Samurai
SAMURAI. This is one of the well known Japanese word which means warriors. However, the word, BUSHI is relatively minor among foreign people, although this indicates warriors, too. During the 10th century, wealthy local people became warriors ao as to protect their territories, and they were called Bushi. Later, the nobles employed those warriors for their guard. These employed bushi were called Samurai, according to Karly Friday's catchy phrase, they are "hired swords" (Sato H. ?????）. Generally, bushi was the word for the warriors in higher lank than samurai(Winston 125). However, the word "samurai" had became popular during Edo period, and came to include the meaning of "bushi" in it. Thus, these two words are more or less regarded the same. As warriors who served their masters, they had their own rules, the way of things, called Bushido. "武士(bushi)" means Japanese warriors, and "道(dou)" is equal to "way" in English. Translating this word into English, the term "knighthood" seems to be proper, because samurai and knights are similar in their positions. Bushido flourished especially in the 17th century. Although Bushi/Samurai disappeared at the end of the Edo period, and though those rules were rarely written down, the spirit seems to remain in today's Japan.
Nitobe Inazo(1862-1933), a Japanese scholar who worked for United Nations whose face is printed on the 5,000 yen bill, comments in his book "Bushido": "[Bushido] is still a living object of power and beauty among us; and if it assumes no tangible shape of form, it not the less scents the moral atmosphere, and makes us aware that we are still under its potent spell" (Nitobe1). Yet, even though the spirit of Bushido is still alive, it has been said that people is losing morals and ethics in today's society. Therefore, it must be worthwhile knowing what kinds of thoughts bushi held, for they were the people who lived in era of strict self discipline and own aesthetics. In bushido, there must be some hints for present society to make people reminded of the importance of ethics and aesthetics in life.
The first section aims to solve the three main misunderstandings toward bushido. Then, the second section will show the one of the main point of bushido, politeness. Following it, the third section discusses the philosophy of bushido, life and death. In the concluding section suggests the usefulness of the bushido aesthetics in today's society.
Misunderstandings over Bushido
There is a need to solve some of the misunderstandings about bushido before discussing the feature and the usefulness of its spirits.
The first misunderstanding is about the contents of the bushido. Some might think that bushido only contains the rules or manners for actual fights and killing. It is natural for the image of bushido to be slanted thus, because its literal meaning is "the way of samurai". However, bushido is more about philosophy than violence. It is rather ethos of warriors, which had been strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism. Of course, bushi was warrior, though, at the same time, he was a servant to his master, a patriarch in his own house, a husband to his wife, and a father to his children. Above all, the time when Bushido thoughts was completed is said to be in 17th century, under the Tokugawa Government. At that time, wars in a great scale did not occur, it was a peaceful era. Therefore, bushido is a philosophy which gives people the hint of "how to live", not "how to kill". One famous saying in the book "Hagakure (hidden among leaves)" explains this concept well as it says that "The Way of the Samurai is found in death"(Yamamoto 17). This may sound to coax bushi into dying, but in fact, it let bushi face his life, and made him think about it. Thus, bushido is not only about the fighting manner, but the main issue is the philosophy of living.
The second misunderstanding can be found among Japanese middle-aged people. For the idea of bushido was used in the Second World War in order to heighten the morale of the soldiers and made them die for the nation, it causes a sort of sensitiveness of the people, especially those who experienced the war, and born soon after the war. An example of bushido usage in that war is Tokkoutai(Kamikaze, the suicide plain). Near the end of the war, Japan faced the lack of the arms. Then, the military government decided to let plane pilots to attack the enemy base with the plains. This was a direct order forced suicide for the nation. To persuade soldiers to practice this strategy, bushido concept was used. According to bushido, to be royal to the master is very important. During the war, Japanese people had to obey the Japanese military government. Also, it was said to be shameful to be scared by death. Letting alone the former, the true meaning of the latter was "live everyday in your best". However, these two slogans were emphasized. This seems to be the distortion of bushido, rather than mere the "use" of it. As mentioned above, bushido is a philosophy for the better life, not the cult of killing and dying.
The third misunderstanding is the one which finds no connection between now and the era of bushido. Some might say that learning bushido is no use because today is the era of peace, the spirit which was established in the militant society which has ended long ago would bring nothing beneficial. Yet, this is not proper point of view to look at the bushido. Today, many countries are war-free, including Japan in fact. Bushi fought over wars during wartime in conformity with bushido, but it is much later, under the Tokugawa government when the books of bushido that were transmitted down to posterity. It was peaceful era like now. This fact can be interpreted that people realized the greatness of bushido after peaceful day had arrived, and wanted to hand it down or practice it. In addition, "the ultimate ideal of knighthood [is] peace" (Nitobe 137), and the peace meant not only the war-free situation, but needed the calm and peaceful state of mind. Also, according to the definition of the book "Hagakure", fighting does not means the physical match with the others. It is the struggle to overcome one's fear, desire, and attachment which oneself holds. In this meaning, "fighting" in fact exists today, and there is plenty of room for complete "peace" within individuals.
"礼(rei)": Politeness
For bushi, to be polite and to be true were of great importance. One of the feature of bushi is that they chose politeness than integrity when they had to chose only one of them. In other words, to tell falsehood was better than to be impolite. For samurai, politeness was that important thing. In order to demonstrate the bushido's influence on the young Japanese, the author conducted a survey to 50 respondents in Tokyo, from the 24th to the 28th of May, 2002 (see Ap.1). it showed a worth mentioning result. Out of 50 respondents(age 18 to 25), 78% of them answered that politeness is more important than integrity. Over 92% of them were relatively tolerant to lies. They chose "When necessary, lies are allowed", to the question which asked the respondents' attitude toward telling lies. Some of them quoted the proverb "it is sometimes necessary to lie". Moreover, 68% of them answered that when they tell lies, those lies are for protect others from troubles, not speaking for themselves. As a proof of this result, making excuses is not desirable deed for 80% of the all the respondents. This result shows that the young people of the day inherit some bushido thinking whether they realize it or not.
Then, why politeness had that great meaning, why do they took politeness than honesty? The reason can be explained thus; not all lies are impolite, but all impolite behavior is unforgivable. Here, the ground of the importance of politeness becomes the next question.
Politeness indicates the consideration to others in bushido. As a good example of it, Nitobe shows the "Japanese smile". It is often said that Japanese people smile even when they are in sorrow or in troubles, and those smiles are sometimes weird to people of Western culture. Yet, these smiles have two reasons. Even though many Japanese smiles only for a temporally solution or flattering nowadays, smiles of Japanese had good ground in samurai era. The one reason is, because it was ugly thing for bushito be a nuisance to others, they tried not to bother other people even when they were in troubles, by making smiles on their faces. The other reason is this: one of the conditions of a man of high caliber was not to
show one's emotion on appearance. Those who can control their feelings are regarded as great bushi, and a great person as well.
Now in Japan, it is said that people is losing ethics and politeness and become rude. An expert of bushido studies, Masahiro Sato laments that the present age has lost the basic ethics compared to any other times(Sato M. 72). However, the sense of politeness seems to be alive. "Politeness" can be translated into Japanese word, "rei". However, "Rei(礼)" means not only politeness, but it has another meanings too. In Japanese, the single word "rei" also has the meanings of "gratitude", and "a bow" the action which is oftenly done in daily life as one of the greetings to show respect. As long as this custom of "rei" can be seen, the sense of politeness can be said to at least exist. In addition, asked if politeness is important or not in the survey, 84% of the 50 young people answered "yes". The attitude of regarding politeness highly, as the consideration to others, is inherited to now.
Life and Death
Bushido emphasizes that it is necessary for bushi to be prepared to die anytime, although it was focused on especially in the peaceful time. A well-known book on bushido "Budoshoshinshu" opens, "One who is a samurai must before all things keep constantly in mind,... the fact that he has to die" (Daidoji 15). This book and "Hagakure" both were written in the peaceful 17th century, when the society was under the Tokugawa government, and had no big wars. This attitude sounds as if it has nothing to do with the modern life, for people in today's civilized country do not have to think about death in their dairy life. Many people seem to spend days as though it is natural for them to be living and there is no question that they can greet the next day, although there is no promise of that presumption.
However, is bushido irrelevant to modern people? Casting a glance, it seems to be too exaggerated and extreme and impossible to carry out the education of it. Yet, this does not necessarily require people to be in fighting pose always. The saying above intends to mean, so to speak, care. Two figures' comment would help understanding the concept. "If he[she] determines simply to live for today and take no thought for the tomorrow" (Daidoji, 15), "Every moment, every action, is to be saturated by last-moment full-scale energy and devotion" (Winston, 129). Even though "preparation for death" sounds weird, this interpretation may look much more familiar and acceptable. Thinking every time as the last time, and do one's best so that there would be no regret remain.
Right from the beginning, Bushido has been influenced strongly especially by Zen Buddhism, right from the beginning. In Zen Buddhism, life and death are regarded as indiscriminately. In other words, life and death have the same value and importance. So, living everyday staring one's own death calmly is the way to brace oneself. Living everyday with sincerity will enrich one's life at last.
Conclusion
Bushido, the way of samurai is not irrelevant to the people of today's society. It contains the sense of "rei", which has been handed down to the young people. Also, even the most seem-to-be eccentric idea, "death preparation" can be interpreted as a hint to live without regrets. In fact, 46 persons out of 50 answered that they have heard of the word "bushido", and about 85% of them said their image toward it is more or less "good".
The society is said to be losing the ethics, and people there are living without spiritual core. However, there is no ready-made ethics, and it is not the true "ethics" if one would be forced to follow some discipline, for it should be a spontaneous motivation. Therefore, now is the time to make use of bushido. Its education is not compelling. In stead of forcing people to follow strict rules, bushido suggest the usefulness of having own aesthetics. Those who called to be great samurai were the people who had established their own criterion and aesthetics, in other words, inner rules. Having own aesthetics and live with it will make one's life simple, and the society itself might change only if those people increased. Finding own aesthetics is easy, the difficult part is practice it. Do what you think you "should" do, instead of doing what you "want" to. That is your way of samurai.
Works Cited
Daidoji, Yuzan. Budoshoshinshu[The Cord of the Samurai]. 6th ed. Trans. Yoshida, Yutaka and the author of this paper. Tokuma Shoten, Tokyo. 1978.
Nitobe, Inazo. Bushido: The Soul of Japan. 10th ed. Ed. Gliffis, Eliot.
New York and London, G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1905.
Sato, Hiroaki. Legends of the Samurai. The Overlook Press, Wood stock, New York. 1995.
Sato, Masahiro. Nihon no Kokoro to "Bushido"[ Bushido and the Soul of Japan]. Trans. the author of this paper. Kyobunkan, Tokyo. 2001.
Yamamoto, Tsunetomo. HAGAKURE, the Book of the Samurai. 3rd ed. Trans. William Scott Wilson, Kodansha International Ltd., Tokyo, New York & San Francisco. 1987.
Winston L, King. Zen and the Way of the Sword. Oxford University Press. New York, Oxford. 1993.
Appendixes
1The main questions on the survey which was cocducted by the author. (Original questions are in Japanese.)
1) Have you ever heard of the word "Bushido"?
2) Is your Image of it "good" or "bad"?
3) If you come up with any specific things to hear "bushido", write freely.
4) How do you think of telling lies? Chose one.
* Even if there is reasons, cannot be accepted.
* Although it is bad, sometimes necessary.
* Telling lies is not that bad thing.
* I have no scruples about lying.
5) If you tell a lie, which situation is more? Chose one.
* When telling truth may involve others into troubles.
* When telling truth may involve yourself into troubles.
6) How do you think of making excuses? Chose one.
*I do not do, because I think that I shoud not.
*I do, though I think I should not.
*I do, and I do not care making excuses.
7) Is it important for you to be polite and to have good manners?
2Bibliography.
Blomberg, Catharina. The Heart of the Warrior. Japan Library, Sandgate, Folkestone, Kent. 1994.
Fields, Rick. The Cord of the Warrior. New York, Harper Collins Publishers. 1991.
Ghost Dog. Dir. Jim Jarmusch. Plywood Production, inc. 1999.
Hagakure. vol.1-3. 30th ed. ed. Watsuji, Tetsuro and Hurukawa, Tetsushi. Iwanamishoten, Tokyo, Japan. 2000.
Leggett, Trevor. Zen and the Ways. 6th ed. Charles E. Tuttle company, inc. of Rutland Vermont and Tokyo, Japan. 1993. --- Three Ages of Zen. Charles E. Tuttle company, inc. of Rutland ermont and Tokyo. Japan.1993.
Sagara, Toru. Bushido. 4th ed. Kakine Shobou, Tokyo. 1981.
The Cord of the Samurai Trans. A.L.sadler. Charles E.Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vemont, & Tokyo, japan.
Zen to Budo -Zen to Nihon Bunka 6- [Zen and the Martial Arts -Zen and Japanese Culture 6-. Ed. Kamata,Shigeo. Perikansha, Tokyo. 1997.
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