Editing Bushido (section)

=== Edo (1603–1868) ===
[[File:Miyamoto Musashi killing a giant nue.jpg|thumb|upright| [[Miyamoto Musashi]] killing a giant creature, from [[The Book of Five Rings]]]]
[[File:Kashoki-Amusing-Notes-by-Saito-Chikamori-Bushido-1642.png|thumb|Kashoki (Amusing Notes) by Saito Chikamori (1642)]]
[[File:Nabeshima-Secretary-Hagakure-The-Analects-Bushido-Book.png|thumb|upright|Nabeshima Secretary, [[Hagakure]] The Anelects]]
[[File:Kokon-Bushido-Ezukushi-(Bushido-Through-The-Ages-Book).png|thumb|upright|Book cover of ''Kokon Bushido Ezukushi'' (''Bushido Through the Ages'') by artist [[Hishikawa Moronobu]] (1685)]] 
Japan enjoyed two and a half centuries of relative peace during the [[Edo period]] (1600 to the mid-19th century). Japan didn't have domestic or international conflict. These peaceful times in Tokugawa society enabled bushido to be refined from a focus on ''valor in battle'' to more ''moral integrity''.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/>

The [[Tokugawa shogunate]] (1603–1867) codified aspects of the Samurai warrior values and formalized them into parts of the Japanese feudal law.<ref name="tokugawa-law">{{Cite web |url=http://www.samuraimaster.com/tokugawa-shogunate/ |title=Tokugawa shogunate |access-date=2017-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612174244/https://www.samuraimaster.com/tokugawa-shogunate/ |archive-date=2018-06-12 |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition to the "house codes" issued in the context of the fiefdoms (han) and texts that described the right behavior of a warrior (such as the Hagakure), the first [[Buke shohatto]] (Laws for the Military Houses, 武家諸法度) was issued by the government in 1615, which prescribed to the lords of the fiefdoms ([[daimyo]]) and the samurai warrior aristocracy responsibilities and activities, the rules of conduct, simple and decent clothing, the correct supply in case of official visits, etc.<ref name="EnciclopediaTreccani">{{cite web |website=Treccani |title=Bushido |access-date=January 21, 2018 |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/bushido_(Dizionario-di-Storia)-(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/ |archive-date=October 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030001558/https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/bushido_%28Dizionario-di-Storia%29-%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/}}</ref> The edicts were reissued in 1629, and in 1635, by the third shogun [[Tokugawa Iemitsu]]. The new edicts made clear the shogunate's authority and its desire to assert control.<ref>{{Cite book|editor-last=Hall|editor-first=John Whitney|title=The Cambridge history of Japan Vol. 4: Early Modern Japan|date=1988|publisher=Cambridge University Press|others=James L. McClain|isbn=0-521-22352-0|location=Cambridge, UK|oclc=17483588}}</ref> The swordsmanship skills of the samurai developed into character-building martial arts.<ref name="samurai-spirit"/>

During this period, the ''samurai'' class played a central role in the policing and administration of the country.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ikegami |first1=Eiko |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54774925 |title=Bonds of civility : aesthetic networks and the political origins of Japanese culture |last2=池上 |first2=英子. |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-80942-8 |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=157 |oclc=54774925}}</ref> The [[bushidō literature|''bushidō'' literature]] of this time contains much thought relevant to a warrior class seeking more general application of martial principles and experience in peacetime, as well as reflection on the land's long history of war.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} The literature of this time includes:

* ''Shoke no Hyōjō'' by Ogasawara Sakuun (1621)<ref name="nippon-bushido"/>
* ''Budo Shōshinshu'' (武道初心集) by Taira Shigesuke, [[Daidōji Yūzan]] (1639–1730)<ref name="shoshinshu"/>
*''[[Hagakure]]'' as related by [[Yamamoto Tsunetomo]] to [[Tsuramoto Tashiro]].
* [[Bugei Juhappan]] (武芸十八般)
* [[A Book of Five Rings]] by [[Miyamoto Musashi]]

The first mention of the term ''bushido'' is in the scriptures [[Koyo Gunkan]] (甲陽軍鑑) from Takeda-ryū (martial arts school), written around 1616 by samurai [[Kōsaka Masanobu]] (1527–1578).<ref name="nippon-bushido" /> It consists of 20 scrolls that mention bushido over 30 times.<ref name="nippon-bushido" /> It contains the history of the [[Takeda family]] and their military tactics.<ref name="Turnbull">{{Cite book|last=Turnbull|first=Stephen|title=Battles of the Samurai|publisher=Arms and Armour Press|year=1987|isbn=0853688265|page=41}}</ref> The Koyo Gunkan describes valor and exploits in battle.<ref name="nippon-bushido" /> For example, it is a waste of talent when a bushido practitioner takes on administrative roles in government or financial affairs (e.g. dealings in rice, money, timber, or forest land). It emphasizes that bushido lies only in "becoming as a spear" on the battlefield.<ref name="nippon-bushido" /> The scrolls were widely disseminated as a martial arts instruction manual by the samurai class and helped to popularize the term.<ref name="nippon-bushido" />

In [[Koyo Gunkan]] (1616), bushido is a survival technique for individual fighters, and it aims to make the development of the self and the clan troupe advantageous by raising the samurai name. He also affirms that he seeks a lord who praises himself for wandering, as reflected in Tōdō Takatora (1556–1630)'s deceased memoir that "A samurai cannot be called a samurai until he has changed his lords seven times." Also, as symbolized by [[Asakura Norikage]] (1477–1555), "The warrior may be called a beast or a dog; the main thing is winning." As symbolized by Asakura Norikage, it is essential to win the battle even with the slander of cowardice. The feature is that it also contains the cold-hearted philosophy. These are mainly related to the way of life as a samurai, and they are the teachings of each family, and they are also equivalent to the treatment of vassals.

Dr. Hiroko Willcock (senior lecturer at [[Griffith University]], Australia) explained ''Koyo Gunkan is the earliest comprehensive extant work that provides a notion of bushido as a samurai ethos and the value system of the samurai tradition.''<ref name="hiroko">{{cite book |last=Willcock |first=Hiroko |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6rfYAAAAMAAJ&q=koyo+gunkan+bushido |title=The Japanese Political Thought of Uchimura Kanzō (1861–1930): Synthesizing Bushidō, Christianity, Nationalism, and Liberalism |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0773451513 |location=[[Lewiston, New York]] |quote=Koyo gunkan is the earliest comprehensive extant work that provides a notion of Bushido as a samurai ethos and the value system of the samurai tradition.}}</ref> However, it does not have a set of principles regarded as "true" or "false", but rather varying perceptions widely regarded as formidable throughout different centuries. Emphasized by Thomas Cleary, {{blockquote|Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shinto were each represented by a variety of schools, and elements of all three were commonly combined in Japanese culture and customs. As the embodiment of Samurai culture, bushido is correspondingly diverse, drawing selectively on elements of all these traditions to articulate the ethos and discipline of the warrior.<ref>Thomas Cleary, ''Samurai Wisdom: Lessons from Japan's Warrior Culture; Five Classic Texts on Bushido''. Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2009. 28</ref>}}

During the [[Genna]] era (1615–1624) of the [[Edo period]] and later, the concept of "the way of the gentleman" (Shidō) was newly established by the [[philosopher]] and [[strategist]] [[Yamaga Sokō]] (1622–1685) and others who tried to explain this value in the [[morality]] of the [[Confucian]] [[Cheng–Zhu school]]. For the first time, Confucian ethics (such as Honor and Humanity", "filial piety") became the norm required by samurai.<ref>{{cite book| author=多田顕  |editor=永安幸正 |title=武士道の倫理 山鹿素行の場合 |date=2006 |isbn=978-4892055126 |publisher=麗澤大学出版会 |trans-title="Ethics of Samurai Road, In the Case of Motoyuki Yamaka |language=ja}}</ref> Yamaga Sokō was widely viewed as the "Sage of Bushidō" in early twentieth-century Japan.{{r|riben-lun|p=8-9, 12, 31-32, 86.}}

Martial arts scholar Ogasawara Sakuun compiled 20 scrolls called Shoke no Hyōjō about the military arts in 1621.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/> Therein bushido is described as iji (willpower).<ref name="nippon-bushido"/> The scrolls describe the essence of bushido as the strength to not yield to rewards or power, but adhere to personal convictions that dominate one's inner principles.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/>

In 1642, the {{nihongo|''Kashoki''|可笑記|"Amusing Notes"}} was written by samurai ''Saitō Chikamori'' (斎藤親盛, 1603–1674) (ex-vassal of the [[Mogami clan]] from [[Yamagata Domain]]) and published.<ref name="nippon-bushido" /><ref name="showa-women-uni">Showa Women's University Professor Akio Fukasawa (昭和女子大教授・深沢秋男)</ref> Chikamori's pen name was Nyoraishi (如儡子). The kashoki are 5 scrolls with wide-ranging content, including samurai knowledge with moral precepts,<ref name="nippon-bushido"/> the knowledge of ordinary people, the teachings of Confucian Buddhism, and narrative ones. It has moral precepts which explain theoretical aspects of bushido.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/> The 5th scroll has an important definition that was made by a samurai:<ref name="nippon-bushido" /> Thus the first known description of morality in bushido and the ''bushido spirit'' was the Kashoki.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/>

{{blockquote|The essence of Bushidō is: do not lie, do not be insincere, do not be obsequious, do not be superficial, do not be greedy, do not be rude, do not be boastful, do not be arrogant, do not slander, do not be unfaithful, be on good terms with comrades, do not be overly concerned with events, show concern for one another, be compassionate, with a strong sense of duty. Being a good samurai takes more than merely a willingness to lay down one's life.|5th scroll of the Kashoki by Saitō Chikamori (1642)<ref name="nippon-bushido"/>}}

The kashoki was important with promulgating the ''bushido spirit'' among the [[commoner|common population]].<ref name="nippon-bushido"/> Thus it was written for [[commoners]], not warriors.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/> Its accessibility made it very popular, because it was written in [[kana]] (hiragana and katakana) rather than [[kanji]] which can be read by people with [[elementary school]] reading skills.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/> There were many editions which had major influence on the behavior of commoners such as adults, adolescents, women and generations.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/>

Master swordsman [[Miyamoto Musashi]]'s life exemplifies bushido.<ref name="musashi-five-rings"/> Musashi (1584–1645) wrote [[The Book of Five Rings]] (Gorin no Sho) around 1643.<ref name="musashi-five-rings"/> It consists of five volumes (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void). The Book of Earth describes the general framework of bushidō.<ref name="musashi-five-rings">{{cite web |website=Nippon.com |url=https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g00689/master-swordsman-miyamoto-musashi-the-man-behind-the-book-of-five-rings.html |title=Master Swordsman Miyamoto Musashi: The Man Behind The Book of Five Rings |date= July 25, 2019 |author=Uozumi Takashi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200305121209/https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g00689/master-swordsman-miyamoto-musashi-the-man-behind-the-book-of-five-rings.html |archive-date=March 5, 2020}}</ref> For example: apply skills in any situation, always carry two swords, learn how to effectively use the lance, [[naginata]], bow and arrow, and guns. A daimyo should know the strength of his troops and how to properly deploy them. Devote yourself to training to master a way, avoid evil acts and thoughts, broaden perspectives with arts and knowledge about different professions, make objective judgments etc.<ref name="musashi-five-rings"/>

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]] (1618–1694) was published.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/> It features heroic popular tales of samurai warriors with simple descriptions per artwork.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/> The title includes the word ''bushido'' and it was meant for children which shows that it had spread among the general population.<ref name="nippon-bushido"/>

The Chinese politician [[Dai Jitao]] (1891–1949) attended [[Nihon University]]'s law program in 1907. He was fluent in [[Japanese language|Japanese]] and learned about bushido. Dai criticized the supposedly violent nature of the traditional Japanese ''feudal class'' structure before the [[Meiji (era)|Meiji period]]. Dai said the samurai brutally exploited the class structure to abuse and kill people below them in the social order (and biasedly claimed the opposite for Chinese society as peace-loving). According to Dai, after Confucianism became influential in the 17th century, it brought ideas of benevolence and humanity that pacified the cruel samurai and set Japan upon the course to become a modern and civilized society. Dai also appreciated aspects of the samurai. For example Dai said: Japan continued to benefit from their spirit of self-sacrifice, selfless loyalty, and—after Confucianism was introduced—compassion. Dai blamed the problems of modern Japan (post-Meiji restoration) due to the loss of samurai virtues when the former merchant class gained power and large corporations started to steer government policy.<ref name="lu-yan-2004">Lu Yan (2004). Re-Understanding Japan: Chinese Perspectives 1895–1945. Page= 87-9. Honolulu, University of Hawai'i Press.</ref> Dai said after the samurai class was heavily influenced by Confucian ideals of compassion, their bushido became essentially a "life of blood and tears", because they selflessly shed blood for their lords and cried tears of compassion for farmers and other lower class people.{{r|riben-lun|p=16.}}

The ''[[Hagakure]]'' contains many sayings attributed to [[Sengoku period|Sengoku-period]] retainer [[Nabeshima Naoshige]] (1537–1619) regarding ''bushidō'' related philosophy early in the 18th century by [[Yamamoto Tsunetomo]] (1659–1719), a former [[retainer (medieval)|retainer]] to Naoshige's grandson, [[Nabeshima Mitsushige]]. The [[Hagakure]] was compiled in the early 18th century, but was kept as a kind of "secret teaching" of the [[Nabeshima clan]] until the end of the Tokugawa ''bakufu'' (1867).<ref name="Samurai">"The Samurai Series: The Book of Five Rings, Hagakure -The Way of the Samurai & Bushido – The Soul of Japan" ELPN Press (November, 2006) {{ISBN|1-934255-01-7}}</ref>  His saying, "''I have found the way of the warrior is death''", was a summation of the focus on honour and reputation over all else that ''bushidō'' codified.<ref>Meirion and Susie Harries, ''Soldiers of the Sun:  The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army'' p 7 {{ISBN|0-394-56935-0}}</ref> This is occasionally misinterpreted that bushido is a code of death. The true meaning is by having a constant consciousness of death, people can achieve a state of freedom that transcends life and death, whereby "''it is possible to perfectly fulfill one's calling as a warrior.''"<ref name="nippon-bushido"/>

Tokugawa-era [[rōnin]], scholar and strategist [[Yamaga Sokō]] (1622–1685) wrote extensively on matters relating to ''bushidō'', ''bukyō'' (a "warrior's creed"), and a more general ''shidō'', a "way of gentlemen" intended for application to all stations of society. Sokō attempts to codify a kind of "universal ''bushidō''" with a special emphasis on "pure" [[Confucian]] values, (rejecting the mystical influences of Tao and Buddhism in Neo-Confucian orthodoxy), while at the same time calling for recognition of the singular and divine nature of Japan and Japanese culture. These radical concepts—including ultimate devotion to the Emperor, regardless of rank or clan—put him at odds with the reigning shogunate. He was exiled to the [[Akō Domain|Akō domain]], (the future setting of the [[Forty-seven rōnin|47 Rōnin incident]]), and his works were not widely read until the rise of nationalism in the early 20th century.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}
[[File:Oishi Yoshio Gishi Seppuku No Zu Painting.png|thumb|Painting of [[Ōishi Yoshio]] committing [[seppuku]], 1703]]
The aging Yamamoto Tsunetomo's interpretation of ''bushidō'' is perhaps more illustrative of the philosophy refined by his unique station and experience, at once dutiful and defiant, ultimately incompatible with the laws of an emerging civil society. Of the 47 ''rōnin''—to this day, generally regarded as exemplars of ''bushidō''—Tsunetomo felt they were remiss in hatching such a wily, delayed plot for revenge, and had been over-concerned with the success of their undertaking. Instead, Tsunetomo felt true ''samurai'' should act without hesitation to fulfill their duties, without regard for success or failure.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

This romantic sentiment is of course expressed by warriors throughout history, though it may run counter to the art of war itself. This ambivalence is found in the heart of ''bushidō'', and perhaps all such "[[warrior]] codes". Some combination of traditional ''bushidō''<nowiki/>'s organic contradictions and more "universal" or "progressive" formulations (like those of Yamaga Sokō) would inform Japan's disastrous military ambitions in the 20th century.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

According to the social psychologist Toshio Yamagishi ([[:ja:山岸俊男]], 1948–2018) "Bushido is the ideal human image formed mainly in the Edo period, in other words a virtue in the groupism world."<ref name="toshio"/> It was the perfect person that fitted the ideal control of the samurai administration in the Edo period.<ref name="toshio">{{cite book |title=「日本人」という、うそ: 武士道精神は日本を復活させるか (ちくま文庫) Paperback Bunko – October 7, 2015 |via=Amazon |date=October 2015 |isbn=978-4480433046 |publication-date=October 7, 2015 |publisher=Chikuma Shobō}}</ref>