Bushido C64

[Ilene Dycus]

Ideas of the samurai code formalized earlier samurai moral values and ethics, most commonly stressing a combination of sincerity, frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, honour until death,[9] "bravery", and "loyalty to the samurai's lord."[10] The idea of a samurai code or codes was developed and refined centuries before the Edo period in the Kamakura period.[9]

The term bushido itself is "rarely attested in pre-modern literature",[11] but a code of honor did exist among the writing elite and historians who were generally disgusted enough at the dishonorable activity of some fighters such as shinobi as to rarely mention them.[12] Ideas of honor that led to bushido developed in reaction to the dishonorable behavior of samurai that had always existed,[13] newer stealth and espionage techniques,[12] and Zen Buddhist soldier tenets.[14]

Honor in battle, as expressed through announcing one's family name and/or lineages before fighting, attempting to limit fights among warrior nobles to horseback archery or sword[15] duels[16] with no subterfuge or trickery, and conducting oneself like a legendary character or renowned hero (tales of daring were popular in the Kamakura period[17]),[18] was a notable idea in the Kamakura period, due to the relative peace of Japan during this time.[19] Pre-bushido honor codes during this time were also contributed to by commoners, who sometimes took on similar roles to samurai[13] and often used their family names as introductions to fighting despite not being noble.[19] However, even during the relatively small family and land quarrels of this time, as well as duels thought to be honorable, warriors often disregarded these norms of combat and the announcement of family names or lineages was mostly a way to brag and assert a right to fight and/or gain whatever a faction was looking for after a fight.[18][19] Outright bragging was also known to happen.[12] These already tenuous codes of honor were weakened when the Japanese, expecting the invading Mongols to be laid-back with their combat, humiliatingly sent an envoy that fired a noisemaker arrow to officially commence the start of what the Japanese assumed would be a series of small duels and skirmishes.[19] Additionally, Mongols usually cut swathes through soldiers that attempted to announce their lineages before facing them.[18] Despite ultimately winning against the Mongols, these honor norms, along with the shogunate, were weakened enough to cause endemic division that led to the end of the Kamakura period and the court wars of the Nanboku-chō period.

There is no strict definition, and interpretations of the code have varied over time.[21] Bushido has undergone many changes throughout Japanese history, and various Japanese clans interpreted it in their own way until the 19th century, enough for it to be most often a series of unwritten oral expectations that could be described as different codes, with further variations likely existing in the same warrior noble house, rather than a single code.[22]

One of the earliest known usages of bushido is in the extremely influential[23] late 16th century text The Military Mirror of Kai, where it was used to describe unwritten rules in a complex metaphorical way that commoners could purportedly not live up to.[18]

Another early use of the written term is in the Kōyō Gunkan in 1616 by Kōsaka Masanobu. In 1685, the ukiyo-e book Kokon Bushidō ezukushi (古今武士道絵つくし, "Images of Bushidō Through the Ages") by artist Hishikawa Moronobu included the term and artwork of samurai with simple descriptions meant for children.[1] In 1642, the Kashoki (可笑記, "Amusing Notes") was written by samurai Saito Chikamori and included moral precepts which explained the theoretical aspects of bushido.[1][24] It was written with accessible kana and intended for commoners, not warriors.[1] It was very popular, demonstrating that the idea of bushido had spread among the population.[1] The Kashoki shows that moral values were present in bushido by 1642.[1][further explanation needed]

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.[8]

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.[26]

Bushidō (武士道) is a Japanese word that literally means "warrior way". It is first attested in the 1616 work Kōyō Gunkan (甲陽軍鑑), a military chronicle recording the exploits of the Takeda clan.[27] The term is a compound of bushi (武士, "warrior", literally 'military + man'), a Chinese-derived word first attested in Japanese in 712 with the on'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading), and dō (道, 'road, way').[27][28][29] In modern usage, bushi is often used as a synonym for samurai;[27][28][29] however, historical sources make it clear that bushi and samurai were distinct concepts, with the former referring to soldiers or warriors and the latter referring instead to a kind of hereditary nobility.[30][31]

Bushido is often described as a specific moral code that all members of the samurai class were obligated to follow. However, historically, the samurai adhered to multiple warrior codes and the interpretations varied per samurai clan, individuals and eras.[1][2][4][42][5] These codes and philosophies changed dramatically during the different eras. The earliest proto-bushido type existed since the Kamakura period (1185).[34][35][20] The degrees of devotion and interpretations varied between individuals.[5] Since at least the Sengoku period, samurai didn't have compunction to use certain weapons.[5] Retreating from battles did occur if it was unwinnable while others chose to fight till the end.[5] Samurai did not actively seek an honorable death.[5] However, it was honorable to die in the service of a daimyo only while furthering the daimyo's cause.[5]

Samurai had dark customs, the most notable: Kiri-sute gomen was the right to strike lower class who dishonored them.[5] Seppuku was ritual suicide, to die honorably or restore one's honor.[5][43] Tsujigiri (crossroads killing) to attack a human opponent to test a weapon or skill became rampant in the early Edo period until a ban was issued.[5][44] The exact frequency of tsujigiri is unknown and it was never officially condoned by any samurai clan.[45] However, it and other types of samurai-committed murder did happen enough to become a point of complaint among Europeans.[46][47]

Samurai did head collection with a ritual to beautify severed heads of worthy rivals and put on display.[48] The samurai applied various cruel punishments on criminals. The most common capital punishments up until the Meiji Restoration were (in order of severity): decapitation, decapitation with disgraceful exposure of head post-death, crucifixion (for e.g. parricide), and death by burning with incendiaries.[43] Members of the samurai class had the privilege to perform hara-kiri (suicide disemboweling).[43] If it was not lethal then a friend or relation performed decapitation (kaishaku).[43] In 1597, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered the prosecution of 26 Martyrs of Japan.[49] They were tortured, mutilated, paraded through villages and executed by crucifixion, tied to crosses on a hill and impaled by lances (spears).[50] In the 17th century, the Tokugawa Shogunate executed over 400 Christians (Martyrs of Japan) for being more loyal to their faith than the Shogunate.[49] The capital punishments were beheading, crucifixion, death by burning and Ana-tsurushi (穴吊るし, lit. "hole hanging").

Bushido has been described as Japanese chivalry,[5] and samurai in general have been described as being like Western knights.[51] There are notable similarities and differences depending on which bushido type is compared with chivalry. Christianity had a modifying influence on the virtues of chivalry,[52] whereas bushido was influenced by Zen Buddhism, Shinto, and Confucianism.[53][1][54] Bushido is commonly associated with the moral norms of Nitobe Inazō's Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1900), because his book popularized the term bushido internationally. However, it is a romanticized interpretation of bushido which differs from other historical literature by samurai. Thus, the morals defined by Nitobe do not represent all of bushido. Some researchers claim that chivalric bushido as defined by Nitobe (a.k.a. Meiji Bushido) was invented in the 19th century. However, there is a plethora of historical literature about Japanese warrior codes, practices, philosophies since the Kamakura period. These types can be categorized by era into Sengoku, Edo, Meiji and Contemporary Bushido.[1][55][36][4][53][56][21][39] Therefore the term bushido can be used as an overarching term for all the codes, practices, philosophies and principles of samurai culture.[5][6][7]

Towards the 10th and 11th centuries we began to use expressions such as the way of the man-at-arms (Tsuwamon no michi), the way of the bow and arrows (Kysen / kyya no Michi), the way of the bow and the horse (Kyba no Michi). These expressions refer to practices which are the ancestors of the way of the warrior (bushid) but they did not then imply any relation whatsoever to a morality. These were only practices focused on training for real combat and which therefore had to do with the samurai ways of life in the broad sense.[64]

Carl Steenstrup noted that 13th- and 14th-century writings (gunki monogatari) "portrayed the bushi in their natural element, war, eulogizing such virtues as reckless bravery, fierce family pride, and selfless, at times senseless devotion of master and man".[75]

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