Bushido code The word Bushido dates back as far as 17th century in Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate, the word appeared in Koyo Gunkan which was a writing of military exploits. The term Bushido did not gain popularity until the late 19th century when Inazo Nitobe published Bushido: The soul of Japan. The Bushido code was an unwritten “samurai code”. It is said that a true warrior was to show loyalty, courage, veracity, compassion, and honor as important, above all else. An appreciation and respect of life was also imperative, as it added balance to the warrior character of the Samurai. The bushido code held major influence on Japanese soldiers and their military. It is said that when the United States invaded Japan during WW2, the
In The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, a young man is thrown from his established world, left in a new, confusing realm that holds more than meets the eye. In the midst of a violent and ferocious war between the Chinese and Japanese in mid 1937, this young man, Stephen, contracts tuberculosis, and is sent to his family’s summer house in Japan. There he meets the house’s caretaker, Matsu, a simple and reserved man who holds back all but the most necessary speech. This meeting will come to define many of Stephen’s interactions with others throughout the novel: reserved and limited. In this odd land filled with subtle secrets and unspoken uncomfortability, Stephen is prepared for a very quiet and restful period, marked with healing and growth.
Isolation is similar to a puddle of water – it is seemingly dull and colorless, but all it takes is for one drop of paint to change the entire picture. The novel cc is about a ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes through the same cycle. Stephen moves to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locales and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, his relationship with Sachi and his time spent in Matsu’s garden lead him out of solitude.
Sometimes people are judged by their looks, and preferences will be made towards the more beautiful people before the less beautiful people. What individuals don’t put into account is that the person’s personality is part of their beauty. In Gail Tsukiyama’s novel, The Samurai’s Garden, through the characterization of Sachi’s personality and adversities, Gail Tsukiyama conveys the message that beauty is deeper than just the outside and this message is important because one shouldn’t judge someone just by their looks.
In the ancient Japanese culture, one great aspect was on how they emphasized on the intrinsic themes of loyalty and honor. They had fierce warriors known as samurai’s. A samurai was a traditional warrior who would protect and be loyal to their masters no matter what. They were known to be skilled soldiers, benevolent men, self-sacrifice, sense of shame, along with other major characteristics that embodied them as a samurai. While this class of warrior no longer exist today, the remembrance of a samurai is present in the minds of the characters in the novel, The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama. Tsukiyama does a fascinating piece of work by really elaborating and describing the great attributes that Matsu possess of a true samurai. In the
In 1864 the Geneva Convention was formed internationally. The Convention laid down rules concerning the treatment and protection of prisoners during wartime. The Japanese did not follow this Convention as they continuously mistreated many prisoners including Australian troops/soldiers and civilian prisoners. The Japanese saw the prisoners in camps as people who surrendered, therefore they were considered weak and cowardly because of a belief that the Japanese held that soldiers should die out respect for their emperor and country, known as the Bushido Code. A medical officer at the time was told by a Japanese commander,
Jeffrey Kingston. Japan in Transformation, 1952 – 2000. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2001. 230 pp.
Bushido - ???- the feudal-military Japanese code of behavior; the way of the warrior [samurai] Japanese chivalry [knighthood]
During the relatively peaceful Tokugawa period, the samurai were not as occupied with waging war as they had been in the past, and as such they had begun devoting their time to other things. The samurai spent more time in intellectual and artistic pursuits, and thanks in part to Tsunetomo himself, the culture of Bushido flourished. Bushido became a formal ideology and was pieced together by the samurai at the time (specifically Tsunetomo), similar to how chivalry had been formalized in Europe. Bushido was becoming a properly formalized code of conduct, a philosophy of loyalty, detachment and honor in death, where death is more highly revered than victory. Bushido is one of East Asia’s most influential schools of thought. What would Sun Tzu, the Chinese author of The Art of War, think of this death-oriented military ethos?
In Toshie: A Story of Village Life in Twentieth-Century Japan, published in 2004, author Simon Partner offers an insight on the transformation that underwent Japan through the mid-twentieth century through the life of Sakaue Toshie, a woman born and raised on a farm in the Kosugi hamlet of Yokogoshi, Niigata—a rural region almost 250km from the capital of Japan. Toshie was born in 1925—a year before the 64-year reign of Showa Era by Emperor Hirohito. This was a time when “two out of every ten babies died in childbirth or infancy,”(1) and Toshie’s family, who were poor tenant farmers renting a mere one acre of land, “were not far above”(2) those that were “literally unable to support themselves.”(2). Kosugi was virtually isolated especially in the winter season, when “residents of Kosugi had their hands full just keeping the main paths open in the hamlet,” (5) but also experienced “frequent floods [that] caused losses that small peasant farmers were often unable to recoup.” (7). This small village of Kosugi was thus one of the many rice-growing villages, with limited productivity and western mechanization. However, during the last three quarters of the twentieth century, Japan essentially transformed from an Empire to a Nation State, changing considerably in not only its governmental structure but also its social and economic structure. This paper examines Simon Partner’s contemporary approach of welding these significant historical transformations with the life experiences of a rural villager—a voice often unheard and hidden under the urban perspectives in historical textbooks. It argues that Japan’s socioeconomic metamorphosis did not occur immediately during or after the World War in the 1940s; rather, these changes kicked in af...
Medieval Japan proceeded the Heian period and spanned the years of 1185 to 1600. In contrast to the relatively peaceful times in the Heian period, medieval Japan was marked by changes of the government system into feudal structures and warfare, although the capital and imperial court culture still continued to exist. Political factions, such as the feud between the Taira and Minamoto clans, and the emergence of the warrior class of the medieval period clashed with the elegant imperial court of the Heian period, resulting in the gradual transition of political power to the military and samurai classes. This era of great turmoil and change was reflected in the literature of the time. In prose, new subjects that were never mentioned before emerged, such as physical descriptions of bodies and grotesque, gory war scenes. In Heian literature, the closest physical descriptions were only of women’s long, black hair and fair skin tone; detailed characteristics, especially those of unappealing taste, did not show up. However, in the feudal medieval period, writers depict war scenes in which warriors get beheaded and people commit seppuku, painting images of vivid crimson gore for the reader. Such descriptions show up in works such as Heike monogatari and Kamo mo Chōmei’s Hōjōki. However, the world of poetry at this time showed many distinct and interesting changes and innovations as compared to those of earlier times, which can be analyzed in more detailed aspects. Poetry is how Japan initially gained recognition and respect in the literary world; it was and continued to be the central cornerstone of classical Japanese literature through many centuries, which is why the focus of this paper will be the poetic anthologies of Kokinshū...
Myths and Legends of Japan Japan has many myths believed to be true by the Japanese culture. Such as: "You can tell a person's character from their blood type". The Japanese creation myth starts off with brother and sister gods Izanagi and Izanani. They dipped a spear into the churning sea and when they pulled it out the drops that fell on the water surface became the islands of Japan. Next, the sun goddess Amaterasu, was created and was soon sent to heaven to rule over the world.
I believe we can all agree that Japanese samurais and European knights are two of the most skilled and famous forms of warriors in history, right? Well both warriors began their trade at a very young age, and went through multiple stages of training throughout their lives. They both had a code of honor basically, but they differed from one another in quite a few ways. The big question is, “Were the similarities greater than the differences?”. Right off the bat I began to ponder the technicalities of the answer to this question. Before I get too scrambled up in the technicalities, let’s discuss some these differences and the similarities and figure out how this plays out. Before we conduct this discussion, let’s review our key terms. A clan is a group of close-knit and interrelated families. Feudalism was a political and economic system that flourished in Europe from the 9th to the 15th century, based on higher classes giving random services and items in exchange for something else. Knights were men who served their lord as a mounted soldier in armor. Samurai’s were members of a powerful military social class in feudal Japan. A shogun was a hereditary commander-in-chief in feudal Japan. Chivalry was the medieval knightly system with its religious, moral, and social code. Bushido was the code of honor and morals developed by the Japanese samurai.
The Japanese culture is quite harmonious, respectful, and hardworking. Their culture is made up highly of being respectful of others, family, and nature. They value their elders, history, tradition, religion, family, government, nature, education, and work.
There are many historical aspects of the Japanese, but the most interesting is the history of the Samurai. In Japans history war played a large role in the country. Controlling clans fought for parts of the land and overall control of the country. These clans were powerful families that resided in the country and who all wanted power and control of Japan for themselves. The families that would be in control were known as Shoguns. These shoguns would have warriors that fought for them if any of the other clan families would try to attack him in order to overthrow him and take his power from him. The Samurai followed a code that developed from Chinese beliefs when in battle. The Samurais code was known as the Bushido. This code was also known as “The Way of The Warrior” which was the main belief s...
Japan has many wonders that the general public does not know of. Most Americans only know about the past wars of Japan, therefore they don’t know the true history of the people that life there. Several wonders of Japan include its History, Government, Geography and Topography, Cultural Customs and Economy and Trade.