HUMAN AUTONOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY-HUMN F002

The impact of Samurai Bushido culture on Japanese civilization

The Japanese Samurai warriors adhered to a code of conduct known as Bushido, which forced them how to live with honor. In Japanese, Bushi means warrior or soldier while Do refers to “The Way.” Therefore, Bushido simply refers to “The Way of a Warrior.” The Samurai culture of Bushido emerged during the centuries of martial law and civil war before United Japan established peace and this code of conduct in the 17^th century. Therefore, the Bushido culture focused on creating a balance between the martial and civil aspects of the political, social, and personal organization during the Samurai regime.[1] This balance was significant in restraining martial prowess, which at that time was degenerating into aggression, and preventing civil deference, which was also deteriorating into weakness. However, in between the attempts of peace and war, there were unavoidable uncertainties on the way of the warrior, which led to divergent paths of practice. In light of these statements, this paper seeks to examine the Bushido culture of the Samurai, its development, and how it impacted civilization while generating contradictions that had been generated due to disparities between military and civil outlook and experience.

Development of Bushido

Bushido was developed to provide a domain of discipline because this was a critical concern to a dominant warrior class as this code of conduct preserved their authority. Therefore, observing the code of conduct meant honoring secular skills while observing military preparedness and martial discipline.[2] The Samurai caste needed attention to public appearance, imagery, and opinion while maintaining legal structures and social organization. While Bushido redefined the roles that were to be played by Samurai in society, it emphasized intellectual and moral leadership together with martial supremacy. The literature of Bushido provides prescriptions for instilling professional and personal values of conduct, nobility of character, integrity, dignity, and civility among the Samurai, preparing them technically for judicial, administrative, and advisory roles and educating the warrior class. Additionally, Bushido incorporated seven virtues that helped the Samurai to find their own path in life. These virtues included loyalty, honor, honesty, respect, benevolence, courage, and rectitude.[3] In this way, the Samurai were able to develop new traditional doctrines of Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

Samurai Fight against Mongol Invasion

One major group the Samurai fought against were the Mongol invasion during the 13^th century.  We learned that the end of this period was ushered in by a stretch of prosperity and peace in Japan and in adherence to the Bushido culture, the Samurai used civil means to govern instead of military force. The civil worldview of Bushido, both professional and personal, was characterized by a Confucianism outlook since this had been considered the standard political discourse for many years.[4] It makes us believe that the Samurai prepared for war by training through “polite” and arms learning, in accordance with Confucianism principles. As a Samurai doctrine, Bushido was incorporated into the Confucian belief whereby leaders were required to cultivate personal capacities, conduct, and character morally, intellectually, and emotionally in order to impartially and ably perform their duties. Consequently, this enabled the Samurai to earn obedience, allegiance, and administration of their people while ordering peer relations peacefully.

One central aspect of Confucianism that was incorporated into Bushido culture is the preparation of people to offer public service. Through this orientation, the Samurai were able to develop a cultural foundation that was based on secular humanism and social responsibility. Consequently, this created an organic connection between the state and the person where people were encouraged to practice specific civil virtues that enhanced political and social relationships. Japanese warrior caste viewed Confucianism as an aspect that would promote concepts related to civic virtue as this was essential in promoting the Bushido culture of the Samurai.[5] While the Confucian philosophy is a prominent aspect of Bushido culture, political thinkers in Japan also echoed its importance in promoting elements of Legalism, which emphasized the significance of laws, authority and education. This convinced Japanese emperors to consider Confucianism as an important aspect of the Bushido culture that aimed at bringing civilization to the warrior class through its emphasis on education.[6] Confucianism also contributed highly towards the melding of military and civil concepts in Bushido hence enhancing the virtual identification of martial and civic values. Consequently, Confucianism was emphasized as a civil culture for promoting Bushido values of transparency and honesty hence its civilizing purpose.

While advocating for the civic virtues associated with Confucianism, the Samurai incorporated Buddhism into their Bushido culture in relation to acceptance of death, self-transcendence as well as professional requirements for the warriors. The Samurai also considered the incorporation of Buddhism into their Bushido culture as an effort to promote principles of political and personal morality, which contributed highly to the Japanese culture. Additionally, the Samurai valued Buddhism as a religious or cultural instrument and political tool, which they could use in acquiring immense authority without using a secular state structure.[7] It make us understand that by integrating Buddhism into the Bushido culture, the Samurai were able to create a symbiotic relationship between religion and politics in Japan.

Impact of Bushido on Civilization

In hearkening Japanese civilization, integration of the Shinto aspect in Bushido was a critical development to the Samurai culture. While Shinto lore aimed at enhancing national identity during the seventeenth century, the Samurai used it to do away with the inferiority complex that the Chinese culture had developed towards the Japanese culture. The Samurai philosophy focused on creating a distinction between the Japanese tradition and the classical Chinese ideals in order to obtain permanent military rule. The atmosphere and background of such intellectual evolution were initiated by Yamaga, who referred to Japan as the central point of civilization as he considered China to be a “foreign country.” Yamaga believed that ethical values integrated into Bushido and Shinto could elevate judgments made by the Samurai.[8]  The Shinto vision enhanced unique unbroken continuity, which enabled the Samurai to counter political weakness and instability that had resulted from foreign subjugation. In the past centuries, Japan had suffered symptoms of usurpation, revolt, and fragmentation while trying to embrace Chinese ideologies. Therefore, Japanese thinkers intended to establish social stability in the 17^th century by incorporating Shinto into Bushido while maintaining discipline and constant vigilance. These are the conditions that were stimulated during the development of the Bushido culture after the stabilization and pacification of Japanese politics and society during the reign of the Tokugawa Shoguns.

Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism were combined in Japanese customs and culture and were represented by different elements. This synthesis took different forms including literary, ritual, political, religious, artistic and intellectual. The incorporation of Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism into Bushido rationalized the roles played by the military in any civilized society. For instance, we learned during the Tokugawa regime, a Samurai’s conduct and character were of great concern in relation to the roles assigned to them such as being educators, administrators and political leaders. Yamaga Soko sought to enhance the significance of Bushido by analyzing the capacities of peace and war from an integrated personality. Yamaga Soko believed that a Samurai required personal development in all fields, with emphasis on the cultivation of humanness and elevation of character.[9] Additionally, Bushido defined manners that were considered to be proper for warriors such as use of the equipment, house construction, diet and dress. The logic of Bushido was to inspire the Samurai to develop a culture of correcting others as a way of bringing peace and order to society hence attaining honor and success.[10] Therefore, along with other social relations, the Samurai were required to engage in matters associated with warrior hood.

Conclusively, after an honest examination of different primary and secondary sources, it is evident that Bushido was an important moral code of conduct that encouraged the personal development of the Samurai. Additionally, Bushido incorporated doctrines of Shinto, Confucianism and Buddhism, which emphasize the principles of self-control, the duty of loyalty, honor, truthfulness, politeness, benevolence, courage and justice. These moral values improved and promoted the character of Japanese people, which enhanced civilization by distinguishing the consequences of peace from those of war as more individuals were able to choose between what is right and what is wrong. The study also revealed that incorporating the aspects of Confucianism such as the elements of Legalism in Bushido enabled the Samurai to echo the significance of promoting education and the rule of law since such aspects aimed at bringing civilization to the warrior class and the entire Japanese society and its civilization.

Bibliography

Cleary, Thomas. Code of the Samurai: a modern translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke. Tuttle Publishing, 2011.

De Bary, Wm Theodore, Carol Gluck, and Arthur Tiedemann, eds. Sources of Japanese tradition: 1600 to 2000. Columbia University Press, 2005.

De Mente, Boye Lafayette. Japanese Samurai Code: Classic Strategies for Success. Tuttle Publishing, 2011.

Nitobe, Inazo. Bushido: The Soul of the Samurai. Shambhala Publications, 2016.      

Samurai and the Warrior Culture of Japan, 471–1877: A Sourcebook. Hackett Publishing, 2022.

Watson, Burton, and Haruo Shirane. The Tales of the Heike. Columbia University Press, 2006.

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[1] Cleary, Thomas. Code of the Samurai: a modern translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke. Tuttle Publishing, 2011. Thomas Cleary wrote the Bushido as the code of behavior and honor for a Japanese warrior class that emphasized loyalty, courage and self-discipline.

[2] Watson, Burton, and Haruo Shirane. The Tales of the Heike. Columbia University Press, 2006.

[3] Daidoji, Yuzan. The Code of the Samurai (1600s). The code was written from the perspective of a vassal or retainer to express a samurai’s chief business and the virtues valued by the samurai.

[4] Samurai and the Warrior Culture of Japan, 471–1877: A Sourcebook. Hackett Publishing, 2022.

[5] De Bary, Wm Theodore, Carol Gluck, and Arthur Tiedemann, eds. Sources of Japanese tradition: 1600 to 2000. Columbia University Press, 2005.

[6] Nitobe, Inazo. Bushido: The Soul of the Samurai. Shambhala Publications, 2016.

[7] Samurai and the Warrior Culture of Japan, 471–187

[8] Yamaga Soko, one of the most influential philosophers commonly cited in Bushido, Zen and Taoist texts. Yamaga Soko lived about 1622-1685, which were latter days for China’s Warring States era. Yamaga Soko is known for writing the first treatises, which analyzed the culture of Bushido while coining the term.

[9] Yamaga Soko, 1685.

[10] De Mente, Boye Lafayette. Japanese Samurai Code: Classic Strategies for Success. Tuttle Publishing, 2011.