Samurai and Bushido
Samurai today enjoy widespread popularity due to their depiction in western media as katana wielding warriors with a strict code of honor, comparable to the knights of arthurian legends. In reality, these two were not so different, as each upheld a similar code of conduct and chivalry. The Japanese variant, the samurai, followed a code of honor named Bushido, literally “The Way of the Warrior”.
When the Chinese visited Japan in the early 5th century BCE, they brought not only their writing system (the hanzi, ancestor of Japan’s modern kanji), but the ideas of Confucianism and Buddhism. These philosophies, along with Japan’s Shinto practices, helped shape the ideals of Bushido. Over the course of centuries, Bushido evolved into a samurai moral code stressing frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death.
The code allowed for samurai violence to be tempered by wisdom, and soon evolved into a unique philosophy in Japan. Under the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1700s, Bushido was formalized into Japanese law, and various Japanese literary works, from as early as the 12th century, identify Bushido as particularly influential in Japan.
Bushido was aimed at leading samurai through a noble life, at the end of which a noble death with would be their reward. Had the samurai shamed himself or his family in any way, however, it was permitted he commit seppuku, ritual suicide, by stabbing himself in the abdomen, to regain his honor. This ritual was common among generals who had lost battles for their lords, and among the samurai in general.
Loosely centered among the seven virtues (rectitude, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor, and loyalty) Bushido also suggested that in order to live an honorable life, men must go out to seek battle and glory, for “Hiding like a turtle in it’s shell is not a way of living”.
Loosely analogous to chivalry in England, Bushido stressed peace and honor unto it’s samurai, and
When the Chinese visited Japan in the early 5th century BCE, they brought not only their writing system (the hanzi, ancestor of Japan’s modern kanji), but the ideas of Confucianism and Buddhism. These philosophies, along with Japan’s Shinto practices, helped shape the ideals of Bushido. Over the course of centuries, Bushido evolved into a samurai moral code stressing frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death.
The code allowed for samurai violence to be tempered by wisdom, and soon evolved into a unique philosophy in Japan. Under the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1700s, Bushido was formalized into Japanese law, and various Japanese literary works, from as early as the 12th century, identify Bushido as particularly influential in Japan.
Bushido was aimed at leading samurai through a noble life, at the end of which a noble death with would be their reward. Had the samurai shamed himself or his family in any way, however, it was permitted he commit seppuku, ritual suicide, by stabbing himself in the abdomen, to regain his honor. This ritual was common among generals who had lost battles for their lords, and among the samurai in general.
Loosely centered among the seven virtues (rectitude, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor, and loyalty) Bushido also suggested that in order to live an honorable life, men must go out to seek battle and glory, for “Hiding like a turtle in it’s shell is not a way of living”.
Loosely analogous to chivalry in England, Bushido stressed peace and honor unto it’s samurai, and