The Dignity of the Nation　　　　　　Fujiwara Masahiko 　　Chapter 5　　The Revival of the Samurai Spirit 　　　　1. 　The Samurai spirit developes the emotions 　　　　2. 　A philosophy that matches Japan's climate and topography 　　　　3. 　The samurai sprit declines 　　　　4. 　he life of Nitobe Inazo 　　　　5. 　Nitobe lived according to bushido 　　　　6. 　My father's teaching 　　　　7. 　Hating baseness 　　　　8. 　The future of bushido ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ 　　　　1. 　The Samurai spirit developes the emotions Bushido, or the "way of the samurai," has functioned as the criteria for action and foundation of morality for many Japanes since Kamakura period (1185-1333). Bushido incorporates charity, sincerity, endurance, justice, courage, and compassionate empathy. A sense of honor and shame are also part of bushido, with honor seen as more precious than life itself. It is a truly magnificent philosophy of life. This samurai spirit has been at the center of the morality of Japan for centuries. 　　　　2. 　A philosophy that matches Japan's climate and topography Originally, bushido comprised the rules of battle for the Kamakura period, a sort of declaration of the sprit of fair play on the battlefield. But in the course of the 260- years- long peace of the Edo period, bushido was refined into the samurai spirit, which via stories, ballad dramas, kabuki plays, and historical narratives was communicated to both city dwellers and the country people. This is how bushido, which had originated as rhe code of conduct for the samurai class alone, became the code of conduct for all Jaoanese. 　　　　3. 　The samurai sprit declines Seen in the historical context in which they occurred, the Russo- Japan War and the Pacific War against the United States had to be fought, I believe, for the sake of our independence and survival as a nation. It was wrong, however, to create situations in which war was the only option available to Japan. The Japan- China War was different. Japan may have been egged by the arch-schemer Stalin and Mao Tse-tung, but invading China was nonetheless an utterly meaningless act of bullying. Contemplated in the light of samurai ethics, it is an utterly base and shameful act. As the Edo period faded into the distant past and the Meiji period came to an end, the samurai spirit was weakening. Our having bullied a weak opponent like this is a stain on the history of Japan. During the Meiji period, the great powers of Europe and America, without exception, had been indulging in a spree of baseness by their " bullying of the weak." The fact that Japan stooped to imitate them is proof positive that the samurai spirit was in decay. After World War the 2nd, almost as if it had fallen off a cliff, the samurai spirit vanished without a trace. However, it is not completely dead. while there is still time, we must reclaim the samurai spirit as Japan's spiritual framework. 　　　　4. 　The life of Nitobe Inazo Nitobe Inazo (1862-1933) was the son of a low- ranking samurai of the Nambu clan in what is now Iwate prefecture. He worked as an undersecretary at the League of Nations, so was an outstanding international figure in pre-World War the 2nd Japan. Nitobe's Bushido was written immediatly between the Sino- Japanese and the Russo- Japanese wars. This was the time when the world sat up and took note of Japan, the new nation that had defeated China, but also started to feel wary of it. When the book was published in America in 1899 it won a rapturous reception. Theodore Roosevelt, the then president of the United States, was so taken with it that he bought numerous copies to hand out to children, friends, and even other national leaders. 　　　　5. 　Nitobe lived according to bushido Bushido became a best seller, and in 1901, two years after winning worldwide fame, Nitobe was sent to Taiwan as a technical advisor to the Japanese colonial goverment. Taiwan had only been a Japanese colony for six years, and it was still an untamed place subject to epidemics like malaria and cholera. What was so special about Nitobe was that, despite being a mere department head, he worked assiduously to improve the country's agriculture sector and set up its sugar making business. As a direct result of his efforts, Taiwan's sugar industry grew to the point that it was competing for the top spot with Hawaii by the early Showa period. According to Nitobe, the supreme virtues of bushido were " benevolence to the weak, the down-trodden or the vanquished." He regarded sokuin- the feeling of compassionate empathy - as more important than anyting else. 　　　　6. 　My father's teaching It was lucky to have a father who hammered the samurai spirit into me. He would always say; If you see someone bullying someone weaker than themselves, you have to intervence to help the weaker party regardless of the danger." My father also told me that it was base to see someone weak being bullied but then pretend not to. For me, to be called " base" was like being told I was unworthy to live. Thus whenever I saw any bullying, I would routinely pile in and lend a hand to the weaker side. " It's fine to use force to help the weak": my father was clear on this point, but five things were not allowed. Firstly, a bigger person could not beat up anyone smaller, Secondly, a group of people was not allowed to beat up one individual; thirdly, a man should not beat up a woman; fourthly; you were forbidden to use a weapon of any kind; fifthly; if your opponent started to cry and said he was sorry, then you had to desist right away. "Always follow these five rules, "he told me. What strikes me as especially good about my father's precepts was that he was happy to admit there was " no reason" behind them. " It's because such behavior is base," he declared - and that was that. 　　　　7. 　Hating baseness It is crucial to foster a contempt for baseness. There is no law stating that committing a base act is wrong, but that only makes it all the more important. In order to foster the proper contempt for baseness, we need to revive the Confucian family ties that are part and parcel of the samurai spirit. Japanese children never did any shoplifting when these still flourished. Japanese children brougth up within the a framework of family ties felt that their stealing something would " make their parents weep," or "bring shame on my ancestors," or that "the sun sees all." That is why so few children shoplifted. 　　　　8. 　The future of bushido In "The Future of Busido," the last chapter of Nitobe's Bushido, he writes as follows. "Bushido as an independent code of ethics may vanishi, but its power will not perish from the earth...... Like its symbolic flower, after it is blown to the four winds, it will still bless mankind with the perfume with which it will enrich life," The Japanese must recover this sprit and then communicate it to the people of the rest of the whorld who are in thrall to dry, trite logic. 　　　　　　　　　　　　to : 　Index　　　　　Chapter 6 : 　Why are emotions and forms so important ?