Bushido:
The Soul of Japan
at Amazon.com
|
|
| The Cover of Bushido: The Soul of Japan |
|
|
| Buy this Book at Amazon.com |
This is a beautiful little book, written by a very earnest and well-meaning author by the name of Nitobe Inazo.
The book is intoxicatingly introduced by William Elliot Griffis, one of the first American educators to come to Japan in 1870, he writes:
“... how glad I was to leave the capital, and at Fukui, in the province of Echizen, see pure feudalism in operation! There I looked on Bushido, not as an exotic, but in its native soil. In daily life I realized that Bushido, with its cha-no-yu, jiu-jitsu, hara-kiri, polite prostrations on the mats and genuflections on the street, rules of the sword and road, all leisurely salutations and politest moulds of speech, canons of art and conduct, as well as heroisms for wife, maid, and child, formed the universal creed and praxis of all the gentry in the castled city and province. In it, as a living school of thought and life, girl and boy alike were trained.”
Griffis is transported, both physically and mentally, deep into the world of mysticism and the metaphysical codes of bushido that lay genetically linked to the Japanese soul, tattooed on the very bones of Japanese children. It is a marvelous image and we can only equally marvel along with him as he recounts his impressions stepping out of his world and into the beautiful world of a bushido-transformed society. Despite the fact that most 19th century writing uses hyperbole in the extreme, there is still something magical that Griffis seems to have stumbled upon, a certain intangible quality that like a wisp of smoke from incense, draws us closer, and pricks the corners of our minds.
Nitobe's classic text, Bushido: The Soul of Japan, was written at a time when Japanese and Western relationships were really in their infancy. Japan's doors were slowly creaking open, the influences of the West were being held at bay as much as possible, while outsiders, for the first time were permitted an opportunity to peek inside. Everyone loves a mystery and a puzzle. The Japanese have them both, in spades.
Nitobe Inazo's desire, as emphatically expressed throughout this fun little book, is to bridge some of the seemingly insurmountable gaps that existed (and still do exist) between the East and West. What is so curious, however, is that he did what so few of his contemporaries today in East-West relations fail to do, and that is to attach meaning of the subject of the things which he wishes to describe to the language and cultural identifiers of his target audience. Simply put, he uses the English language, English thinkers and poets, non-Japanese parallels, and non-Japanese figures to which he draws understandings back into the enigmatic principles of Bushido. He hooks his readers with their own stories and says, “Look, this is exactly what I am talking about when discussing the virtues of bushido in Japan.”
Recent apologists and japanophiles will falsely argue that there are so many things about the Japanese mind, their society and culture which are beyond our mere understanding as rude and barbaric foreigners. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nitobe explains so much, so easily, and not only in English, but other Western languages too. He even defines for himself the links between “bushido” and the French “noblesse oblige” and “gentilhomme” and the German “Gemuth”. He ties bushido to both Confucius and Mencius, Socrates and Wan Yang Ming. Bushido, for Nitobe, is not an indecipherable and unknowable quality. It is knowable, attachable, synthesizable, and practical. Bushido spans cultures, lives within cultures, permeates literatures, and is without boundaries.
There is no doubt that this text is dated, and that there are some leaps in logic which are more fanciful than factual. These issues coupled with the fact that Nitobe is a Christian apologist attempting to synthesize bushido into his own philosophy may leave many readers thinking that he is over-reaching. But for this reader, over-reaching is good, creativity and attempts at synthesis are natural, and drawing parallels between cultures and histories breeds and encourages exchange, cooperation, mutual respect, and the desire for understanding are profoundly noble sentiments.
I like this book. I like it a lot. Not because it is so beautifully written, or because it really bridges a lot of gaps in our cross-cultural misunderstanding. I don't think that it can, nor does it necessarily succeed in its lofty goals. I like the intent behind the book. The intention is pure, and it is joy-filled. Nitobe has such an enthusiasm for bushido, and a strong desire for people of his homeland to be understood, that one cannot help but to fall into the pages of this book, and drink in the intoxicating essays.
Most certainly, bushido as it was developed as an aesthetically changing and evolving topic for revisionists of literature, but Nitobe would argue that despite these additions and polishing that there is still something that still remains at the core, a thing of pure beauty that can still define the whole of bushido. He may be onto something, and it is also with tremendous relief that he does not merely attribute these noble sentiments to the Japanese and the Japanese alone. He hammers out his thoughts to spread and reflect the same nobility that is found in cultures all over the planet, in Europe, in China, and the West.
For Nitobe, there are more than just the Japanese who live in the Floating World. It is a place where all of humanity may call on the elements of bushido to identify and reflect what is most ennobling and enriching in understanding the character and spirit of the fighting man.
Mark Groenewold
September, 2003.
| Site Home | All About Japan Home |