Bushido. Samurai Code of Honor

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Bushido (translated from Japanese means "the way of the warrior") - a samurai code, a set of laws, requirements and rules of conduct for a real samurai in society, in battle and alone.

This is the philosophy and ethics of the Japanese warrior, which originated from the distant past. Bushido, which originally united general military laws, thanks to the moral meaning and veneration of the arts introduced into it in the 12-13 centuries, as well as the development of the samurai class, merged with it and fully formed in the 16-17 centuries as a code of honor for the samurai.

The main provisions and postulates of the Bushido code

Having finally taken shape at the end of the era of the warring provinces Sengoku Jidai (1467-1568), Bushido demanded: unquestioning loyalty to the feudal lord; recognition of military affairs as the only occupation worthy of a samurai; suicide in cases where the honor of a samurai is dishonored; included the prohibition of lying and attachment to money.

Clearly and quite intelligibly, Bushido's requirements are formulated in "Basic Martial Arts Basics" Daidoji Yuzana:

“True courage is to live when it’s right to live and die when it’s right to die.”

- One should go to death with a clear awareness of what the samurai should do and what humiliates his dignity.

- You should weigh every word and invariably ask yourself whether what you are going to say is true.

- It is necessary to be moderate in food and avoid promiscuity.

- In everyday matters, remember death and keep this word in your heart.

- Respect the "trunk and branches" rule. Forgetting it means never comprehending virtue, and a person who neglects the virtue of filial piety is not a samurai. Parents are the trunk of a tree, children are its branches.

- A samurai should be not only an exemplary son, but also a loyal subject. He will not leave his master even if the number of his vassals is reduced from one hundred to ten and from ten to one.

- In war, the loyalty of a samurai is manifested in the fact that without fear to go to the enemy's arrows and spears, sacrificing life if the duty requires it.

- Loyalty, justice and courage are the three natural virtues of a samurai.

- While sleeping, the samurai should not lie down with his feet in the direction of the overlord's residence. It is inappropriate to aim towards the master neither when shooting from a bow, nor when exercising with a spear.

- If a samurai, lying in bed, hears a conversation about his master or is going to say something himself, he should get up and get dressed.

- The falcon does not pick up abandoned grains, even if it dies of hunger. So a samurai, wielding a toothpick, must show that he is full, even if he did not eat anything.

- If a samurai happens to lose a battle in a war and he has to lay down his head, he should proudly say his name and die with a smile without humiliating haste.

- Being mortally wounded, so that no means can save him, the samurai must respectfully address with words of farewell to his elders and calmly give up his ghost, submitting to the inevitable.

“He who possesses only brute strength is not worthy of the title of samurai. Apart from the necessity of studying the sciences, the warrior should use his leisure time for practicing poetry and comprehending the tea ceremony.

“A samurai can build a modest tea pavilion near his home, in which new kakemono paintings, modern modest cups and an unlacquered ceramic teapot are to be used.

- A samurai must, first of all, constantly remember that he can die at any moment, and if such a moment comes, then the samurai must die with honor. This is his main business.