The myth of the honourable Samurai busted?
 

I recently came accross the idea that Bushido was a concept invented during the Meiji era.

I've since found several sources on the net that back this up.

Also, considering I have an interest in the study of nationalism it adds to a long list of traditions around the world that are portrayed as "authentic" but are in fact very recent and modern.

Kinda ruins the honourable Samurai myth that is perpetuated not only in Japan but all over the world doesnt it however it does validate further my theory even more that nations, nationalism and the rhetoric surrounding them are at best trivial, and at worst irrational concepts.

You are raising a very interesting topic, Ronin. Please go into more detail. Are you saying Bushido was created after the era of the samurai was over? Can you give some evidence to that?

Can you share these sources with us. You've gotten me intrigued.

There's a very excellent movie from Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi, 'Harakiri', which presents a sort of negative view of Japanese feudal society and its various samurai/daimyo leadership. In the movie, the daimyo of a certain feudal clan tries to present himself and his clan as being honorable and noble, in the Bushido sort of way, but in reality they are greedy and vane.

The story for the movie is fictional, but it was still Kobayashi's intent to persuade people that the idea of the 'honorable Samurai' isn't quite as pure as people like to believe. Regardless if you believe this notion or not, I still highly recommend seeing the movie if you can find it - it's a Kurosawa-quality film.

A quote about the movie from someone who is a much better writer than I am:

Agreed. This is an excellent film.

Here's an essay on it

CiNii

Also I encountered the idea in one of my classes at the university Im studying at in Osaka.

This is very interesting.
Although I have yet to see any real evidence to back up this claim, I'm keeping my mind open to the possibility. [no sarcasm intended]

However old it is there are still good morals to learn from it that can be applied in life . . .

My thoughts exactly.

Hum, isn't the noble samurai a romanticised version of the real thing?

I mean, I'm a big fan of Samurai flicks (seven samurai is my fave atm, followed by Tommy-boy's "the last samurai".), but in real life wasn't it also about status?

Samurai had high status in society. They also demanded that and could pretty much do whatecver they wanted as long it didn't reflect badly on their lord.

The image of the noble samurai could be true, it could also be pure fiction.

But I agree with Jaydelart. I love that image to much to bust it ^^.

What kind of evidence do you expect? Most "evidence" on the internet is about as accuarate as what you see here. For all you know, they could be lying, too.

Personally? I would like to see hard printed evidence based on acual facts that can be traced historically.

And the I would ignore them and live in the blissfull facade that honorable samurai did exist.

I mean, I watching Shinkenger. Which is about Kanji and Samurai. And Bushido. And stuff...

Like I said, I don't want that image to be busted. I love that cool image of samurai too much I guess...

Living in Japan, I have to say that I`ve seen very little romanticism of samurai, and particularly not of bushido. That seems to be massively popular with people from outside of Japan, so tourism doesn`t hesitate to do so. As far as romanticism I have experienced - look to ninjas. Nowhere even close to the level done outside Japan, but still very removed from reality.

There seem to be romanticized stories of specific samurai groups or individuals... But as a whole, I`ve seen them painted as lazy, arrogant, abusive of power, etc, far more than I have seen them portrayed as honorable.

I`d say pretty much everyone knows the phrase 切捨御免 and it`s origin.

Interesting, as I've read texts dating to the 16th and 17th centuries which use the term "bushido". But then there are stories also on the internet that the Apollo moon landings weren't real either, and that space aliens visit the White House regularly.

Believe nothing that you read, and only half of what you see.

There are numerous manuals and guides belonging to various schools of the martial arts (including the style which I myself studied) which date to well before 1900, and describe the "warrior discipline". Musashi's "Gorin no sho" (written in 1645) describes bushido as "the way of the warrior", describing a path to enlightenment by adhering to it's virtues.

The term bushido was not coined by 20th century nationalists, it was merely counterfeited.

Ill repeat what I said before as some are questioning the source of this idea.

The idea was presented in a class Im taking at a JAPANESE university concerning Japan and Nationalism/Nation-state ideology.

Though I suppose it should be mentioned that it was posited against the idea that Bushido actually existed. However one thing is clear. What Bushido is was never defined explicitly untill the Meiji era by the author Nitobe Inazo who took a bunch of writings which are said to expose the Samurai spirit (as well as ommitting details about the atrocities the Samurai committed) slapped them together and called them Bushido.

This would mean that while the term may have existed before then, our concept of Bushido and what it is is is completely imagined.

I mean dont get me wrong, I have nothing against the imagined Bushido principles themselves (though to be honest I know nothing about them directly, my impression of them is that they seek to foster strength of character while remaining humble with regard to your place in nature, which is not a bad thing in my opinion). However when this is used to perpetuate a false concept of religious proportions, about a culture or nation then I have a problem with it.