Bushido Code Essay

Just like there were knights in Europe, in Japan there were the samurai. The samurai also called bushi were the warriors of pre-modern Japan. Later in time they became a military ruling class in the Edo period. Their main weapon was the sword and it was their symbol as well. They were supposed to lead their life according to the code of the ethnic code of the bushido. The bushido is translated to be “the way of the warrior.” It was given the philosophy of “freedom of fear.” In this research, there will be the history of the bushido code, and its tenets, the eight virtues of a samurai.

In the Shoku Nihongi, an early history of Japan written in 797, the term “bushi” was found for the first time in Japanese literature, which meant to the educated warrior-poet ideal. It was adapted from the Chinese language and it introduced

It was presented as rejuvenating the traditions values and “transiting the modern”. This concept of the bushido would preserve the soldiers to fight to the end. As the war came to a turn, the spirit of the bushido was used to inspire those who depended on the strong will and the united soul of the nation. The first proposals of organized suicide attacks met disapproval because while bushido called for a warrior to be always aware of death, but not to view it as the only end, but the desperate conditions brought about acceptance. Such attacks were acclaimed to as the true spirit of bushido.

Just after few decades after the samurai class was abolished, Nitobe Inazo wrote a book called Bushido: The Soul of Japan, which interprets the samurai code of behavior: how chivalrous men should act. The eight virtues of the samurai were also mentioned in this book. These virtues are:

I. Rectitude or Justice: Rectitude is the most important virtue of the bushido. The righteousness is referred by the bushido not only martially but also