Bushido 武士道
The word Bushido is made up of three ideograms in the Japanese language: Bu and shi, which means warrior, and Do which means path or way. Roughly translated, it means “Way of the Warrior”. and, to the Japanese, insinuates a lot more than its literal meaning. Contrary to popular belief, the code only became written down in 1965 with the publishing of Inazo Nitobe’s book “Bushido: the Soul of Japan”. It is not so much a written code of contact as it is an ideal that those of the warrior class strove to uphold. Also, it does not mean “way of the samurai” as many “samurai” enthusiasts believe. The ideograms for samurai (侍) translates into “he who serves”. Feudal Japan is often romanticized to the point of absurdity. The warrior was taught that death in battle by the blade (be it sword, arrow, spear, etc.) was the greatest honor a man could achieve. They lived by the sword and died by the sword. As the quote from the movie, the Last Samurai, went “I will die by the sword--my own, or my enemy’s.” Death, as it seems in our society, is not very romantic. The "Way of the Warrior" may be a code that the ancient samurai used to live by, but it does have its applications in today’s society. The following articles are overviews of certain areas: Seppeku: Ritual Suicide "Way of the Warrior" vs Chivalry: The differences between the Knight and the Samurai The Way in Modern times
|
