The virtue underlying in death: Bushido philosophy 1

This is what I discussed with my Aikido master.

Bushi means samurai warrier, especially Edo period 17^th to the modernization in early 20^th century, so-called nights or the army for the top political power, we identified this occupation Bushi.

Do means a way, a path, it’s a metaphor of philosophy. Therefore, Bushido ,in a word, stands for the philosophy of samurai, that Japanese have been tendered in our history.

In Meiji modernization, Inazo Nitobe, who studied in the U.S was asked by Americans “How Japanese can maintain the ethical value even though you have no specific religions such as Christianity or Muslim? ” Nitobe responded that Bushido has been the ethical value and the code of conducts for us Japanese.

Another example is Hagakure. In Hagakure, the essence of such Samurai philosophy were described. One of the principle phrases is this one “The ultimate value of Bushido is the death. ”

This is not a sort of pessimistic view of life. For instance, the life or world is a sort of illusion, sticking with it means nothing and we have to be aware of vulnerability of the reality. This sounds like a pessimistic view of life.

However, my Master mentioned, “Hagakure doesn’t mean such pessimistic view of life. Rather this represents the opposite. This conveys the very positive view of life. We, as long as we are samurai, have to have a ultimate mission or objective our lives for which we are willing to dedicate our lives. If we call ourselves as samurai, we must seek such attitude, tender and put the highest priority and importance on our daily lives, to find out such ultimate objectives.

This is the fundamental metaphor of “Bushido.”

This was exactly understandable and convincing to me. The death itself doesn’t have any value however, finding and seeking the objective in our lives and deliver our utmost efforts are the most important. In other words, live your life in a very positive approach by which you would never regret your life even if your life ends as of today. Put all of your efforts and energies to make your day better than yesterday, this is the practice to live Bushido.

I interpreted master’s words in such way.

Bushido and Samurai philosophy have been found to be very eccentric, or sometimes a sort of fanatic enthusiasm. However, I have found the same fundamental as I have seen to Bushido towards the cultural values in other countries. For instance, at 9.11 terrorism attack, the passengers on the plane worked hard and did their best to save other’s lives. They devoted themselves to what they love, tender, and treasure. This is another form of Bushido from my point of view.

Therefore, as a conclusion, Bushido can be found in everywhere in the world as long as we have something important for which we can devote our lives.

Further queries or doubts, please email to ytomizuka@abrilsjp.com

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