Bushido - The way of the Warrior

Introduction

I always had a interest in Japanese culture, their customs and ways of living according to balance with nature, or so i would like to believe.. Their culture reminds in a similar way to the Scandinavian, before our transition to the Christian belief system[1][2].
Their Eastern Island shielded them a long time from the Christian Missionaries and every attempt was shut down with force, and it wasnt until the late 19th century small steps were being made to introduce their ways to the modern world, and it had its conflicts.[3]

Just like our history tells us about our transition, the Scandinavians would rather die than being told their obligation, and i know people think of the Vikings of something special and mysterious,but people forget they would turn rivers red, arriving on their dragon boats.

Bartering, pillaging, ransacking, raping, every culture that wasnt theirs. People became no more than slaves to a Scandinavian master.
There are legends here [4][5] that would make people wonder if they were monsters, we say its just a myth, but still the bones lies buried deep so no one knows the true story behind it all.

But here it wasnt called Bushido[6] it was called Valhalla[7] with 540 gold plated doors and try running from a Scandinavian over 6 feet tall with a sword, weighing 250 pounds and pumped full of drugs, and they didnt have a gun at that time and age for defense, instead they felt a blunted weapon that crushed more than sliced.

Over time things changes and new walls are being built, laws based on intentions[8] instead of moral, a trickle down taxation system[9]instead of a ruling class having it all and education for everyone, not just the privileged. Compromises came in place over decades that followed and in the ages of transition things are never easy, because some are not willing of letting things go.

I still believe they are like the Scandinavians, tolerant and respectful towards other cultures, having an understanding about the world and not just a book of knowledge that contributes to a fantasy. Always being taught to remember about their cultural violent past and given choices to chose wisely, violence is never a first resort and should not even be considered an option if its not for self defense.

The easy part is being an animal, the hard part is learning how to be human.


Bushido - The way of the Warrior

The etymology of the word bushido (n.)
1898, from Japanese, said to mean literally "military-knight way."[10]

Bushido (武士道?, "the way (or the moral) of the warrior") is a Japanese term for the samurai way of life, a code to live by that was also based in a moral way of life.

The "way" itself originates from the samurai moral values, most commonly stressing some combination of frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor until death. Born from Neo-Confucianism[11] during times of peace in Tokugawa Japan and following Confucian texts, Bushido was also influenced by Shinto and Zen Buddhism[12][13], allowing the violent existence of the samurai to be tempered by wisdom and serenity.

Bushidō developed between the 16th and 20th centuries, the word was first used in Japan during the 17th century in Kōyō Gunkan. It came into common usage in Japan and the West after the 1899 publication of Nitobe Inazō's Bushido: The Soul of Japan[14].

In Bushido (1899), Nitobe wrote:

[…] Bushidō, then, is the code of moral principles which the samurai were required or instructed to observe […] More frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten […] It was an organic growth of decades and centuries of military career. In order to become a samurai this code has to be mastered.
Nitobe was not the first to document Japanese chivalry in this way. In Feudal and Modern Japan [15] (1896), historian Arthur May Knapp wrote: "The samurai of thirty years ago had behind him a thousand years of training in the law of honor, obedience, duty, and self-sacrifice.... It was not needed to create or establish them. As a child he had but to be instructed, as indeed he was from his earliest years, in the etiquette of self-immolation."[16][pdf]

Recent scholarship in both Japan and abroad has focused on differences between the samurai class and the bushidō theories that developed in modern Japan. Bushidō in the prewar period was often emperor-centered and placed much greater value on the virtues of loyalty and self-sacrifice. Bushidō was used as a propaganda tool by the government and military, who doctored it to suit their needs. Scholars of Japanese history agree that the bushidō that spread throughout modern Japan was not a continuation of earlier traditions.

More recently, it has been argued that modern bushidō discourse originated in the 1880s as a response to foreign stimuli, such as the English concept of "gentlemanship", by Japanese with considerable exposure to Western culture. This relatively pacifistic bushidō was then hijacked and adapted by militarists and the government from the early 1900s onward as nationalism increased, declaring that " the spirit of bushido was invoked to urge that all depended on the firm and united soul of the nation "it explicitly declared to modern critics that the spirit of bushido thus exemplified should not be revived at any cost.




[1]Religion in Sweden
[2]Swedish Christian History
[3]Christianity in Japan
[4]Ättestupan
[5]Midvinterblot
[6]Bushido
[7]Valhalla
[8]Intention ( Criminal Law )
[9]Trickle-Down economics
[10]Etymology
[11]Neo-Confucianism
[12]Shinto
[13]Zen-Buddhism
[14]Bushido: The Soul of Japan
[15]Feudal and Modern Japan - Amazon
[16]The Soul of Japan: Free Pdf

Eight virtues of Bushidō (as envisioned by Nitobe Inazo)

The Bushidō code is typified by eight virtues:

Righteousness, Integrity (義 gi)
Be acutely honest throughout your dealings with all people. Believe in justice, not from other people, but from yourself. To the true warrior, all points of view are deeply considered regarding honestly, justice and integrity. Warriors make a full commitment to their decisions.

Heroic Courage (勇 yū)
Hiding like a turtle in a shell is not living at all. A true warrior must have heroic courage. It is absolutely risky. It is living life completely, fully and wonderfully. Heroic courage is not blind. It is intelligent and strong.

Benevolence, Compassion (仁 jin)
Through intense training and hard work the true warrior becomes quick and strong. They are not as most people. They develop a power that must be used for good. They have compassion. They help their fellow man at every opportunity. If an opportunity does not arise, they go out of their way to find one.

Respect (礼 rei)
True warriors have no reason to be cruel. They do not need to prove their strength. Warriors are not only respected for their strength in battle, but also by their dealings with others. The true strength of a warrior becomes apparent during difficult times.

Honesty and Sincerity (誠 makoto)
When warriors say that they will perform an action, it is as good as done. Nothinng will stop them from completing what they say they will do. They do not have to 'give their word'. They do not have to 'promise'. Speaking and doing are the same action.

Honour (名誉 meiyo)
Warriors have only one judge of honor and character, and this is themselves. Decisions they make and how these decisions are carried out is a reflection of whom they truly are. You cannot hide from yourself.

Duty and Loyalty (忠義 chūgi)
Warriors are responsible for everything that they have done and everything that they have said, and all of the consequences that follow. They are immensely loyal to all of those in their care. To everyone that they are responsible for, they remain fiercely true.

Self-Control (自制 jisei)

a reply to: tikbalang

But here it wasnt called Bushido[6] it was called Valhalla[7] with 540 gold plated doors and try running from a Scandinavian over 6 feet tall with a sword, weighing 250 pounds and pumped full of drugs, and they didnt have a gun at that time and age for defense, instead they felt a blunted weapon that crushed more than sliced.

We Scots didnt run now did we???

great stuff and a pdf to the book is very appreciated!

one of best movies for me is the last samurai and i remember animes about them like: the legend of seven samurais, samurai champloo and rurouni kenshin .. all really good and have learned a bit of their ways.

Oh i also remembered a seinen (adult content) manga Vagabond, which is the close depiction of a life story of Musashi, known as one of the best samurais in history...it is a really great read, with a lot of developments and how he matured ... from a young mad man/monster to a samurai...human being!
great material and an insight for what kind of internal mental battles he was going through, due to killing all of those people in battles...and how he overcame them all with inner strength, which we all can cultivate and train everyday.

somehow i am attracted to ancient japan and their culture since kid days, when i was playing with wooden stick imagining it is a katana or sword...and just swinging it all around.


i think they realized the need to develop human qualities and virtues as much as possible if they want to keep their sanity and purity of mind body and spirit. Which is also something we or i want to cultivate ...even if i don't have a katana in my hand i can have one in my mind and learn how to slash inner obstacle, holding me back towards being a better human being.

Crap, big pile of steaming crap

Go read a book
The Knights of bushido
See what they did to allied prisoners in world war 2
They were inhuman monsters, utter filth with nothing but contempt for human life, even their own people's lives

Unfreqkingbelievable

How people today get sucked into believing this nonsense is beyond comprehension

Bushido are utter filth, worse than ss nazis
Go study history

I think you are a mite wrong to class Valhalla with Bushido. Bushido was a way of life, rules to govern your life. Whereas Valhalla was the Norse "heaven" if you like, a place warriors went to if they died honorably.
There never were a class of people called Vikings. They were either Danes or Norsemen (north men). The term Viking comes from the act of Danes etc. going on the act of raiding. It was to go on the act of Viking.

a reply to: crayzeed

Valhalla only let "noble Warriors" in

Scandinavian pirate, 1801, vikingr, in "The History of the Anglo-Saxons" by English historian Sharon H. Turner (1768-1847); he suggested the second element might be connected to king:
The name by which the pirates were at first distinguished was Vikingr, which perhaps originally meant kings of the bays. It was in bays that they ambushed, to dart upon the passing voyager.

But this later was dismissed as incorrect. The form viking is attested in 1820, in Jamieson's notes to "The Bruce." The word is a historians' revival; it was not used in Middle English, but it was reintroduced from Old Norse vikingr "freebooter, sea-rover, pirate, viking," which usually is explained as meaning properly "one who came from the fjords," from vik "creek, inlet, small bay" (cognate with Old English wic, Middle High German wich "bay," and second element in Reykjavik). But Old English wicing and Old Frisian wizing are almost 300 years older than the earliest attestation of the Old Norse word, and probably derive from wic "village, camp" (large temporary camps were a feature of the Viking raids), related to Latin vicus "village, habitation" (see villa).

The connection between the Norse and Old English words is still much debated. The period of Viking activity was roughly 8c. to 11c. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the raiding armies generally were referred to as þa Deniscan "the Danes," while those who settled in England were identified by their place of settlement. Old Norse viking (n.) meant "freebooting voyage, piracy;" one would "go on a viking" (fara í viking).

a reply to: Raggedyman

Crap, big pile of steaming crap

Go read a book
The Knights of bushido
See what they did to allied prisoners in world war 2
They were inhuman monsters, utter filth with nothing but contempt for human life, even their own people's lives

Unfreqkingbelievable

How people today get sucked into believing this nonsense is beyond comprehension

Bushido are utter filth, worse than ss nazis
Go study history

You care to elaborate? Do you believe that there is a good and a evil side to a war?

originally posted by: Raggedyman
Crap, big pile of steaming crap

Go read a book
The Knights of bushido
See what they did to allied prisoners in world war 2
They were inhuman monsters, utter filth with nothing but contempt for human life, even their own people's lives

Unfreqkingbelievable

How people today get sucked into believing this nonsense is beyond comprehension

Bushido are utter filth, worse than ss nazis
Go study history

See what the U.S. did to Japanese civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. See the honor Japan displayed in cooperating with the U.S. after they surrendered... still on good terms today. It's all a matter of perspective. So no. You go study history. And this time do it properly, looking at it through an objective lens like a historian, and not your own personal agenda.

Every culture in the world has had issues adapting their pre-industrial culture to modern times. It's important to note, Japan transformed from a isolationist third-world country to an Asian superpower in the matter of a few decades. And unlike Russia, Japan did it without killing tens of millions of peasants, sending thousands to labor camps, and assassinating thousands more. This transformation was able to happen because of the powerful influence of Bushido propelling Japan forward.

But when it came to war with the U.S., the same force of Bushido that propelled Japan to become a superpower also became its downfall. Blind deference to superiors, distaste for logistics, and a belief that the Japanese fighting spirit alone was enough to defeat the Americans eventually lost out to American pragmatism and logistical superiority. The Japanese were very proficient in the tactical level, but did not see a need to be proficient at the strategic level, and they believed their tactical superiority was enough to win. The Americans were far superior to the Japanese at the strategic level, with better industrial capabilities, manpower, and coordination between Army and Navy.

Today, the battle between Bushido and the West still rages on, but on a different battlefield. This battle takes place today on the baseball field. Japanese baseball is one of the last places where Bushido still has a powerful influence. Japanese baseball players are an elite class within their society, much like the samurai used to be. They undergo grueling physical training, more for the goal of discipline than anything baseball related. I would say running laps around your school for 5 hours after practice with no water is more of a disciplinary measure than baseball training. And it's interesting, we see this battle today in the MLB, and most Japanese pitchers come over and for the first 2 years, are some of the best pitchers in the league. But then the grueling past, the disregard for personal health, the deference to superiors who don't have your best interests in mind, these things all come to the surface as their arms start falling apart. And as injuries inevitably take their toll, they pitch less and less, and when they do, are never what they used to be.

Bushido is an interesting subject. On the one hand, we tend to romanticize the positive aspects of Bushido such as honor and loyalty that we wish we could see more of in our society. But on the other hand, every time Bushido has fought against the West, it has lost. The Japanese have realized this. In the long term, the negative aspects of Bushido outweigh the positives. They have adapted their society to the West in order to remain competitive. The subject of Bushido always reminds me of the Native Americans. Some Native Americans may have had a beautiful culture, with their respect for nature and what not, but when it came to defending themselves, they were incapable. For the most part, they would rather die with their culture than assimilate into Western culture. But the Japanese, they chose to adapt. Despite the dishonor they would face in adapting to Western culture, it would be even more of a dishonor to give up, and allow foreigners to occupy their land.

By the way, I feel like this thread is in the wrong forum?

La reply to: Wang Tang

Yeah, woopsy me, how dare I say feudal systems are bad, bring back the peasants
Bushido, 5 hours of running around with no water, how admirable, what heroes

Stupidity and torture and you are telling me you would want that for your own child?

What happened in China or Korea, Taiwan, the Phillipines, Malaysia, Singapore et al.
At least the US stopped a rising empire of psychopaths, the bushido stupidity meant two bombs had to be dropped not just one
A logical compassionate leader, not this bushido stupidity clown would have seen the devastation of the first bomb and surrendered rather than say "bushido stupidity says we fight on, don't worry about lives, worry about my stupid honour"
Blame Japan for their own demise
Thank God they put bushido to bed and moved forward

bushido, peasants dying for their masters honour, yeah

a reply to: Raggedyman

What happened in China or Korea, Taiwan, the Phillipines, Malaysia, Singapore et al.

Please do tell what happened?

a reply to: Raggedyman

You are missing the point. But that's ok, I didn't expect any better. A logical compassionate leader? We didn't end up at World War II because the world powers had logical compassionate leaders. You have a very simplistic view of history. Knowing historical events does not make you a historian. You also need to know perspective.

Perspective means the ability to consider things in relation to one another accurately and fairly
[ U ] With more maturity and experience, you will gradually acquire perspective
from the Cambridge Dictionary

Until you learn perspective, you won't be doing much denying of ignorance, you'll just continue to propagate it.

originally posted by: Wang Tang
a reply to: Raggedyman

You are missing the point. But that's ok, I didn't expect any better. A logical compassionate leader? We didn't end up at World War II because the world powers had logical compassionate leaders. You have a very simplistic view of history. Knowing historical events does not make you a historian. You also need to know perspective.

Perspective means the ability to consider things in relation to one another accurately and fairly
[ U ] With more maturity and experience, you will gradually acquire perspective
from the Cambridge Dictionary

Until you learn perspective, you won't be doing much denying of ignorance, you'll just continue to propagate it.

But your logic is blaming the US for bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thats just ludicrous.
If the Japanese surrendered when they were defeated it would have ended without the destruction.
Even after the first Nuke, the retarded emperor in his cave somewhere with his bushido sword said fight to the death, drop more bombs. Arrogant mental case he was with his bushido honour

He was safe in his bushido cave hiding from the bombs and could not have cared less about his subjects

Cut the crap

Emperor Horrorhito and his bushido bull.... was a maniac, behind the slaughtering of millions, bushido code

Call me ignorant and espouse the bushido, what a daydreamer, murderers, go read the book I suggested