The bushido code

The animating spirit of Samurai illustrated with calligraphies of the seven virtues

To understand the bushido code, one should read Inazo Nitobe's work Bushido, the Soul of Japan.This singular book gives you a deep insight in the powerful bushido code that forged the Samurai spirit.

Bushido, the Soul of Japan and its author Inazo Nitobe

Few are the writers who explain the dense world
of the Samurai so elocuently as Inazo Nitobe.

Feudal Japan and Samurai are not an easy issue. We all know the many prejudices and misconceptions this matter raises. Therefore a true witness is needed to defend its cause. Inazo Nitobe does this splendidly. He is a child of old Japan in whose veins bushido flows. In Bushido, the Soul of Japan he unveils the mystery of the Samurai spirit and engages in a compelling debate about the value of the moral precepts of the true bushido code.

The bushido code in Bushido, the Soul of Japan

Next you can read a few extracts of the chapters upon the seven virtues of bushido. I have made this small selection, because that's how you will find out if you can enjoy this book.

What Inazo Nitobe say's about the bushido code:

RECTITUDE

Rectitude is the power of deciding upon a certain course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering;- to die when it is right to die, to strike when to strike is right.

COURAGE

Courage was scarcely deemed worthy to be counted among virtues, unless it was exercised in the cause of righteousness.

BENEVOLENCE

Benevolence, love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity were ever recognized to be supreme virtues, the highest of all the attributes of the human soul.

POLITENESS

Politeness, that courtesy and urbanity of manners which has been noticed by every foreign tourist as a marked Japanese trait. Politeness is a poor virtue, if it is actuated only by a fear of offending good taste, whereas it should be the outward manifestation of a sympathetic regard for the feelings of others.

TRUTHFULNESS

Without truthfulness politeness is a farce and a show.

HONOR

A good name -one's reputation, the immortal part of one's self, what remains being bestial - assumed as a matter of course, any infringement upon its integrity was felt as shame, and the sense of shame (ren-chi-shin) was one of the earliest to be cherished in juvenile education.

LOYALTY

Loyalty was the key-stone making feudal virtues a symmetrical arch.

Buying Bushido, the soul of Japan

If you have enjoyed these examples and want to go on reading this book, you can buy the Bushido code book here.

It is now available in a new modern digital edit,

  easy to download

  easy to read

  easy to print

and


  illustrated with seven original Japanese calligraphies of the bushido code specially brushed for this book by artist calligrapher Nadja Van Ghelue

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