The Moral Concept of Japanese Samurai: What is Bushido

Bushido, ‘the way of the warrior’, is a concept immortalized through its constitutional ties to the moral values of Japanese samurai. Although bushido only appears in books in the late 16th century, the principles it entails of perfect honour and unyielding loyalty, military preparedness and a strong sense of duty, are beliefs that are as closely tied to samurai throughout history as their claim of being Japan’s strongest warrior class. However, while bushido has been structural to samurai convention from the earliest instances of samurai to their downfall at the end of the Tokugawa Period (1600-1868 CE), this central warrior philosophy remains one of the only constants attributed to the samurai name. Thus, samurai evolved as a warrior class alongside the technological advancements and social changes throughout history, not necessarily because of it.

The first instances of the term ‘samurai’ used to describe a social class is ascribed to imperial bureaucrats of the Asuka Period (538-710 CE). The Taiho Code administrative reforms classified twelve different ranks of bureaucrats, six of which fell into the samurai rank. However, samurai in Asuka Period did not refer to militaristic warriors, but instead concerned civil public servants. In the later Heian Period (794-1185 CE), the Emperor, disturbed by militant insecurities, introduced a new position of power called the Shogun, who was the supreme military commander of a new standing army. However, at this point in time, the warriors of this army were not exclusively of the samurai class as they would be during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333 CE). The families of the old samurai bureaucrats of the Asuka Period were the ancestors of a clan system, in which the samurai families became hailed as dominant warlords. Domestic fighting between these clans sparked the development of the characteristic samurai armour we associate with the warrior class today, and also the manifestation of certain samurai ideals, such as honour. During the Genpei War (1180-1185 CE), samurai unconditionally fought for their clans because of strong familial bonds, whereas in the pre-modern Tokugawa Period, a samurai’s loyalty was more often bought, rather than freely given. However, despite the evolution of samurai as a social class throughout history, the concept of bushido, of upholding unwavering personal honour and duty, nevertheless remained a foundational part of samurai culture and ethics.

The Rise and Features of Samurai as Warriors

In understanding the evolution of samurai as a warrior class, one must compare the birth of the samurai as the dominant ruling class of the Kamakura Period, to the erosion of the samurai due to the age of peace brought on by the Tokugawa Period. The Kamakura Period marks the rise of the samurai social class as becoming symbols of the ideal warrior and citizen, with their highly developed sense of personal honour, and importance placed on proper etiquette. In battle, samurai had a practice called nanori, ‘name announcing’, in which one would proudly declare one’s title and achievements to their enemy before battle. While nanori was mainly used to bolster morale amongst the troops, it was also a practice that placed emphasis on the personal glory and honour that samurai aspired for during this time. However, it is worth noting that battles in the Kamakura Period were anything but chivalrous, like the practice of nanori might suggest. These ideas on the proud focus on personal glory of samurai during the Kamakura Period is contended by the more subdued Confucian ideals during the Tokugawa Period, in which samurai conduct of self-discipline and righteousness served as a behavioural role model for the other classes, with much less emphasis on personal glory.

The first major distinction between Kamakura samurai and Tokugawa samurai is found in the armour worn during each period. The armour also serves as an indication of social and technological discrepancies between the two historical periods. In the Kamakura Period, samurai wore o-yoroi and do-maru lamellar armour, in which small rectangular plates of iron, steel, leather, or bronze were laced into horizontal rows. However, due to the invention of firearms, in the Tokugawa Period the more sophisticated gusoku armour, influenced by Western plate armour, was popularized. Firearms initiated drastic military change in the pre-modern era, including tactics, formation, and a new purpose for non-samurai military personnel, the ashigaru spearmen, who were often placed in front of samurai in battle to form a shield from approaching gunfire. It was also discovered that the use of horses in battle had become obsolete due to the advantage of ranged firearm attacks, and so in the pre-modern era, cavalry was reserved as a symbolic indication of a samurai’s high rank, and not necessarily a unanimous attribute for samurai status. In medieval Japan, all wars were fought on horseback, and being the first to enter battle was perceived as an honourable action, rather than a death sentence as it was in the later pre-modern period. Additionally, the pair of katana and wakizashi blades samurai wielded became more symbolic of samurai status during the Tokugawa Period, rather than used as actual weapons. This slight shift in wartime principle was also the product of the fall of Zen Buddhism and the rise of Confucianism within the philosophical realm. During the Kamakura Period, Zen Buddhism contributed to samurai ideals through its emphasis on reincarnation, meditation, and personal fortitude and self-discipline. The belief in reincarnation was essential to samurai during this period, and was the heart of a samurai’s nonexistent fear of death, and the absence of desire to torture or kill needlessly. However in the Tokugawa Period, Confucian principle coupled with the bushido ideals presented through the Hagakure emphasized loyalty to one’s lord, even to the point of death. Additionally, seppuku, ‘ritual suicide’, evolved from being the highest form of honourable death a samurai could have, in which the warrior faced certain death at the hands of their enemies, to an aestheticized form of ritual suicide, wherein suicide was seen as the only way to preserve one’s honour. In the Tokugawa Period, “seppuku was essentially a form of punishment under Tokugawa law.” The slight shift from samurai being the perfect warrior to the perfect servant is a reflection of the philosophies underscored during each respective period.

The purpose of samurai as a social class also varied from the Kamakura and Tokugawa Periods. This is largely due to the fact that the Tokugawa Period was a time of relative peace, which lead to the decline of the warrior class and the promotion of a scholarly elite, which Japan took influence from China. That being said -- what is the purpose of warriors when there are no wars to fight? In the Kamakura Period, “the employment of violence was constitutive of aristocratic status and legitimacy to rule,” whereas in the Tokugawa Period, “the role of samurai was transformed from military duty to bureaucratic service.” Samurai ethics of loyalty and duty was thus seen as ritual to be followed for a properly functioning society, and was no longer something that was attributed to the ideal righteous and glorified warrior of the Kamakura Period. Nevertheless, it can be determined that while the world changed around samurai, samurai’s principles of bushido remained a fundamental aspect of the warrior social class throughout history.