
Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit - hunvreus
https://www.tofugu.com/japan/bushido/
======
danso
If the concept of Bushido didn't become popular until Japan's modernization
(at the end of the 19th century)...how much of Japan's conduct in WW2
(notably, the fighting until death) can be attributed/blamed to this
misinterpretation of samurai history?

Looking at the Wikipedia entry for Kamikaze [1], I was surprised to read that
the concept of suicide attacks only became formalized late in the war (June
1944), rather than something ingrained in the Imperial Japanese fleet from
even before the start of conflict.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze#Beginnings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze#Beginnings)

OT: I really love the posted article's massively deep footer, which also looks
good on mobile. I frequently have trouble designing nice footers around a long
list of links and I'm bookmarking this site as a place to copy from.

~~~
iwontreddit
> how much of Japan's conduct in WW2 (notably, the fighting until death) can
> be attributed/blamed to this misinterpretation of samurai history?

Japanese soldiers' "fighting to the death" nonsense was myth invented many
years after WW2 by allied "historians" to justify the mass murder of japanese
soldiers by the allies.

It's not that the japanese weren't willing to surrender. It was that the
allies ( unfortunately out of extreme racism ) wouldn't allow japanese
soldiers to surrender.

If you dig a little past the history/propaganda and look at the raw
data/facts/etc of the pacific war, you will learn how brutal the pacific war
was. And how racist the allies were towards the japanese soldiers. Nearly
every japanese soldier who was wounded was butchers and killed as were nearly
all japanese POWs.

It was called the "no prisoner policy" of the allied soldiers. And if you want
to read about some more base aspects of the pacific war, go read about the
mutilation of the japanese soldiers by the allied soldiers. Some real sick
shit.

The more you learn about the real nature of ww2, you realize that there was no
good side in that war. Just two evils fighting each other.

~~~
jbooth
Respectfully, that's a bullshit point of view.

For the japanese military in WWII, rape was normal. Butchering civilian
populations wholesale was normal. The Americans and British did not play by
those rules, even though we did a lot of killing. This was not two equivalent
evils.

[http://foxtalk.tistory.com/98](http://foxtalk.tistory.com/98)

~~~
pmoriarty
_" Butchering civilian populations wholesale was normal. The Americans and
British did not play by those rules"_

Perhaps you are not aware of the firebombing of German and Japanese cities,
where as many or more civilians died as in the nuclear bomb detonations over
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which perhaps you also forget.

~~~
nickik
Ah, those famous Rape bombs.

~~~
iwontreddit
I guess you haven't heard of the mass rape of german and japanese women by the
victorious allies. The allies raped far more women than the axis.

~~~
nickik
The allies had far less incidents of rape. And defently not systematic like
Japan. If you really beliefe that its clear that you have never actually
studied the issue.

~~~
iwontreddit
>The allies had far less incidents of rape. And defently not systematic like
Japan.

Systematic? Is that a joke? Millions more german and japanese women were raped
by the allies than vice versa.

Lets not belittle the german and japanese women who were raped.

------
digi_owl
I am not surprised. It seems that a certain subset of the European elite
embraced the samurai as a symbol of what Europe lost with the shift from
Feudalism to Democracies.

Note how you can see something of the same with how knights and related honor
codes gets embraced by extremists across Europe (in particular in times of
hardship).

Similarly, the post-ww1 British administrators of what became Irak elevated
the bedouin on a pedestal[1]. And the region is paying the price to this day.

[1]
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/entries/2989a78a-ee94-...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/entries/2989a78a-ee94-385e-808f-c9c7c38d1cb7)

------
pierrec
I was immediately very interested by one of the references, which extensively
compares five different versions of Nitobe's book: the original (English) and
4 translations (in Spanish, French and Japanese). They study the overall texts
as well as side-by-side passages in detail, and show how the seemingly
innocuous translations are each tainted by the motives and environment of each
translator and author. I'm always fond of translation studies and this one is
captivating.

English version here (the original is in Spanish... we'll have to trust the
(apparently uncredited) translator on this one)

[http://www.erudit.org/revue/ttr/2010/v23/n2/1009160ar.html](http://www.erudit.org/revue/ttr/2010/v23/n2/1009160ar.html)

------
euske
Fun (though unverifiable) fact: No one reads Inazo Nitobe, or that "Hagakure"
thing in today's Japan. It looks like these are mostly for Westerner's
consumption. "Bushido" today is often taken as some weird/quaint moral code
that is often depicted comically. It could be interesting for a historical
viewpoint, but I don't think these historic texts are very useful to explain
the modern-day Japan. It's a bit like reading Jefferson while trying to
understand Trump.

~~~
toyg
But the point is that they _were_ widely read at some point, so they shaped
the culture in ways that are now ingrained.

It's like Homer's epics: nowadays they are mostly restricted to students of
literature or historians, but their influence on Western culture throughout
history is massive.

------
kbart
Every nation rewrites its history according to contemporary needs and cherry
picks (or creates) sources to support it. A good example of today is Russia,
where Stalin cult is resurgent and not so honorable history facts (pact with
Hitler, Holodomor etc.) are being suppressed or played down[1].

1\.
[http://www.economist.com/node/10102921](http://www.economist.com/node/10102921)

~~~
RyanMcGreal
Next you're going to tell me that George Washington never actually chopped
down a cherry tree!

[http://www.mountvernon.org/digital-
encyclopedia/article/cher...](http://www.mountvernon.org/digital-
encyclopedia/article/cherry-tree-myth/)

~~~
jessaustin
This is explicitly lampshaded in TFA.

[EDIT:] Honestly though, since this allowance comes so late and is not
connected back to the main narrative, it does undermine the whole mess. Next
up, a hard-hitting takedown of Thomas Malory and Alfred Lord Tennyson...

------
titanix2
I recently (3 months) started iaidô[1] in my Japanese university club, and one
thing that struck me was how few "bullshit" talks we had about the discipline.
In contrast, when browsing for clubs in my country, each website was filled
with a last a few paragraphs saying how spiritual the art is, how it is all
about discovering yourself and the truth of the universe.

People of my club are more interested in it because katana are cool than the
bushidô spirit or something -- basically nobody ever talked about it. Anyway,
when everybody train I cannot help to feel the underlying military spirit of
the it, and how in a society like Japan it can quickly turn the way it turned
in WWII.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaido](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaido)

~~~
cyberferret
I just starting Kendo training here at a local dojo. Our instructor is very
adamant and clear at almost all training sessions that the skills we are
learning with the bamboo and wooden swords are NOT usable in a self defence or
martial capacity at all.

Rather that our studies are for mental focus, fitness and spiritual calmness.
These are the exact reasons I took up the study of this art.

In my younger days, I studied Tae Kwon Do for years, but as most other have
said here - it has no real practical value in a street fight either, aside
from extra fitness, flexibility and general peripheral awareness which may
serve as an advantage in a conflict situation.

~~~
meerita
form kendoka here: I don't want to distrust your instructor, but Kendo IS the
way to study all you need to fight. Then there is each school where you can
practice special katas and become proficient with one or another technique,
but overall.

~~~
robaato
I study kenjutsu (and aikido) - and have friends/colleagues who are also
serious kendo practitioners.

Kendo has pluses and minuses - the shinai used can teach habits of "flicking
wrists" which just don't work with heavier weapons. And yet advanced
practitioners have serious focus and skills.

I much admire a female Japanese friend (and sempai) who was told by our sensei
to go and study kendo (while not slacking off in her other studies). In her
fifties, and a 5th dan, off she went and started from scratch but made rapid
progress, and brought back what she had learned. Our sensei told other people
to do different things - horses for courses.

But what does it mean "to fight"? No rules? For your life? For someone else's
life? These are the fundamental questions to be examined and resolved. How
would you know if you are ready?

------
mendelsd
Masaki Kobayashi made a couple of subversive films in the 1960's that present
a very dark view of Samurai culture. These films [1][2] are excellent. [1] in
particular is exquisite (and tied for the Jury Special Prize at Cannes in
1963).

[1] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056058](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056058)
[2] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061847](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061847)

------
markpapadakis
Related, and an excellent write up on Shalin Monks: Demythologizing Shaolin
Monks(
[https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4516](https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4516) )

------
gadders
Other modern inventions that people think are ancient:

1) Scots wearing different patterned kilts to denote clans. This was mostly
invented by Sir Walter Scott

2) Druid rituals. Druids were wiped out by the Romans, and the only accounts
left of their rituals are Roman. What we now think of Druid rituals are a
mixture of Roman writings and stuff made up in the 19th century.

------
knowtheory
So, the only academic paper in the sources in the post is a PhD thesis which
appears to be the entire argument undergirding this post.

If you're interested in the subject, that might be a good place to start:
[https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/...](https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0071589)

~~~
pierrec
While it might be a more authoritative place to start, it's not the only
academic paper in the sources, and it's definitely not the entire argument
undergirding this post. I for one appreciate when he pulls out a citation that
make you raise an eyebrow.

~~~
knowtheory
Hey! You're right, i'd missed
[https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2921](https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2921)

I guess i'm super conservative about sourcing when reading arguments made
about historical topics (and academic papers at least tend to make it clear
whether or not their sourcing is primary, secondary, or what).

Especially when it comes to claims of what the common perception was at any
particular point in human history i am always curious to see not what
someone's narrative is, but what they're building their case upon.

(also as an aside the use of The Last Samurai as a lens or touchstone for
discussing bushido was a bit weird to me given how prevalent the notion of
bushido is. But maybe i'm just sad that that's the go-to reference.)

~~~
pierrec
You're still missing one...
[https://www.erudit.org/revue/ttr/2010/v23/n2/1009160ar.html](https://www.erudit.org/revue/ttr/2010/v23/n2/1009160ar.html)
(While not 100% about the original version of Nitobe's book, they still
analyze it and provide a bunch more references concerning it).

Yeah, there's a good chance The Last Samurai might currently be the most
popular lens through which people view bushido right now (Americans at least).
I share your sadness but I'm sure most people actually have multiple points of
reference on the concept. Would be funny if it continued to evolve into
something completely different (something featuring Tom Cruise?)

------
ivanhoe
This is not such a unique story, same is for instance with yoga, no one in
India really did yoga as we think of it today until the end of 19th century.
Same story with the free masons, they were re-invented in 17th century with no
evidence whatsoever of having any resemblance to the original order. One could
also argue that pretty much all religions in the world also fall into this
category.

------
hoodoof
Related but at a tangent - after a lifetime of interest in karate I came to
realise that most of the stuff taught at karate is not practical.

Katas and karate punches and kicks - most of this better thought of more as
dancing or ceremonial. A bit like Tai Chi - except that Tai Chi claims no real
world martial value.

The myth remains however of karate being great self defence training.

Our local karate club is packed with ever more kids going every week to learn
pointless moves, with parents thinking the kids are learning to defend
themselves.

~~~
velodrome
I think Judo and Aikido are more practical. They focus more on grappling and
emphasize the redirection of the opponent's force.

Most people are better off learning combat systems aimed towards personal
defense:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga)

~~~
peatmoss
Judo maybe, aikido no. As an aikidoka myself, I train it because it's a good
workout with good people, and it's incredibly subtle and difficult to make
work even in a controlled training environment. Pretty much the opposite of
what someone genuinely concerned with self defense would want.

For self defense (which I am not interested in), something brutal and simple
will be better. In fact, the brutal-er and simpler the better. Learn how to
get hurt badly and still keep going for defense. Practice groin and throat
strikes for offense.

Judo is much simpler than aikido, but not hugely brutal. Still, if I were
suddenly required to try and defend myself with some aspect of my martial arts
training (unlikely), I'd be much more likely to call on my judo than my
aikido.

Focus on practicality in martial arts is kind of boring, and is largely
irrelevant for most people unless we're talking about boosting confidence. And
then, best not let your confidence convince you that violence isn't likely to
hurt or kill you.

------
optforfon
(I got through about half the article) I think making the analogy to
Christianity and chivalry is simply a way for Nitobe to communicate the way
samurai were percieved and it seems a bit dramatic to lay it all at his feet
as some kind of grand manipulative agenda.

The Meiji era (and the Taisho era after it) were times of a very bizarre
"formalization" of japanese culture. Like other comments mention, things like
karate, kendo, ekinaba, art of sword making, etc. etc. were all formalized and
unified under one umbrella at this time. Before say "karate" you'd have
different schools teaching different martial arts under different names around
the country.

I actually don't have a very good grasp on why this happened

------
lunchTime42
Medieval War Principals meet modern weapons. People charged in with horses and
protective amuletts at verdun. But where butchering a village was hard work in
medieval times, modern weapons make it the flick of a switch. Add to that a
culture where non-fullfillment of expectations is a huge shame and extererior
pressure upholds all the norms, and you get japans behaviour during the ww2.

------
Aelinsaar
Chivalry, Bushido... the reality of knights wherever they cropped up and under
whatever name, is that they abused people beneath them, and each other. A lot.

------
epicaricacy
Bushido is a lie, Cowboys never had shoot outs, ninjas are overrated... At
least pirates were sort of legit. Jury is still out on zombies.

~~~
lagadu
Zombies are also bullshit. Until the uprising in a few weeks, that is.

------
forgotpwtomain
I haven't read the book referred to in the article but I've for example read
Mishima's Runway Horses - which also draws on historical circumstance from the
Shinpūren Rebellion (1876).
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinp%C5%ABren_Rebellion](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinp%C5%ABren_Rebellion)

Does that not exemplify similar values as us (Westerners) expect from the term
'Bushido'? Was the former a very rare isolated incident and not actually
representative of samurai ethos?

~~~
rpenm
Mishima was as influenced by ultranationalism and the bushido mythos as anyone
- to the point that he committed suicide during an attempt to restore the
emperor. I don't think his writing counts as counterexample.

------
cyberferret
Interesting that the author mentions that the term "Bushido" wasn't really a
thing until last century. I was sure I saw the term mentioned in the writing
of Miyamoto Musashi, but I assume that might have been a modern translators
interpretation. (I read the English version, not the native Japanese one).

Also, some of my favourite graphic novels by Stan Sakai, Kazuo Koike and
Goseki Kojima seem to mention the term too, but seeing as they are modern
writers, I assume they 'westernised' their dialogue to suit.

~~~
shiro
The term "bushido" itself can be seen from late 16c literature (甲陽軍鑑, written
between 1575 and 1586, is said as the first written appearance of the word),
but initially it meant more practical skills of combat or survival. I don't
have Miyamoto Musashi's book at hand but I suspect if he used the term it had
the similar meaning.

~~~
arca_vorago
I have a couple different translations and I am pretty sure it just references
budo or if it says bushido anywhere it would be a mistranslation.

------
kabouseng
Very much similar to the African concept of Ubuntu, which is nothing more than
a modern popularized dreamed up concept.

------
ommunist
The real bushido of modern Japanese, at least of generation born in 70-ies, is
their work ethics. I worked with JICA team for 3 seasons, I never seen people
that commited and self-sacrificing to work as these people were. And I hope, I
will never see again. Life is so much more than work.

------
michaelbuddy
As in any time period, people are nostalgic for the past, especially when
Japan's borders were opened (against their will) you're going to have that
kind of reaching towards better days of 'ole. Sakura-colored glasses. There's
also the art of Japan (and everywhere else). Art idealizing the "history"
depicted, curators of that art (many of those part of religious institutes)
and history communicating the history narrative, furthering the legend. It's a
group effort this ruse of history. When the narrative sounds good and doesn't
really contradict any other popular opinion, who is going to argue against it?
160 years later, here we are.

------
jdpigeon
Does this apply to the 'Bushido Shoshinsu' written by Shigesuke? That's the
one I'm familiar with with and it didn't seem to have any Christian
undertones.

------
ekianjo
Citing Mamoru Oshii as a kind of expert on bushido is completely laughable.
How does anything he says about the subject gives him any kind of authority ?

------
Practicality
Stunning and eye-opening. I had no idea. Seems all cultures are pretty much
the same on this front, then.

------
hoodoof
HN mods need to rewrite title to "Bushido seems not to be what people think it
is."

~~~
BoysenberryPi
Why? Does the language bother you for some odd reason?

~~~
hoodoof
Have you not noticed that HN often rewrites titles to be more factual about
the content of the target?

------
mcguire
I haven't read Nitobe, but Yamamoto Tsunetomo's _Hagakure_ mentioned in the
article, which was weirdly popular a few years back, is a horrible piece of
propaganda written by someone who has about as much contact with war fighters
as Nietzsche.

~~~
twblalock
Hagakure was written during the Edo period (1600-1868), during which time
there were very few battles fought, and samurai were mainly bureaucrats and
government functionaries living on fixed pensions. The book is an attempt to
maintain warrior culture in the face of the reality that samurai no longer had
any occasion to fight.

~~~
mcguire
...collected from a mid-level bureaucrat in the early 18th century who
apparently never had the opportunity to be willing to die for his lord, and
which didn't become popular until the early 20th century.

------
jzelinskie
I've never read any of their blog posts before now, but Tofugu makes another
product called WaniKani, that I've been using daily for 6 months now. It's
basically flashcards for Kanji memorization, but it creates a regimen and has
great third-party mobile applications that give you reminders to continue
making progress. Without it, I definitely wouldn't have the will power to keep
studying.

