: Random House's Japanese-English, English-Japanese Dictionary

Others that are sometimes added to these:

• 忠 - Chu - Preservation of ethics
• 孝 - Ko - Respect for one's elders/parents
• 智 - Chi - Wisdom
• 悌 - Tei - Care for the aged

Bushido - Major figures associated with bushido

• Miyamoto Musashi
• Yamaga Soko
• Yamamoto Tsunetomo

See also

• Aikido
• Battojutsu - Japanese Martial Art - The Art of Cutting with the Sword
• Chivalry
• Hagakure
• Iaido - Japanese Martial Art - The Art of Drawing the Sword
• Japan
• Kendo - Japanese Martial Art - The Way of Sword
• Nihilism
• Saburai
• Samurai
• Shogun
• Cf. Seven Deadly Sins
• Zen
• Zen at War

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Bushido", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki