Japanese samurai in armour, 1860 photograph. For other uses of the term bushido see bushido (disambiguation)
Bushido (Japanese lit. "way of the warrior", 武士道, bushidō), was the supposed warrior code of the samurai. Bushido was a strict code that demanded loyalty, devotion, and honor to the death. Under Bushido, if a samurai failed to uphold his honor he could regain it by performing seppuku (ritual suicide).
In reality, however, bushido was an invention of frustrated samurai during the Edo period, a time of peace. It was not ever put in to widespread practice and was largely ignored by the majority of the samurai populace, contrary to what is currently believed by a high percentage of people interested in martial arts and Japanese medieval history.
Today it is dismissed by serious historians, and has interest only in showing the difficulties that emerge when a social class that rules by the might of their military prowess enters a long period of peace.
Bushido re-emerged during World War 2 as Japanese propaganda, particularly amongst the kamikaze pilots as a means of portraying the value of self-sacrifice and loyalty.
See also
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Precepts of Kato Kiyomasa
Further reading
- Eiko Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan (Harvard Press, 1992)
External links
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