Other editions of book Bushido: The Soul of Japan

Bushido. This one word contains a wealth of meaning. Honor and grace, strength and compassion, loyalty and vengeance. Bushido is the warrior code of the samurai, a standard of conduct and an unwritten guide for right behavior and attitude. It is the core principle of ethics in Japan, an ideal that extends into every aspect of life and character. In this work, Bushido: The Soul of Japan, Inazo Nitobe explores the concept of Bushido and translates it onto a form accessible to western understanding. Nitobe examines each aspect of the Bushido code, showing how it corresponds to courage, honesty, benevolence, and politeness, and how it leads one to an understanding of loyalty and self-control. This work is a study of the way of the samurai, an exploration of the ideal that drove the fiercest and most honorable warrior class in human history. Bushido: The Soul of Japan was written at the turn of the 20th Century, providing the west a new and unprecedented avenue for the understanding of eastern thought. It captured the hearts and minds of those who encountered it, resulting in more than 10 editions in print. The work was so admired by President Theodore Roosevelt that he bought several copies to distribute among his friends, ensuring that each had access to this wealth of wisdom, and clarity of ethical thought. The AudioLearn version of Bushido: The Soul of Japan is preceded by a summary that explores the life of the author and the background of the book itself. Also included are an overview, synopsis, analysis, and an exploration of the historical context of the work. If you are interested in samurai, martial arts, eastern thought, or the ethical code of the warrior, then this is an audiobook that you won't want to miss.

Bushido which literally means "Way of the Warrior" is a code that has greatly influenced the culture and people of Japan. Developed in Japan between the Heian and Tokugawa ages (9th - 12th century) Bushido was the code of the Samurai. In "Bushido: The Soul of Japan" Inazo Nitobe explores how the influence of the ancient code of Bushido has had such a lasting effect on the culture and traditions of Japan.

Bushido: The Soul of Japan is, along with the classic text Hagakure by Tsunetomo Yamamoto (1659-1719), a study of the way of the samurai. A best-seller in its day, it was read by many influential foreigners, among them President Theodore Roosevelt, President John F. Kennedy and Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts. Nitobe originally wrote Bushido: The Soul of Japan in English (1899), in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The book was not translated into Japanese until it had been popular in the English-speaking world for several years. As Japan underwent deep transformations of its traditional lifestyle while becoming a modern nation, Nitobe engaged in an inquiry into the ethos of his nation, and the result of his meditations was this seminal work. A fine stylist in English, he wrote many books in that language, which earned him a place among the best known Japanese writers of his age. He found in Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, the sources of the eight virtues most admired by his people: rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, sincerity, honor, loyalty and self-control.

Bushido, often translated as Way of the Warrior, came from the Samurai way of life and moral code. It emphasized loyalty, skill, moderation and honor, and became a widespread influence throughout Japan. In Shogakukan Kokugo Daijiten, the Japanese dictionary, "Bushido is defined as a unique philosophy (ronri) that spread through the warrior class from the Muromachi (chusei) period." Nitobe Inazo, in his book Bushido: The Soul of Japan, described it in this way. "...Bushido, 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."

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

An Unabridged, Digitally Enlarged Printing To Include Modernized Typeface: Bushido As An Ethical System - Sources Of Bushido - Rectitude Or Justice - Courage, The Spirit Of Daring And Bearing - Benevolence, The Feeling Of Distress - Politeness - Veracity Or Truthfulness - Honor - The Duty Of Loyalty - Education And Training Of A Samurai - Self-Control - The Institutions Of Suicide And Redress - The Sword, The Soul Of The Samurai - The Training And Position Of Woman - The Influence Of Bushido - Is Bushido Still Alive? - The Future Of Bushido

Chivalry is a flower no less indigenous to the soil of Japan than its emblem, the cherry blossom; nor is it a dried-up specimen of an antique virtue preserved in the herbarium of our history. It is still a living object of power and beauty among us; and if it assumes no tangible shape or form, it not the less scents the moral atmosphere, and makes us aware that we are still under its potent spell. The conditions of society which brought it forth and nourished it have long disappeared.

Bushido, literally "the way of the warrior", is a Japanese word for the way of the samurai life, loosely similar to the concept of chivalry (knights). It originates from the samurai moral code stressing frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death. Born from Neo-Confucianism during times of peace in Tokugawa Japan and following Confucian texts, Bushido was also influenced by Shinto and Zen Buddhism, allowing the violent existence of the samurai to be tempered by wisdom and serenity. Bushido developed between the 9th and 20th centuries and had wide influence across the whole of Japan. Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, aspects of bushido became formalized into Japanese feudal law. Bushido, 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. Modern Western translation of documents related to Bushido began in the 1970s.

Bushido, the author explains, is not the way of life of the general population of old Japan but of its warrior class. Inazo Nitobé is uniquely qualified to introduce this ancient system to a western audience. A convert to Christianity, intimately familiar with European and American customs, history, and literature, he skillfully weaves examples from those traditions into his narrative. How else could a westerner even hope to understand a practice like hara-kiri, a ritual form of suicide. Nitobé, giving us to understand that this is not a modern practice, uses examples of similar practices found in Western literature and history—instances we have routinely accepted as tragic yet noble deaths. The reader will find, however, that the above plays a very limited role in the system. Bushido is, in fact, driven by many of the qualities we most admire: justice, honor, loyalty, kindness, truthfulness, moral and physical courage — qualities incorporated into codes of honor around the world. Historians will remind us that modern police forces did not become common in Western cities until the second half of the nineteenth century. The population generally relied on community “watches” and the wealthy sometimes on paid (not always honorable) guards. In Japan, samurai warriors filled that role and did so with practiced skill within a strict and honorable system. And to achieve peace and justice without resort to violence was to attain ultimate honor.

About ten years ago, while spending a few days under the hospitable roof of the distinguished Belgian jurist, the lamented M. de Laveleye, our conversation turned, during one of our rambles, to the subject of religion. "Do you mean to say," asked the venerable professor, "that you have no religious instruction in your schools?" On my replying in the negative he suddenly halted in astonishment, and in a voice which I shall not easily forget, he repeated "No religion! How do you impart moral education?" The question stunned me at the time. I could give no ready answer, for the moral precepts I learned in my childhood days, were not given in schools; and not until I began to analyze the different elements that formed my notions of right and wrong, did I find that it was Bushido that breathed them into my nostrils. The direct inception of this little book is due to the frequent queries put by my wife as to the reasons why such and such ideas and customs prevail in Japan. In my attempts to give satisfactory replies to M. de Laveleye and to my wife, I found that without understanding Feudalism and Bushido, the moral ideas of present Japan are a sealed volume. - Taken from "Bushido: The Soul Of Japan" written by Inazo Nitobe.