Antony Cummins - The Book of Bushido: The Complete Guide to Real Samurai Chivalry

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

The Book of series

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Book of Samurai: Samurai Arms, Armour & the Tactics of Warfare (Book 2)

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This edition first published in the UK and USA 2022 by

Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

Unit 11, Shepperton House

8993 Shepperton Road

London

N1 3DF

Design and typography copyright Watkins Media Limited 2022

Text copyright Antony Cummins 2022

Antony Cummins has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the Publishers.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Designed and typeset by JCS Publishing Services Ltd

Calligraphy by Yamamoto Jyuh

Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ Books Ltd

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78678-605-0

www.watkinspublishing.com

CONTENTS

This book is dedicated to the Comminnauts, an intellectual group based in Commins Coch, near Machynlleth, Powys. Many of the ideas in this book sprang from this debate group formed by Robin Clifton, Vivien Clifton, Daniel Bryan and me, with many shared evenings of cake, tea and discussions of samurai ethics and morality.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Above all, I would like to give thanks to Fiona Robertson for her constant support of my work, a favourable wind sending me across the sea of my future dreams. Also, to my editor, James Hodgson, for his excellent treatment of the text. To Koizumi Mieko for her diligent checking of the manuscript and quotes. To Yamamoto Jyuho for calligraphy. To Matthew Okuhara for sharing with me his work on the samurai and their use of guns. Also, to the many others who have over the years translated old Japanese texts into English for the world to enjoy, including but not restricted to: Thomas Cleary, William Scott Wilson, Alexander Bennett, Hiroaki Sato, Tabata Kazumi, Royall Tyler and Eric Shahan, all of whom deserve credit for their contributions to Japanese history. A special thank you goes to Nicholas DeLaune of the YouTube channel The Shgunate, who has been my historical fact checker on this mission, and who has helped to promote my work and support my approach to his fullest ability. Finally, to Robin Clifton, formerly of the University of Warwick, for his general help and his suggestion of the opening quote by Sir John Harington.

INTRODUCTION:
AN OUTLINE OF SAMURAI HONOUR

The samurai ideal:

What the cherry blossom is among flowers, bushi warriors are among men.

Japanese saying

The samurai reality:

Of course, honesty is a principle on the original form of the path which I learn. However, using deception in certain situations cannot be avoided.

Yoshisada Gunki (transcribed 1629)

WHO WERE THE SAMURAI?

The samurai originated in the second half of the first millennium. They served the imperial court, first as court servants and bureaucrats, then as a warrior caste who guarded the court of Kyto and put down rebellions throughout the land. Later they seized power for themselves yet never removing the Emperor as head of state and placed Japan under military rule.

It would be wrong to view the samurai as a homogenous group; they comprised various types occupying different social levels, ranging from blue-blooded sons of princes all the way down to peasants made good and opportunists. General terms for them include:

samurai () literally, one who serves

bushi () military knight or gentleman

mononofu () alternative name for bushi, often used in poetry

musha () military person

There were also more specific terms for certain kinds of samurai, including:

rnin ( or ) person who floats upon the wave of society or prison person, these were wandering samurai who did not have a lord

watari-zamurai () mercenary, similar to rnin

jizamurai () country samurai, akin to landed gentry

dog () powerful land-owner

suhadamono () warrior on the field of battle who had bare legs and light armour

koshi () ex-knight from a family that had lost full samurai status but retained certain privileges

nobushi () bandit knight who lived in the wilds

All of these were considered as military personnel at one point or another, yet many did not fit the archetype of the noble warrior who aspired to follow bushid.

The samurai was both servant to some and master to others, taking his place in a hierarchical pyramid with the apex warrior at the top. His objective in life was either to climb to the top of that pyramid or to give military service to someone else who climbed it and receive in return land rights and position. A system relying so heavily on the moral obligations of giving and receiving needed to be governed by some form of code of conduct, and that is how bushid came into being.

WHAT IS BUSHID?

Bushid () is the chivalric, moral and ethical system of ideas and correct behaviour developed by the samurai class. The term is made up of two parts: bushi (), military gentleman, and d (), which refers to the Daoist Way, meaning the pattern behind the universe, or the Confucianist way, meaning to follow a proper path. The full term bushid is most commonly translated as the way of the warrior or the way of the samurai.