Samurai

BUDO: An Abstract

There is one thing that most karate men and women take rather seriously, and that are the issues surrounding “bushido” and “budo”. These words, constructed through a most curious of means, are continually re-visited by karateka throughout their practice and eventual teaching of karate to younger generations. We ought to look carefully at what these words mean, as they have a certain resonance in karate practitioners, but whether or not such resonance is has merit, is truthful, or historically accurate may be another matter altogether.

Bushido is in itself, a contradiction in terms, an enigma, and a term that escapes both definition but has hard edges to it in terms of what is "acceptable" budo-conduct. Let us take a few moments to examine the literature that supports our historic and folkloric interpretations of what it means to be a “samurai”, a “warrior”, and a disciple to “budo”.

The “budo” that we are often most familiar with is the one we find in the image of the bold fearless warrior. It is the budo of Yamamoto Tsunetomo (Hagakure). This is the budo which fixates on death, and fearlessness in the face of the inevitable. Yamamoto makes this clear when he says:

Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. By doing this, you will awaken from your dreams.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo's strongly worded advice is meant to shock the listener and to shake him from sleep. The death of the samurai has no real meaning. The only real meaning is how one lives in the face of death, and at the moment when death comes. Although the samurai may appear to be reckless and without any regard for self-preservation, the opposite response, of fighting with less than one's fullest and relentless effort, is a shameful and emasculating act. To the samurai, “it is better to be a dead lion than a live dog.”

But that is not the end of the definition of "bushido". This is not where “bushido” begins and ends. There is much more to it. We see this historically in the evolution of Japan's epic "The Heike Monogatari" in its development from a catalogue of butcheries to an aesthetic work that synthesizes two warring halves of Japan into a unified whole. This is, in essence, the truer, albeit less clear, representation of what samurai were all about. It is a “code of the bushi” based on an aesthetic ideal, and not on a “code of conduct” that we imagine we may find with any contractual meaning, or oath-taking ceremony.

The aesthetic presentations of samurai throughout the Heike Monogatari, which is the original representation of medieval samurai in Japanese classic literature, often begin to take flight, become super-human, and almost god-like in form. Samurai cut down scores of opponents unscathed, are pronounced "men worth a thousand" ad nauseum, and can leap like tigers, stare down Death itself, and upon their own death have their bodies turn so hot they can boil water. These images of samurai performing comic-book style acts of bravery and loyalty has two results. The first is that what can be considered a “true samurai” can only be described through embellished or fictionalized accounts, and the second is that such characters and acts become increasingly lofty and far out of reach of the rank and file armed soldier.

In reaction to these unbelievable, and thus inaccessible, representations of the warrior, writers like Yuuzan Daidouji, the author of Budo Shoshinshuu (16th century), make these ethereal presentations a little more tangible in the temporal world:

One who is a warrior should have a thorough understanding of these two qualities. If he knows how to do the one and avoid the other then he will have attained Bushido. And right and wrong are nothing but good and evil, for though I would not deny that there is a slight difference between the terms, yet to act rightly and do good is difficult and is regarded as tiresome, whereas to act wrongly and do evil is easy and amusing, so that naturally most incline to the wrong or evil and tend to dislike the right and good. But to be thus unstable and make no distinction between right and wrong is contrary to reason, so that anyone who understands this distinction and yet does what is wrong is no proper samurai but a raw and untaught person.

This kind of "bushido" is one that strikes a particular chord with this writer, and resonates as something that also really applies well to karate.

When we look at the "guiding principles" of the dojo-kun and ni-ju kun we have within a set of practical directives and ethical directives. The element of spirituality and ethereal wanderings is non- existent, this is also why I resist such suggestions strenuously. To be an adherent of budo one must behave ethically. We can find Platonic connections in our own Western heritage as well to make these connections stick in a very personal way on a cognitive level.

Nitobe says the same, although in much more “flowery” terms:

What Japan was she owed to the samurai. They were not only the flower of the nation, but its roots as well. All the gracious gifts of Heaven flowed through them. Though they kept themselves socially aloof from the populace, they set a moral standard for them and guided them by their example. I admit Bushido had its esoteric and exoteric teachings; these were eudemonic, looking after the welfare and happiness of the commonalty; those were aretaic, emphasizing the practice of virtues for their own sake.

But budo and bushido in the modern era have their own place too, in terms of defining the conduct and behavior of men. Since the evolution in the presentation of the Heike Monogatari from a long list of ruffians with swords chopping each other to bits to men of intense nobility and refined purpose, contrasted of course to the backdrop of the Buddhist philosophies of "mappo" (believe that the end of the world is at hand, an almost existentialist philosophical construct), we find that there is a new sense of what it means to understand bushido, and thus what it means to be "a man".

This is the element of restraint.

Granted, that as a peace-time noble, and one who benefited from an international education, Nitobe himself is not a representative of a “bushi”, but as someone who is well versed and well-read in such things, his ethical approach to what it means to be a “warrior” is not entirely without merit. Although pontificating at times, Nitobe informs us that the training of samurai was focussed far more on the inner qualities of the man than the physical practice of sword play and archery. He argues that the popular image of the enraged samurai is somewhat misplaced:

The morbid excess into which the delicate code of honor was inclined to run was strongly counterbalanced by preaching magnanimity and patience. To take offence at slight provocation was ridiculed as 'short-tempered.'

He follows the same argument later in his text with:

The question that concerns us most is, however,--Did Bushido justify the promiscuous use of the weapon? The answer is unequivocally, no! As it laid great stress on its proper use, so did it denounce and abhor its misuse. A dastard or a braggart was he who brandished his weapon on undeserved occasions. A self-possessed man knows the right time to use it, and such times come but rarely.

The samurai's character is determined far more by how he exercises restraint than how he kills his enemies. Daily consistent dedication to the maintenance of one's heart in self-control is equal to service of the samurai who launches himself into enemy ranks to kill for his master. We may be persuaded to argue that self-restraint is a more difficult virtue as it is the continual securing of energy and rage while battle is merely the release of it.

The Hagakure also has excellent counsel for the modern disciple of budo. We find this very interesting advice for the fighting man, counsel that ought be well-heeded, particularly in times of peace:

One should be careful and not say things that are likely to cause trouble at the time. When some difficulty arises in this world, people get excited, and before one knows it the matter is on everyone's lips. This is useless. If worse comes to worse, you may become the subject of gossip, or at least you will have made enemies by saying something unnecessary and will have created ill will. It is said that at such a time it is better to stay at home and think of poetry.

Literature once again is the spiritual balm for a troubled soul. Marvelous stuff. Within “bushido” we not only have the "active" element of what it means to be a warrior or fighter, but we also have the element of restraint, of withholding our feelings and anger that makes us men. Also, it is important to note that it is an “aesthetic” evolution in “bushido” and not an evolution in the philosophical approaches to the question, “What is bushido?”

Yamamoto Tsunetomo wraps it all up perfectly with this:

How can one human being be inferior to another? In all matters of discipline, one will be useless unless he has great pride. Unless one is determined to move the clan by himself, all his discipline will come to naught. Although, like a tea kettle, it is easy for one's enthusiasm to cool, there is a way to keep this from happening. My own vows are the following:

Never to be outdone in the Way of the Samurai.
To be of good use to the master.
To be filial to my parents.
To manifest great compassion, and to act for the sake of Man.

If one dedicates these four vows to the gods and Buddhas every morning, he will have the strength of two men and will never slip backward. One must edge forward like the inchworm, bit by bit. The gods and Buddhas, too, first started with a vow.

Did you notice the tea kettle in this last quote? Sounds bit like something from the ni-ju kun, no? “Bushido” is individual, but it is not a fixed ideal. “Budo” and “bushido” have within it, its own evolution. At one time, it was only the Japanese who could claim a heritage in “budo”. I don't think that this is the case any longer. We have come much further down the road to equate the ideal with a particular nationality. Nitobe himself says that it is Japan's gift to the planet.

When we look at what “budo” means we can no longer merely thumb through a dictionary and talk about the shape of kanji. There are layers within layers of what these words mean, and they cannot be reduced to a few lines drawn on a piece of paper. “Budo” is something that has with it, its own ethic and aesthetic, a continually evolving ideal. One that will no doubt continue to change and grow over time and through the discussions we have with it. As is evident in the discussions we are having to date, there is much that is unknown, and much that is worthy of our discussion and continued vigilant attention.

Mark Groenewold

To read my thesis on this subject in full, as well as a comparative exploration of the literatures of the Tale of the Heike and Chretien de Troyes, “Yvain” go here: http://www.karatethejapaneseway.com/research/thesis.html.

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