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Thread: Is "Bushido" a myth?

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    Question Is "Bushido" a myth?

    Hi

    I have lately read "Death, Honor and Loyalty: the Bushido Ideal" by G. Cameron Hurst and "Bushido or Bull?" by Karl F. Friday. Both are IMO well written and thought provoking but I still have some questions and incertitudes:

    1: Is the concept of Bushido as a uniform warrior code during Edo and earlier periods wholly mistaken?

    2: If so, did there exist a general notion of a "warrior code" whose exact definition and concept varied (something like Shido )?

    I know there are some very knowledgeable people on this board and I am looking forward to read their opinions.

    Sorry for bad English.
    "The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it."-Marcus Aurelius
    Fabian Känzig

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    I think what you are looking for depends on what you believe Bushido is or was. What we call Bushido today is based the relatively modern writings of Nitobe Inazō (Bushido, the Soul of Japan). His work was heavily influenced by writings like the Hagakure and the Budshido Shoshinshu, older Japanese writings which themselves were somewhat idealized renditions of Samurai traditions written during a time of relative peace.

    Historically, the authentic "Samurai warrior codes" were what were called "house codes"...codes of conduct for Samurai laid out by various Diamyo. These codes along with some writings like "The last statement of Torii Mototada" and popular war chronicles formed the foundation of what was later called "Bushido".

    However, at the height of the Samurai's power there was most likely no codified, established philosophy called "Bushido".
    Last edited by tgace; 11th January 2009 at 22:27.

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    Thanks for the reply!
    I think what you are looking for depends on what you believe Bushido is or was. What we call Bushido today is based the relatively modern writings of Nitobe Inazō (Bushido, the Soul of Japan). His work was heavily influenced by writings like the Hagakure and the Budshido Shoshinshu, older Japanese writings which themselves were somewhat idealized renditions of Samurai traditions written during a time of relative peace.
    Sorry, I forgot to make that clear, I am talking about the concept of the Edo period (Hagakure etc.) not the modern one.

    Historically, the authentic "Samurai warrior codes" were what were called "house codes"...codes of conduct for Samurai laid out by various Diamyo. These codes along with some writings like "The last statement of Torii Mototada" and popular war chronicles formed the foundation of what was later called "Bushido".

    However, at the height of the Samurai's power there was most likely no codified, established philosophy called "Bushido".
    Thanks for the information. The house codes are interesting, especially the similarities and differences to later writings.
    "The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it."-Marcus Aurelius
    Fabian Känzig

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    I would say it is a yes to both your questions. To most westerners there seems to be a notion of a warrior code that specifies everything right down to how a warrior went to the bathroom.
    The truth is, the warrior class was exactly that - a class. A boy born into a warrior house would have been raised in that mould and would have learned as much by observation as by being told how it was appropriate for a warrior to bear himself and how to act. Hence by the time he came of age he knew exactly what was expected of him, a written code would have been largely redundant.
    This leads into your next question. Obviously as I have said above there was some sort of code - unwritten for the most part, but certain specifics would have varied from house to house and domain to domain.

    It is obvious looking at warrior history in Japan that this rigid code that we know of as bushido today is very different to how things actually happened. The frequency of "treacherous" acts confirms this, yet the winning side generally saw it as being opportunistic or good strategy. The lines were obviously a lot more blurred back then, hence a rigid code doesn't apply.
    Peter Ross

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    Default Bushido as modern myth

    "
    1: Is the concept of Bushido as a uniform warrior code during Edo and earlier periods wholly mistaken?

    2: If so, did there exist a general notion of a "warrior code" whose exact definition and concept varied (something like Shido )?
    "

    1. Yes.

    2. Sort of.

    Bushido as postulated by Nitobe and propagated by Kano Jigoro and a ton of other people simply did not exist. There is some interesting Japanese writing on the fabrication of bushido as part of the entire national fabrication of a modern mythos for nation building during the Meiji period. Not so much available in English. The fabrication still affects Japanese martial arts today.

    BTW other such gems are being dismantled. 'Zen in the Art of Archery' is picked completely apart by a very smart young Japanese academic as a fabrication of the highest order. It simply ain't so, according to his detailed analysis.

    A Western equivalent is 'The Sword and the Chrysanthemum' by Ruth Benedict. She wrote it at the behest of the US War Dept IIRC, in a hurry, without much research, and the woman had never actually been to Japan in her life. But it was read as a bible by many people over many decades.
    Lance Gatling ガトリング
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    Ruth Benedict did her fieldwork with Issei in the relocation centers, using Kibei translators. Most of the Issei she interviewed hadn't been to Japan in 30 years. (Issei men who had been there more recently often got rounded up by the FBI in December 1941, and so were not in the camps visited by Benedict.) Thus, IMO, she's giving us an idealized image of what Japan was about, as colored by the memories that middle-aged to elderly people had from growing up in Japan, half a lifetime before. That said, I think this assessment of Benedict's work puts me into a minority of one.

    As for the deconstruction of Zen and the Art of Archery, see the English-language translation by Earl Hartman in "Martial Arts in the Modern World" (2003).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Joseph Svinth View Post
    Ruth Benedict did her fieldwork with Issei in the relocation centers, using Kibei translators. Most of the Issei she interviewed hadn't been to Japan in 30 years. (Issei men who had been there more recently often got rounded up by the FBI in December 1941, and so were not in the camps visited by Benedict.) Thus, IMO, she's giving us an idealized image of what Japan was about, as colored by the memories that middle-aged to elderly people had from growing up in Japan, half a lifetime before. That said, I think this assessment of Benedict's work puts me into a minority of one.
    Make that two. I discredit her work for the reasons you mentioned, plus the fact that the interviewees were likely trying to paint an idealised picture of their native country for their adopted country, which happened to be at war with each other.

    Interestingly, the last few years has seen Japan trying to "rediscover" itself, and new editions of Go Rin No Sho and Niitobe's Bushido have been selling well.
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    I'll make it three to join Joe and Andrew.

    Benedicts work reminds me of idealized images painted in stories by my grandmother. Or listening to the old issei at church tell me how it was in their childhood in Japan as kids.

    But I will say I did enjoy reading her stuff. Mainly because it was a reminder of my grandparents stories. I just had to keep a fan blowing to keep the smell down in some sections.

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    Make that four.

    However, a number of my older graduate students believed that Benedict (in the Japanese translation) presented a 'true picture of Japanese culture: what makes the Japanese Japanese'.

    PAG
    Peter Goldsbury,
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    It was reported in one of the biographies that Mishima liked her book very much.
    Now that's an endorsement to chew on.

    (Neil, was that smell the book or your neighbor's cooking?)
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    Mr. Walkers post got me thinking. Wasn't Yukio Mishima an ardent believer of the Bushido ?
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    I am as fond of the grannies as Joe is when it comes to their long memories of past injustices but it is the grannies that create the current culture of any society. We take from the past exactly what we want / need to support the beliefs we hold in the present.

    Debunking is a lot of fun, absolutely, but we should consider what we're debunking. A national myth that covers over a nasty past and allows a society to move forward into a more world-friendly might be something to leave alone.

    One that is acting in the opposite direction might be one that we want to debunk, but with those you often get fellows with heavy boots knocking at your door late at night wondering if they might have a chat.

    Just a thought.

    Kim Taylor

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    Doug, that smell was the book, the neighbors back then mostly dined out and the Koreans making kimchee hadn't moved into the neighborhood at that time.

    I like Junichi Saga's work better for day to day life impressions of Japan in rural areas. Read "Memories of Silk and Straw" and "Memories of Wind and Waves".

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    I once heard "bushido" described as "the way things never were but should have been."

    Or maybe that was about a King Arthur story.

    Or the life of Saint Francis.

    In other words, idealized images are -- as often as not -- reflections of our desires, and not reflections of reality.

    But that doesn't make the idealized images any less ideal.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

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