Bushido: An Antiquated Values System?
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A Critical Review of the Classic Samurai Text:
Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe - Part One
Article by Sean Hannon
no longer relevant today or at the very least in need of adaptation and modernization?  Can Bushido exist in cultural environments based on freedom and capitalism?  This series of articles will explore questions like these and will propose possible answers for consideration.  We will summarize Bushido’s major principles, concepts, and values as articulated in the classic Japanese text, Bushido: The Soul of Japan, and evaluate their applicability in today’s modern world.

Bushido, The Soul of Japan was written in 1899 by
Inazo Nitobe, a Japanese national who converted to
Christianity in early adulthood while attending what is now
Hokkaido University in Japan.  At the time, this college
was run by Christian missionaries.  Nitobe’s text is one
of the first major works on samurai ethics and Japanese
culture.  It is considered by some to be the first collective
statement of what is commonly referred to as the Seven
Virtues of Bushido.  The book is considered significant,
in part, because it was written during Japan’s transition
from its traditional lifestyle to a modern nation, and as
stated in the book’s dedication its intent was to “revere the
past and to admire the deeds of the samurai.”  The initial
publication of this book was in English, not Japanese,
because the book was intended to educate non-Japanese
about Japanese values.  It has been read by many prominent Americans including U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.  It is also believed to have been highly influential in the development of the American Boy Scout movement.

The book opens with a candid conversation between the author and a learned Belgian guest.  The guest asks Nitobe how Japanese children are educated on morality without religion playing a part in their educational system.  The author replies that in Japan, Bushido, not religion, imparts moral precepts upon its children.  Sensing confusion and astonishment from his guest, Nitobe elaborates, strongly contending that one cannot possibly begin to understand the moral concepts of Japan without first understanding Bushido and the cultural system from which it arose: feudalism. 

Bushido was a system of values forged among the warrior class within the contextual environment of feudalism.  To briefly review, feudalism was a socio-economic and political system, which, in its most remedial of definitions, involves the granting of land by a monarch, lord, or other authority figure to members of lower classes in return for military service.  Feudalism represented a static social structure in which people were born, lived, and died within “their place” in society.  There was no moving up and no moving down a society’s hierarchy.  Every person was the servant of his or her lord.  This concept can be challenging for Westerners since in our contemporary society, people are taught and even encouraged to make of themselves whatever they wish to be and to reach as high and as far as they can possibly imagine or desire.  This is indeed the first hurdle one experiences when trying to live and practice Bushido today as it was practiced then.

Nitobe makes the fairly accurate analogy that chivalry is to Europe, as Bushido is to Japan.  He appears to do this largely for the benefit of European and American readers.  Bu-shi-do literally means “Military-Knight-Way.”  Or, said another way, the “Precepts of Knighthood.”  That “Way” was articulated, not necessarily in word, but in character.  It was the conduct expected of samurai in daily life – the code of moral principles samurai were required to observe.  Virtually an unwritten code consisting of nothing more than a few maxims handed down as an oral tradition from generation to generation, Bushido was a doctrine “written on the fleshy tablets of the heart.”  Nitobe further describes Bushido as an “organic growth of decades and centuries of military career.” It would be nearly impossible to pinpoint any precise time, place, or person of origin.  However, it can be accurately said that Bushido gradually developed out of an age of feudalism similar in time and manner to that of early European feudalism.
Many martial arts students have romantic notions of, and frequently espouse, the virtues of Bushido – the traditional, behavioral code of ancient Japanese samurai.  These individuals often claim to live and abide by such values and sometimes even pass judgment on themselves and others claiming Bushido values as their standard of judgment.  But do people today really know what those values were?  Or, what those values might mean today?  For example, some martial arts students and instructors profess unquestioned loyalty as a virtue of Bushido.  However, is unquestioned loyalty always intelligent?  If, at times, unquestioned loyalty is not intelligent then wouldn’t that also suggest that Bushido, at times, is not intelligent?

And, what about honor?  Does honor really exist as a legitimate virtue?  Or, is honor just a more sophisticated way of inflating or defending one’s ego?  Are these and other alleged virtues of samurai culture relevant outside of the oppressive, feudalistic society from which they emerged?  Do people really understand these behavioral virtues as they existed?  That is, in a context of feudalism?  Is it really possible to live Bushido today as it was in the 12th through 19th centuries?  Is it possible that Bushido is an antiquated system of values that is either
Bushido appears to be made up of two fundamental contributions: moral contributions and ethical contributions.  The moral contributions of Bushido originate primarily from two sources: Buddhism and Shintoism. 

According to Nitobe, Buddhism “furnished a sense of calm trust in Fate, a quiet submission to the inevitable, that stoic composure in sight of danger or calamity, that disdain for life and friendliness with death… to put oneself in harmony with the Absolute.” Buddhism was a preferred source of how samurai reconciled their mortality and was intended to satisfy their relationship with their Creator, with Life, or with the Universe.  However, Buddhism by itself was insufficient.

What Buddhism lacked, Shintoism offered in abundance – loyalty to the sovereign and reverence for ancestral memory and filial piety.  Filial piety is a fancy way of saying having love and deep respect for one’s parents and acting in accordance with the responsibilities that come with such respect.  Therefore, Shintoism imparted “passivity to the otherwise arrogant character of the samurai,” said Nitobe.  Though categorized by some as a religion, Shintoism contrasts starkly with religions of monotheistic origin like those that tend to dominate Western culture. 

Having no room for any notion of “original sin,” Shintoism believes in the innate goodness and god-like purity of the human soul and adores the human soul as the vessel through which divine-like proclamations are made.  Nitobe points out that, at least in the late 1800s, the primary article found in Shinto shrines is a plain mirror, rather than any object of worship representing a personified deity.  The mirror is meant to symbolize the human heart, which when perfectly placid and clear reflects the very image of the deity – oneself, one’s community, one’s country, and one’s world.  The actual act of worship in Shinto, therefore, is equivalent to the popular axiom, “Know thyself,” not in the physiological sense, but in the context of introspection of one’s moral nature. 
















According to Nitobe, the collective “reflection,” then, of the Shinto-practicing Japanese is that of the “national consciousness of the individual.”  To the Japanese, the country is not just land and soil, but the “sacred abode of the gods.”  The land and the people are a collective deity in and of themselves.  This profound, nature-worship distinction of Shintoism is pervasive among the people. The Emperor of Japan is the highest authority of the Shinto religion.  He is the symbol of the country and represents the unity of the people – the “bodily representation of heaven on earth.”  The Emperor of Japan is not a divine leader by proclamation of any deity, but is divine-like by unspoken agreement of the people.

When any pre-existing, religious connotation is removed from one’s mind, it can be observed that Shintoism, in fact, shares attributes similar to Patriotism, or what Nitobe refers to as a “national faith.”  In fact, Americans might be able to best connect with the basic premise of Shintoism by thinking of it more as patriotic, emotional feelings for one’s country, rather than a theistic-based religion.  Shintoism is about reverence for this life and the lives of ancestral contributions.  You might say that Shintoism is about acknowledging the “here and now” as god-like.  In contrast, monotheistic religions, like those predominating in the West, seem to be preoccupied with preparing for death and the next life – the “elsewhere and later.”     

Bushido, then, is infused with two major tenets of Shintoism: Patriotism and Loyalty – loyalty to the sovereign (i.e. the Emperor).  Americans, for example, are frequently loyal to a sovereign-like figure such as a President, especially among military officers during times of war or the nation as a whole during times of great national achievement.  However, America, having never really experienced a feudalistic-like society (although one could argue that black slavery may qualify as a form of feudalism) may struggle with the notion of loyalty. 

The predominant values in America are very different from that of feudalistic Japan.  Since its inception, America’s highest values have been freedom and individuality – not conformity like in Japan.  In America, loyalty to a “lord” or sovereign, be it the president of the country, the governor of a state, the mayor of a town, a martial arts instructor, or even a parent is limited, especially if such a sovereign behaves in a manner inconsistent with the expectations of their position.  In stark contrast to the expectations of Japanese samurai, it is not likely that you would ever find an American willing to die upon the impulsive demand of a sovereign!  How many of you would commit suicide at the request of George W. Bush or Barrack O’Bama?  Not too many, I would think – even from the most avid of supporters.  This is because American values are not congruent with those found in a feudalistic society.  As such, one would be hard pressed to practice Bushido today as it was practiced in Japan’s pre-industrial era.  Even though some today may try to conduct their lives in a manner congruent with that of Japanese Bushido, Bushido certainly is not the dominating values system of today.  And, nor should it be, one might convincingly argue!  When threatened, most people today will default their actions and behavior to a more modern and independent system of values based on individual freedoms.  This issue will be discussed and challenged further when each of the virtues of Bushido are critiqued.

The second fundamental contribution to Bushido is an ethical contribution.  Its ethical contributions derive primarily from Confucianism and Confucius’ disciples.  Confucianism is the Chinese philosophical system focused on discerning between right and wrong action.  This philosophy was particularly well suited to the samurai class because Confucianism asserts that a community can be governed by moral virtue rather than be ruled by manipulative, punitive sets of laws.  Mencius, a disciple of Confucius, expounded upon the concepts promulgated by his predecessor, but with a more adamantly democratic tone, particularly as they related to the innate goodness of human nature.  Even though Mencius’ teachings were under censure for a long time because of their inherent challenging of the existing social order, they still found “permanent lodgment in the heart of the samurai.” 

Nitobe contends that a mere intellectual understanding of Confucian teachings was considered by samurai to be inferior to “ethical emotion.”  According to his interpretation of Bushido, “knowledge becomes really such only when it is assimilated in the mind of the learner and shows in his character.”  Samurai would rationalize this dismissive attitude of a rote, academic mastery of Confucian analects with the famous adage of another influential Chinese philosopher, Wan Yan Ming, “To know and to act are one and the same.”  Translation:  Knowledge is only wisdom if acted upon.  Or, to know and not to do is to not really know at all.

So, the sources of Bushido – Buddhism, Shintoism, and Confucianism – were, as Nitobe suggested, simple and few.  Yet these sources were sufficient enough “to furnish a safe conduct of life even through the unsafest days of the most unsettled period of [Japan’s] history.”  However, because Bushido existed in the context of a feudalistic society, I would argue that true Bushido, as it was originally practiced, cannot be experienced today as in earlier centuries despite alleged efforts by many, particularly those who study martial arts in the United States.  Throughout this series of articles on Bushido, I will point out these cultural discrepancies and offer possible alterative interpretations and practices to what may indeed be an antiquated system of values in need of revision. 
In the next seven parts of this article, we will review, in the deliberate, linear order presented by Nitobe, the seven pervading characteristics of those who practiced Bushido during Japan’s feudal period.

Those seven virtues are:

1.Justice (or Rectitude) - 'Gi'
2.Courage - 'Yu'
3.Benevolence - 'Jin'
4.Politeness - 'Rei'
5.Truthfulness (or Veracity) - 'Makoto'
6.Honor - 'Yo'
7.Loyalty - 'Chu'

See you next month.

Samurai were frequently referred to as “Bushi” or “fighting knights.” They were the natural leaders to arise as the prominent, military nobility class in a feudalistic society due to their brute, vocational strength.  According to Nitobe, samurai literally means “serving guards” or “attendants,” and it was they who became the privileged class of the day.  But with this great position of honor and privilege eventually came the burden of responsibility, and from that, the need of a common standard of behavior so as to maintain social order and, hopefully, a pleasant way of life.  The next logical question, then, is from where would this standard of behavior derive?
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