Nitobe Inazo is a famous Japanese international political activist and educator. From 1984 to 2004, Nitobe Inazo's head has been appearing on Japanese 5000 yuan banknotes for 20 years, which shows his position in Japan.

About this book

This book was written in English in the United States in 1899, four years after the end of the Sino-Japanese War and five years before the start of the Russo-Japanese War. The western world thinks that Japan is a barbaric nation and the samurai group is a samurai. This book was written to change this impression of westerners, and it caused a sensation in the western world as soon as it was published. It should be noted that the writing of this book has a strong appeal to defend Bushido, so some viewpoints may not be objective and rigorous.

003 core content

The author hopes to convince the western world that the Japanese nation is not only a savage nation, but also has an excellent moral system like the western Christian tradition, and this system is the Bushido spirit. The author believes that Bushido, not Christianity, is the decisive force in shaping Japan's modernization in the spiritual and moral level.

First, the spiritual core of Bushido

Samurai, formerly known as Shi, means guard or follower. Bushido is the moral and ethical system of samurai, and its core is loyalty, courage and kindness.

1. Loyalty

The author thinks that if Christianity takes "love" as its motive force, Bushido takes "righteousness" as its motive force. As long as it is necessary for loyalty, even if you love your family again, you should sacrifice your family and protect your master. Moreover, even if parents are immoral and therefore unworthy of love, children must honor their parents based on the requirement of loyalty. This kind of thought develops to the extreme, and it is easy to form foolish loyalty.

Be brave

Japan's Bushido is divided into two factions, and the two factions have diametrically opposite views: one is Taoism, which is both civil and military, and has moral restraint; On the other hand, the Yeyin school emphasizes force and advocates that warriors should not be afraid of death. The author believes that the courage of sacrifice advocated by Ye Yin is actually the courage of a man, and the real courage should be calm and calm.

Step 3 be kind

Westerners think that the Japanese kill innocent people indiscriminately, which is almost barbaric. However, this book thinks that Bushido does not advocate indiscriminate killing, and the author does not reflect on the negative influence of Bushido enough.

Second, the education and training of Bushido.

1. Glory

Bushido attaches great importance to the education of honor, because knowing shame can regenerate all virtues, manners and noble morality. Not all samurai are easily excited by trifles. Bushido emphasizes self-cultivation training to make up for the disadvantages caused by excessive fame, and strives not to be excited by trivial matters, but to be angry with righteousness.

2. Self-denial

Bushido does not require the samurai to be cold-hearted, but encourages the samurai to be rich, but it needs to train the ability to control their feelings. The heart can be full of emotions, but it must be invisible. If a samurai always shows his feelings, he is not considered an excellent samurai.

Incite the abdomen

Bushido chose caesarean section to maintain his reputation because ancient anatomical knowledge believed that the abdomen was the destination of soul and love, and caesarean section was to present his soul and let the outside world judge whether he was innocent or not.

In the eyes of some westerners, caesarean section is an impulsive, hasty and suicidal behavior, which is very stupid. However, the Japanese believe that this is a way of death with noble moral elements and an explanation of their own beliefs, so they attach great importance to skills and the dignity of the deceased. For example, the body of a laparotomy patient should not be tilted. The only action is to bow forward. I accidentally lay on my back and died without dignity.

Third, the cultural influence of Bushido.

1. Positive impact

Many people will think that the rise of Japan benefits from the development idea of leaving Asia and entering Europe. Japan's modernization was also the result of actively learning from the West after the Meiji Restoration, and the spread of Christianity played a great role in it. However, this book does not admit this.

The author thinks that the Japanese have achieved modernization by themselves, rather than learning from the West. Especially in the spiritual and moral level, Bushido, rather than Christianity, has played a decisive role, and Bushido is an important force in shaping the spiritual pillar of Japanese modernization.

2. Negative effects

Bushido spirit has both positive and negative effects on Japanese culture. For example, the Japanese are not good at abstract speculation, which is caused by Bushido's educational concept of ignoring metaphysical training; The arrogance of the Japanese is also the result of Bushido paying too much attention to reputation education; Japanese people tend to turn technical problems into moral problems, which is the result of Bushido's emphasis on loyalty.

However, to reflect on the negative influence of Bushido culture only from the way of thinking and personality defects is obviously to avoid the important and neglect the important. There must be some more negative factors in the Bushido spirit, which will be used and transformed by militarists to mobilize the Japanese people politically and culturally, thus causing profound disasters to Asia and the world.

3. Cultural decline

After the Meiji Restoration, the government abolished the rule of feudal lords, confiscated their territories and gradually deprived them of their power. The samurai class is no longer necessary, and the establishment of a new army led to the ultimate demise of the samurai class.

In this process, the government gave the samurai a sum of money, and the disbanded samurai began to turn into businessmen, freelancers and usurers, and a large number of lower-level warriors were displaced, forming a new ronin class. Later, some of them were used by Japanese military departments and acted as pioneers of Japanese aggression and expansion.

In western Europe, after the decline of feudal system, there are still churches that can continue chivalry, but in Japan, there is no similar religious organization that can play a similar role, so Bushido will inevitably decline with the development of the times.

Golden sentence:

1. Many feudal lords need to hire some brave and skilled personal attendants and give them very lofty honors and great privileges in exchange for the loyalty of these warriors. According to Mr. Dai, a veteran of the Kuomintang and a think tank of Chiang Kai-shek during the Republic of China, "the concept of Bushido is the theory of repaying kindness with food under the feudal system."

2. Although China people also stress loyalty, there is a premise for our loyalty. But the Japanese are not. When this idea develops to the extreme-as long as it is my master and superior, I must be loyal to him, whether he is worthy of loyalty or not-it is easy to form stupid loyalty.

3. If Christianity is driven by "love", then Bushido is driven by "righteousness".

Bushido attaches great importance to the education of honor, which is also the embodiment of Japanese shame culture. Takedao Baishi, a samurai who refused to let his honor be defiled when he was young, said: A defiled honor is like a scar on a tree. It will not disappear with time, but will only grow bigger and bigger as the tree grows.

The author does not admit that the tangible material civilization in the West helped the Japanese win the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. The author quoted Thomson, a British journalist, as saying: "The introduction of European machinery and science into China by Japan should not be regarded as a shock, just as you can't say that the British bought tea from China, you must say that China has had an impact on Britain."