Editing Bushido (section)

== Origin ==
The concept of a samurai code or codes was developed and refined centuries before the Edo period in the Kamakura period.<ref name=":0" /> Such ideas formalized earlier moral values and ethics, most commonly stressing a combination of sincerity, frugality, loyalty, [[martial arts]] mastery, honour until death,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2023-02-14 |title=Bushido |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bushido |access-date=2023-03-04 |website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref> "bravery", and "loyalty to the samurai's lord."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pearson |first1=Patricia O'Connell |title=World History: Our Human Story |last2=Holdren |first2=John |date=May 2021 |publisher=Sheridan Kentucky |isbn=978-1-60153-123-0 |location=Versailles, Kentucky |pages=296}}</ref> Bushido proper developed between the 16th and 20th centuries, but this was debated by pundits who believed they were building on a legacy dating back to the 10th century.

The term bushido itself is "rarely attested in pre-modern literature",<ref>"The Zen of Japanese Nationalism", by Robert H. Sharf, in ''Curators of the Buddha'', edited by Donald Lopez, p. 111</ref> but a code of honor did exist among the writing elite and [[historian]]s who were generally disgusted enough at the dishonorable activity of some fighters such as [[Ninja|shinobi]] as to rarely mention them.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Grabianowski |first=Ed |date=2004-04-14 |title=The Origins of Espionage |url=https://people.howstuffworks.com/ninja1.htm |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=[[HowStuffWorks]] |language=en-us}}</ref> Ideas of honor that led to bushido developed in response to the longstanding dishonorable behavior of samurai,<ref name=":63">{{Cite web |last=Mancini |first=Mark |date=2020-02-11 |title=What's the Difference Between a Samurai and a Ninja? |url=https://people.howstuffworks.com/ninja-samurai-difference.htm |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=[[HowStuffWorks]] |language=en-us}}</ref> emerging stealth and espionage techniques,<ref name=":6" /> and Zen Buddhist [[soldier]] tenets.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Clements |first=Jonathan |title=A Brief History of Japan: Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun |publisher=[[Tuttle Publishing]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-4-8053-1389-3 |location=North Clarendon, Vermont |pages=107, 109}}</ref>

The relative peace in Japan during the [[Kamakura period]] favored ideas of honor in battle, expressed in customs such as announcing one's family name and/or lineages before fighting, attempting to limit fights among warrior nobles to horseback archery or sword<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crothers |first=Wayne |date=2014-07-01 |title=Bushido: Way of the Samurai |url=https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/bushido-way-of-the-samurai/ |access-date=2024-04-18 |publisher=[[National Gallery of Victoria]] |language=en-AU |publication-place=Melbourne}}</ref> duels<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bender |first=Mark |title=Part 1: Introduction |url=http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/bender4/eall131/EAHReadings/module02/m02japanese.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205070151/http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/bender4/eall131/EAHReadings/module02/m02japanese.html |archive-date=2013-12-05 |publisher=[[Ohio State University]]}}</ref> with no subterfuge or trickery, and conducting oneself like a legendary character or renowned hero (tales of daring were popular in the Kamakura period<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |date=1998-07-20 |title=Kamakura period |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Kamakura-period |access-date=2023-05-22 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref>).<ref name=":322" /><ref name=":44">{{Cite book |last=Clements |first=Jonathan |title=A Brief History of Japan: Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun |publisher=[[Tuttle Publishing]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-4-8053-1389-3 |location=North Clarendon, Vermont |pages=16, 97–100, 102–103}}</ref> Pre-bushido honor codes during this time were also contributed to by commoners, who sometimes took on similar roles to samurai<ref name=":63" /> and often used their family names as introductions to fighting despite not being noble.<ref name=":44" /> However, even during the relatively small family and land quarrels of this time, as well as duels thought to be honorable, warriors often disregarded these norms of combat and the announcement of family names or lineages was mostly a way to brag and assert a right to fight and/or gain whatever a faction was looking for after a fight.<ref name=":322" /><ref name=":44" /> Outright bragging was also known to happen.<ref name=":6" /> These already tenuous codes of honor were weakened when the Japanese, expecting the invading Mongols to be laid-back with their combat, humiliatingly sent an [[Envoy (title)|envoy]] that fired a [[noisemaker]] arrow to officially commence the start of what the Japanese assumed would be a series of small duels and skirmishes.<ref name=":44" /> Additionally, Mongols usually cut swathes through soldiers that attempted to announce their lineages before facing them.<ref name=":322" /> Despite ultimately winning against the Mongols, these honor norms, along with the [[shogun]]ate, were weakened enough to cause endemic division that led to the end of the Kamakura period and the court wars of the [[Nanboku-chō period]].

Born from [[Edo neo-Confucianism|Neo-Confucianism]] during times of peace in the Edo period and following Confucian texts, while also being influenced by [[Shinto]] and [[Japanese Zen|Zen Buddhism]], it balanced violence with the [[Therapy|therapeutic]] ideals of wisdom and peace accepted at the time. It was developed further during the [[Muromachi period]] (1336–1573) and formally defined and applied in law by [[Tokugawa shogunate]]s in the Edo period.<ref name="EnciclopediaTreccani" />

There is no strict definition, and interpretations of the code have varied over time.<ref name="samurai-spirit" /> Bushido has undergone many changes throughout Japanese history, and various Japanese clans interpreted it in their own way until the 19th century, enough for it to be most often a series of unwritten oral expectations that could be described as different codes, with further variations likely existing in the same warrior noble house, rather than a single code.<ref name=":62">{{Cite web |last=Grabianowski |first=Ed |last2=Pollette |first2=Chris |date=2022-06-10 |title=How Samurai Work |url=https://people.howstuffworks.com/samurai.htm |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=[[HowStuffWorks]] |language=en-us}}</ref>

One of the earliest known usages of bushido is in the extremely influential<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wert |first=Michael |date=2014-11-01 |title='The Military Mirror of Kai': Swordsmanship and a Medieval Text in Early Modern Japan |url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1180&context=hist_fac |website=Raynor Memorial Libraries |publisher=[[Marquette University]] |pages=407, 409}}</ref> late 16th century text ''The Military Mirror of Kai'', where it was used to describe unwritten rules in a complex metaphorical way that commoners could purportedly not live up to.<ref name=":322">{{Cite book |last=Wert |first=Michael |url=https://worldcat.org/oclc/1202732830 |title=Samurai: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-068510-2 |location=Oxford |publication-date=2021-02-01 |pages=16, 35, 36–37, 84 |language=en-GB |oclc=1202732830}}</ref>

Another early use of the written term is in the [[Kōyō Gunkan]] in 1616 by [[Kōsaka Masanobu]]. In 1685, the [[ukiyo-e]] book {{nihongo|''Kokon Bushidō ezukushi''|古今武士道絵つくし|"Images of Bushidō Through the Ages"}} by artist [[Hishikawa Moronobu]] included the term and artwork of samurai with simple descriptions meant for children.<ref name="nippon-bushido" /> In 1642, the {{nihongo|''Kashoki''|可笑記|"Amusing Notes"}} was written by samurai Saito Chikamori and included moral precepts which explained the theoretical aspects of bushido.<ref name="nippon-bushido" /><ref name="showa-women-uni" /> It was written with accessible [[kana]] and intended for commoners, not warriors.<ref name="nippon-bushido" /> It was very popular, demonstrating that the idea of bushido had spread among the population.<ref name="nippon-bushido" /> The Kashoki shows that moral values were present in bushido by 1642.<ref name="nippon-bushido" />{{Explain|date=March 2023}}

The term, bushido, came into common international usage with the 1899 publication of [[Nitobe Inazō]]'s ''[[Bushido: The Soul of Japan]]'' which was read by many influential western people.<ref name="Frost2010">{{cite book|author=Dennis J. Frost|title=Seeing Stars: Sports Celebrity, Identity, and Body Culture in Modern Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWWlxcyzCPYC&pg=PA53|year=2010|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-05610-7|pages=53–54}}</ref> In ''Bushido'' (1899), Nitobe wrote:

<blockquote>Bushidō, then, is the code of moral principles which the [[samurai]] were required or instructed to observe...More frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten...It was an organic growth of decades and centuries of military career. In order to become a samurai this code has to be mastered.<ref name="bushido-soul" /></blockquote>

In ''Feudal and Modern Japan'' (1896), historian Arthur May Knapp wrote:

<blockquote>The samurai of thirty years ago had behind him a thousand years of training in the law of honor, obedience, duty, and self-sacrifice&nbsp;... It was not needed to create or establish them. As a child he had but to be instructed, as indeed he was from his earliest years, in the etiquette of [[self-immolation]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/feudalmodernjapa01knapuoft/page/66/mode/2up |title=Feudal and Modern Japan |author=Arthur May Knapp |page=66 |year=1896 |access-date=2024-04-22 }}</ref></blockquote>