Bushido 01
Bushido Philosophy of Death
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| Katanas (Japanese Samurai swords) (source: the Metropolitan Museum of Art) |
“Bushido means to die.” — This is the famous declaration at the beginning of the book “Hagakure (葉隠; meaning ‘Hidden by Leaves’).” The “Hagakure” is one of the few books systematically expounding the Samurai’s code of conduct, written by a Samurai, Tsunetomo Yamamoto (山本 常朝; 1659-1719) in the Edo period as a spiritual and practical guidebook for Samurai.
Having said that, a Samurai was NOT mandated to give up his Life easily in vain. If so, a Samurai didn’t need to carry two Katanas (刀; Samurai swords) on his waist all the time to protect his own Life. Everyone, including you and me, is destined to die somehow at a moment in our lifetime, even though NO one knows When the end will come. NO human has ever lived without dying over millions of years without exception. So it’s the most important, How to die, and What for to die at any time when we MUST die anyhow.
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| Ouroboros (Ουροβόρος) |
Bushido’s philosophy of death is just the mirror image of the philosophy of Life. In Greek mythology, the dynamic intertwined tension between Eros (Ερως; desire) and Thanatos (Θάνατος; death) is symbolized by Ouroboros (Ουροβόρος), a serpent swallowing its own tail. Accordingly, Bushido philosophy, which centers on death for Life, is erotic.
Bushido (武士道) – Samurai’s Philosophy
As in history, called “Pax Tokugawa,” the Edo era (1603-1868) was a completely peaceful period under the stable government of the Tokugawa Shogunate without a military battle lasting for over 260 years, despite the era of Samurai warriors. If peace can be defined as a state ‘without a war,’ the Edo era unarguably boasts the World's longest-lasting record of peace in human history.
Despite the peaceful period, the Samurai had NEVER forgotten their duties and discipline as genuine warriors. Bushido (武士道) is a philosophy for Samurai. Bushi (武士) refers to ‘Samurai,’ and -do (道) means ‘a way’ in the generic sense, as the same as Ju-do (柔道), Ken-do (剣道), Aiki-do (合気道), Sa-do (茶道; Japanese tea ceremony), Sho-do (書道; Japanese calligraphy), etc. In these cases, do (道) connotes a sense of the way advancing straight to pursue the essence or spirit.
Bushido emphasizes the importance of honor, loyalty, besides martial discipline. It teaches Samurai MUST practice the way of Bun-bu ryodo (文武両道), which means ‘the both ways of studies and martial arts,’ and it can paraphrase to be excellent for both theories and practices in the Samurai's way.
Bushido’s core principles are concerned with the personality of Samurai and the discipline. Samurai MUST possess the virtues of Justice, Rectitude, Courage, Benevolence, Compassion, Respect, Honesty, Honor, Loyalty, and Self-discipline. And ALL Japanese martial arts, without exception, mandate the same principles of spirit and discipline. Samurai MUST live and die with honor and dignity, and value their duties and loyalty over personal interests.
It's NOT about mere physical strengths to win or defeat, as being said: “to help the weak, and to defeat the strong” (弱きを扶け、強きを挫く). Ninkyo (仁侠) = Benevolence and Compassion, is an important virtue for Samurai alongside martial prowess.
Death in Bushido Philosophy
As the “Hagakure” opened up, Bushido's final aim is to die with dignity and beauty without hesitation or upset. For that beautiful goal, a Samurai MUST be aware of, gaze at, and be prepared for his own death ALL the time. This is an absolute fact that death is inevitable at the time. Through this view, a Samurai can live a worthy Life with valuing honor.
It sounds a little counterintuitive, but the Bushido philosophy of Death is just a philosophy of Life. Living everyday Life along with Death, and preparing for the imminent possibility of Death, a Samurai can eliminate fear, regret, and hesitation for the coming Death, and concentrate on living, channeling ALL values, in the precious present moment at the fullest.
Honor and Dignity for Death
According to the “Hagakure,” I should correctly say the Bushido philosophy of ‘dying’ rather than the philosophy of death, in the essential sense. While death is a static state, which has already been concluded, Bushido is about the dynamic process toward death and the attitudes in the face of death.
When facing death, hesitating or being upset is considered ugly. To die with dignity and grace, a Samurai MUST have completely prepared for a beautiful death as his finale of Life. To do so, he MUST have eliminated any earthly regret and attachment for Life always.
For a beautiful death, a Samurai MUST prioritize righteousness and loyalty over his own selfish interests and desires. If a Samurai has faced any undignified, absurd insults, for example, an unfounded accusation despite innocence, the Samurai proves and publicly shows his righteousness, integrity, and innocence with the ceremonial suicide, Seppuku (Harakiri).
Seppuku (Harakiri; 切腹) — the Meaning of Samurai’s Suicide
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| Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) (1925-1970) |
Seppuku (切腹; or Harakiri) is the Samurai's ultimate act of commitment to honor, dignity, responsibility, and loyalty at the moment of very end of Life. Of course, an act committing death with betting his whole Life is NOT frivolous, but grave, serious. By cutting his abdomen open subject to the rigorous ceremonial custom and method, the Samurai shows his unfeigned integrity, honesty to take responsibility, and protect his honor and dignity. Seppuku does NOT mean a mere suicide, but a grave testimony of honor and dignity, literally betting his whole Life.
In some cases, a Seppuku is a chance to demonstrate the Samurai's authentic loyalty to his lord. In the modern context, the concept of loyalty proper is still alive, and can replace with contemporary communities where a person belongs to, from family, company, organization, to Japan, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.
Seppuku is also the Samurai's ultimate means to clear his shame against an unreasonable treatment or absurd insult, and to prove his integrity, honesty, or innocence in a case, to maintain his honor, pride, and dignity as a genuine Samurai.
In this way, Seppuku is purely a voluntary act by the Samurai's determination, NOT to be forced. It should be noted that the Seppuku allows a Samurai their Free Will to choose the beautiful death instead of living with disgraceful shame or humiliation.
In some cases, the authorities can sentence a Samurai to Seppuku for some sins, defeats, or blunders, instead of an execution, in order to allow him to keep his honor and dignity by benevolence. This is called “Samurai’s benevolence”(武士の情け), which means a Samurai's benevolence for a fellow Samurai from pure compassion.
Sincerity is the very core of Japanese ethics. A Samurai proves his sincerity through the physical act of cutting open his abdomen, subject to the rigorous ceremonial custom and method, which is usually imagined to be extremely painful and fainting.
Philosophical Interpretations of Seppuku
“Destiny must not only be endured, it must be loved and conquered, for that is the price of serenity—amor fati.” (“La mort volontaire au Japon” (Voluntary Death in Japan), Maurice Pinguet)
French anthropologist Maurice Pinguet (1929-1991), who is well known by Japanese cultural studies, argues about the Jishi (自死) = voluntary death (la mort volontaire) in Japan in his magnum opus “La mort volontaire au Japon” (Voluntary Death in Japan) (1984).
The Jishi (voluntary death) is a death chosen by one’s own pure free will. It's a genuinely human activity. For Jishi, the person chooses the inevitability of death by force of his rational free will. And in the same context, a dramatic death in 1970 of Japanese author Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) (1925-1970), whom I myself personally respect the most on Earth!, is particularly called Jiketsu (自決) or ‘self-determined death.’
Maurice Pinguet provides an in-depth view of the Japanese Jishi (voluntary death) tradition from the ancient times of the Kojiki (古事記) and Nihon shoki (日本書紀) to the contemporary Jiketsu (self-determined death) of Yukio Mishima.
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| Osamu Dazai (太宰 治) (1909-1948) |
Besides, Maurice Pinguet argues the iconic Jisatsu (自殺; suicides) of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (芥川 龍之介; 1892-1927), Osamu Dazai (太宰 治; 1909-1948), and other cases in the history of modern Japanese literature, as well as the Jun-shi (殉死; martyrdom) case of General Maresuke Nogi (乃木 希典;1849-1912), who was a prominent national hero for the victory of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).
“Cato drew his sword from its sheath and stabbed himself below the breast. His thrust, however, was somewhat feeble... Accordingly, when Cato recovered and became aware of this, he pushed the physician away, tore his bowels with his hands, rent the wound still more, and so died.” (“The Life of Cato the Younger”, Plutarch)
Furthermore, interestingly, Maurice Pinguet brings out the death of Cato the Younger (Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis; 95 BCE - 46 BCE). After the defeat by Julius Caesar, the conservative senator of the Roman Republic committed Seppuku in Utica to protect his own freedom, according to Stoicism, which teaches that a truly Free man would never become a slave.
Cato the Younger’s Jishi (voluntary death) was NOT ‘aliqua furoris rabie constrictus’ (some kind of madness-obsessed) suicide, but as Maurice Pinguet pointed out, it was an act of dispassionate, purely rational free will advocating Stoicism (instead of Bushido), and nothing less than a testimony to his honor and dignity.
Consequently, Jishi (voluntary death) is a proof of the supremacy of human freedom and free will that transcends death proper, and in this way, amounts to an ultimate and fundamental affirmation of human life.
Bushido philosophy of death is a philosophy of Life. Through Bushido, a Samurai lived their Life to the fullest extent at every moment toward the beautiful finale through the absolute preparedness and determination for death.
While Samurai's era had already gone, Bushido philosophy is still alive among common Japanese people today as ethics and discipline. Contemporary Japanese organizations are well organized, being transformed from Samurai clans in the Edo period. Particularly, the traditional vertical structure of the hierarchy and the loyalty is completely analogous as they were.
So if you try to understand Japanese business culture, manner and custom, the most appropriate way is to understand the Bushido philosophy. Because by today, Japanese businessmen, called “corporate warriors,” are genuine Samurai in business suits, missing Katanas.
Further reading (sponsored by Amazon):
In this fascinating book, “Sun and Steel,” which was written in the years just before his dramatic death, the last Samurai Yukio Mishima declares his unique aesthetic philosophy! Yukio Mishima himself described “Sun and Steel” as "an intermediate form between confession and criticism." “Sun and Steel” mainly deals with the themes of his own body and mind, life and death, literature and martial arts, and is an important work when discussing Yukio Mishima's literature, philosophy, and his dramatic death (the Mishima Incident in 1970). In “Sun and Steel,” through two encounters with the "Sun" (Japan’s defeat in the summer of 1945 and his experience of traveling abroad in 1952), Yukio Mishima argues "thought," and "Iron" in relation to "muscle" as the weight of the iron mass through his bodybuilding exercise!
Table of Contents
Sun and Steel
EPILOGUE—F104
ICARUS
● Tsunetomo Yamamoto (2014, originally published circa 1716). Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai. 288 pages. Tuttle Publishing.
This comprehensive and accurate translation of the “Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai” is the classic standard book for martial artists or ALL those who are interested in Samurai and the Bushido as well as Japanese ethics and culture! Alex Bennett's completely NEW and highly readable translation of this “Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai” includes extensive footnotes that serve to fill in many cultural and historical gaps. This unique combination of readability and scholarship gives “Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai” a distinct advantage over previous English translations!
Table of Contents
Foreword
Hagakure in Context
Introduction
The Hagakure Phenomenon
Contextualizing the Historical Setting and Social Milieu
Contextualizing the Content
Unraveling the Essence of Hagakure
Conclusion
Idle Talk in the Dead of Night
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Pertaining to Fealty
Pertaining to Death and War
Pertaining to Women
Miscellany
Main Events in the History of the Saga Domain and Yamamoto Jocho’s Life
Hagakure Hierarchy
Inazo Nitobe’s “Bushido: The Soul of Japan” is a poetic inquiry into the ethos of Japan! Through a study of the way of the Samurai, in “Bushido: The Soul of Japan,” Inazo Nitobe identifies the 7 virtues most widely recognized in Japanese ethics: rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, veracity, honor, and loyalty. Originally written in English and only translated years later into Japanese, “Bushido: The Soul of Japan” has inspired many World leaders, including 2 US presidents—Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy!
Table of Contents
Start Reading
Preface
Preface to the 10th and Revised Edition
Bushido as an Ethical System
Sources of Bushido
Rectitude or Justice
Courage, the Spirit of Daring and Bearing
Benevolence, the Feeling of Distress
Politeness
Veracity or Truthfulness
Honor
The Duty of Loyalty
Education and Training of a Samurai
Self-Control
The Institutions of Suicide and Redress
The Sword, the Soul of the Samurai
The Training and Position of Woman
The Influence of Bushido
Is Bushido Still Alive?
The Future of Bushido
About the Author
