Bushido: The Classic Portrait of Samurai Martial Culture

159 Pages·2004·5.89 MB·English

by  Inazo Nitobe

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Bushido
The Soul of Japan
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Bushido
The Soul of Japan
Inazo Nitobe
Bushido©:Layout 1 3/21/11 9:16 AM Page 1
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
ww.tuttlepublishing.com
Copyright © 1969 By Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission
from the publisher.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition, Bushido: the soul of
Japan, as follows:
LCC Card No. 77083070
ISBN 978-0-8048-3628-9
ISBN 978-4-8053-1112-7 (for sale in Japan only)
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To my beloved uncle
Tokitoshi Ota
whotaught meto revere the past
and
to admire the deeds of the samurai
Idedicate
this little book

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Table of Contents
Publisher’s Foreword ix
Preface to the First Edition xi
Introduction xv
Chapter I Bushido as an Ethical System 1
Chapter II Sources of Bushido 7
Chapter III Rectitude or Justice 15
Chapter IV Courage, the Spirit of Daring and Bearing 19
Chapter V Benevolence, the Feeling of Distress 25
Chapter VI Politeness 35
Chapter VII Veracityand Sincerity 43
Chapter VIII Honor 51
Chapter IX The Duty of Loyalty 57
Chapter X The Education and Training of a Samurai 65
Chapter XI Self-Control 71
Chapter XII The Institutions of Suicide and Redress 77
Chapter XIII TheSword, the Soul of the Samurai 91
Chapter XIV The Training and Position of Woman 95
Chapter XV The Influence of Bushido 109
Chapter XVI Is Bushido Still Alive? 115
Chapter XVII The Future of Bushido 125
Index 132

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Publisher’s Foreword
This attractive little book explaining the “soul of Japan”
has had a remarkable welcome and response since it
was first published in 1905. Today the demand is as
great as ever despite the “Westernization” of Japan.
Possibly the chief reason for the demand is that the
book answered and continues to answer, for the
Japanese as well as the Westerner, the reason why cer-
tain ideas and customs prevail in Japan.
Bushido has been variously defined, but it would
seem that the definition most generally accepted is that
Bushido is the unwritten code of laws governing the
lives and conduct of the nobles of Japan, equivalent in
many ways to the European chivalry.
The knights and nobles of feudal Japan were the
samurai, retainers of the daimyo. Thus, Bushido was the
code of conduct of the samurai, the aristocratic warrior
class which arose during the wars of the twelfth cen-
tury between the Taira and Minamoto clans—and came
to glorious fruition in the Tokugawa period.
The samurai cultivated the martial virtues, were
indifferent to death and pain in their loyalty to their
overlords. Samurai were privileged to wear two swords,
which were in turn “the soul of the samurai,” accord-
ing to Nitobe.
Bushido presents the cause of Japan in simple but
sincere and very readable terms. The author illustrates
ix