Editing Samurai (section)

==Bushido==
{{See also|Bushido|Kiri-sute gomen}}
[[File:Onikojima Yatarō.jpg|thumb|upright|A samurai holding a [[Headhunting|severed head]]. After a battle, the heads of enemies were presented to the daimyo.]]

In the 13th century, [[Hōjō Shigetoki (born 1198)|Hōjō Shigetoki]] wrote: "When one is serving officially or in the master's court, he should not think of a hundred or a thousand people, but should consider only the importance of the master."<ref>Wilson, p. 38</ref> [[Carl Steenstrup]] notes that 13th- and 14th-century warrior writings (''gunki'') "portrayed the ''bushi'' in their natural element, war, eulogizing such virtues as reckless bravery, fierce family pride, and selfless, at times senseless devotion of master and man".<ref>[[Carl Steenstrup]], PhD Thesis, University of Copenhagen (1979)</ref>

[[File:Oishi Yoshio Gishi Seppuku No Zu Painting.png|thumb|upright=1.2|A painting of [[Ōishi Yoshio]] performing [[seppuku]], 1703]]
[[File:Sekigahara Kassen Byōbu-zu (Gifu History Museum).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|An [[Edo period|Edo-period]] screen depicting the [[Battle of Sekigahara]]. It began on 21 October 1600 with a total of 160,000 men facing each other.]]

The translator of ''Hagakure'', [[William Scott Wilson]], observed examples of warrior emphasis on death in clans other than Yamamoto's: "he (Takeda Shingen) was a strict disciplinarian as a warrior, and there is an exemplary story in the ''Hagakure'' relating his execution of two brawlers, not because they had fought, but because they had not fought to the death".<ref>Wilson, p. 91</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Daisetz Teitarō Suzuki |title=Zen and Japanese culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j8c9AAAAIAAJ |year=1938 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-01770-9}}</ref>

===Religion===
The philosophies of Confucianism,<ref name="William E. Deal 2006 136"/> [[Buddhism]] and [[Zen]], and to a lesser extent [[Shinto]], influenced the samurai culture. Zen meditation became an important teaching because it offered a process to calm one's mind. The Buddhist concept of [[reincarnation]] and rebirth led samurai to abandon torture and needless killing, while some samurai even gave up violence altogether and became Buddhist monks after coming to believe that their killings were fruitless. Some were killed as they came to terms with these conclusions in the battlefield. The most defining role that Confucianism played in samurai philosophy was to stress the importance of the lord-retainer relationship—the loyalty that a samurai was required to show his lord.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Literature on the subject of ''bushido'' such as ''[[Hagakure]]'' ("Hidden in Leaves") by [[Yamamoto Tsunetomo]] and ''Gorin no Sho'' ("Book of the Five Rings") by [[Miyamoto Musashi]], both written in the Edo period, contributed to the development of ''bushidō'' and Zen philosophy.

According to Robert Sharf, "The notion that Zen is somehow related to Japanese culture in general, and bushidō in particular, is familiar to Western students of Zen through the writings of D.&nbsp;T. Suzuki, no doubt the single most important figure in the spread of Zen in the West."{{sfn|Sharf|1993|p=12}}