Author: Inazo Nitobe

Notes:

• Chivalry was a child of feudalism and still survives its mother institution
• Bushido
  • ~ japanese chilvalry
  • Bu-shi-do = Military-Knight-Ways
  • Code of moral principles the knights were instructed to observe
  • Adopted by the old professional class of knights, the Samurai
• Sources
  • Buddhism / Zen
    • Harmony with absolute
    • Contemplation and meditation
  • Shintoism
    • Reverence for ancestral memory
    • Filial piety
• "A man who has read little smells a little pedantic, and a man who has red too much smells yet more so: both are alike unpleasant"
  • Knowledge becomes really so only when assimilated in the mind of the learner and shows in their character
  • Bushido made light of knowledge pursued as an end itself → attainment of wisdom
• Rectitude / Justice
  • Rectitude is the power of deciding upon a certain course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering - to die when it is right to die, to strike when to strike is right
  • Gi-ri = the Right Reason, duty pure and simple
    • Fairness > other reasoning
• Courage
  • Doing what is right
  • Occasional deprivation of food, exposure to cold was considered highly efficacious test for inuring them to endurance
  • Combat was not solely a matter of brute force; it was, as well, an intellectual engagement
  • "You are to be proud of your enemy; then the success of your enemy is your success also"
• Benevolence
  • Benevolence > Despotism in feudalist times
  • Bushido accepted and corroborated paternal government
    • A paternal gov → proud submission, dignified obedience and subordination of heart
  • Benevolence to the weak, the downtrodden or the vanquished was ever extolled as peculiarly becoming to a samurai
  • Modesty and complaisance, actuated by respect for others' feelings, are at the root of politeness
• Politeness
  • Outward manifestation of sympathetic regard for feelings of others, fitness of things, respect to social positions
  • "By constant exercise in correct manners, one brings all the parts and faculties of his body into perfect order and, into such harmony with itself and its environment as to express the mastery of spirit over the flesh"
• Veracity and Sincerity
  • Nietzche - honesty is the youngest of the virtues, the foster-child of modern idustry
• Honour
  • A good name, one's reputation - that is immortal
• Loyalty
  • Interest of the family and of the members therof is intact - one and inseparable
• Suicide
  • Sepupuku or kappuku, or hara-kiri
  • Death to resolve issues of honour
  • An institution to expiate crimes, apologise for errors, escape disgrace, redeem friends
• Sword
  • What he carries in his belt is a symbol of what he carries in his mind and heart - loyalty and honour
  • The blademaker as a craftsmen
  • However, great stress is placed on its proper use → only for deserved ocassions
• Women
  • The paragon of paradoxes - intuitive working beyond comprehension of men's "arithmetical understanding"
  • Ideal womenhood was domestic
  • Chastity was a pre-eminent virtue, above life
  • From earliest youth she was taught to deny others - to serve others → dependent service