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Japanese Bushido Code

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Section One: Identification and Evaluation of Sources This investigation will explore the question: How is the bushido code retained in modern and historic Japanese ideology? The investigation will focus on various time periods in Japan. Japan’s historical periods have been divided into different sections, the broad time frame that the investigation will discuss will be between the Asuka period (552-645) and the Meiji, Modern period (1868-present) a few other periods in between like the Edo and Heian period will also be discussed to explore the topic in greater detail as many important historic events occur during these time frames as well. The first of the two main sources is Oleg Benesch’s book “Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, …show more content…

Nitobe deeply explores “the way of the samurai” and its rule of eight virtues in comparison and in contrast to medieval chivalry and the spiritual culture of ancient Greece. He describes the samurai philosophy and how Japanese men were trained and educated along with the role of Japanese women in the samurai culture. The book’s limitation would be a bias towards Japan as Nitobe wrote the book to paint the picture of a Japan as a noble nation. Nitobe also wrote the book in English, which is not his native language, he may not have been able to interpret and translate what he wanted to display as clear as he would hope as he writes in the book. Lastly, Nitobe also drew many similarities between Western and medieval chivalry and the Japanese samurai hoping the Westerners would relate to the ideology. Many of Japan and its influential people disagreed and rejected his book at first as they disagreed with Nitobe’s opinions and beliefs of the comparison between the Westerners and themselves. The source’s purpose is just to provide a first-hand perspective into what the bushido’s significance was during the early Meiji period through the perspective of a Japanese person. The book not only gives an analysis of Japan and the bushido, it also draws comparisons to the Western ideology of chivalry. Nitobe examines bushido, the …show more content…

The military influence on the government affected not only the government’s ideology and way of thinking, but also influenced regular Japanese citizens. Bushido came to influence many Japanese lives, even those of low status, as they were an isolated nation whose core beliefs would follow those of what the government believed. The Japanese would not question their government, their emperor and the samurai class. No one would contradict and oppose any beliefs that were imposed by the elite, higher classes. In addition, the Japanese had almost no knowledge of the outside world, this ensured that the government would maintain control over the citizens and sustain a unified nation. Any influence from the world outside of Japan would pose a threat to the imperial powers. If the Japanese citizens were exposed to Western ideas that contradicted those of Japan, they would begin to question the feudal

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