The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-25
BUSHIDO: WAY OF THE SAMURAI.

BUsHIDO: WAY OF THE SAMURAI
 The Spirit of Feudal Japan as Involved
 in the Case of the Sotaro, Who Killed
 Toru Hoshi.
 Tn the September issue of Japan and
 America there is reference by way of
 criticism, to an article of mine publish
 ed in the Boston Transcript on the as-
 sassin of Toru Hoshi. The writer ex-
 presses surprise" at my statement that
 very of Ibas countrymen class his
 among murders. Considering it in all
 it's relations, to most Japanese this
 death is but an inevitable tragedy, be-
 ing according to the ways of the Jap
 anese of the past" The writer "chal-
 lenges the accuracy of such state-
 ment." At the time I did not think 1t
 advisable to answer this challenge. The
 October number of your paper has just
 come. I find in it's another criticism Of
 my article, which," your writer says,
 spoke of assassination as if it were au- thorized and sanctioned by the splendid
 samurai faith" It is incumbent upon
 me now to state the reasons l have for the assertion I made. Before doing
 that, however, let me say I know very well that the laws of Japan condemn
 and punish assassination, Not only is
 this the fact at the present day, but
 it was the fact in "od Japan" also. Le- gally an assassin is criminal in Japan
 as in America In my Transcript arti-
 cle wrote that Iba, would be con demned as a common felon." Further, let me say here that Bushido, "the way | of4 Il, ie al Ia inI, | in spirit and letter am sure inculcates
 some of the highest principles of living, l even though measured by the standards
 of any people, and has set forth in his- | tory some examples of the noblest pos | ble human character. Promising all
 this, however I must reaffirm the state
 ment that your writer criticises, and re-
 peat my further declaration; "Believ-
 ing in 1t as he did, Bushido (the faith of | the samuraD compelled Iba to kill
 Hoshi if he could and also to accept, as
 he did accept it's fateful consequences l for himself and his house.
 | The supreme virtue set forth in Bushido, no one will deny, is loyalty. Loyalty to lord and master, and loyal ty to country--loyalty so true and deep | that for 1t all ties, hopes. affections, wife, children and home must be sacri- | feed if necessary" Mir Hoshi's assas- | sin, and, as I shall show later, hosts of l men and women in the coure of the his | tory of the Japanese have believed, and have put their faith into practice, that this fundamental principle, compes | their taking the lives of those whom they consider traitors to country or in- jurers to their lords and masters. I speak here of Bush do cnly as it involves the principle of loyalty. It involves much else, and has had in other selec- tions equally fatal consequences. Sotaro Iba wrote: Being born a samurai a moment has come when it behooves me to consider the welfare of my country, and I feel that I must kill Hoshi When the law Is powerless to suppress wrong, and when the moral condition of society shows equal incom- petence to suppress 1t, there devolves upon the samurai a heaven-sent man. date to undertake the task" First, then, evidently the assassin Iba, at least had no question that Bushido, as he believed it, authorized and sanction ed his killing of Hoshi.
 Then next, in the same issue of Japan and America, in which my study of Iba's deed was criticised, there appears an extended exposition of Bushido, quoted from an address by Dr. let sujiro Inouye of the imperial university of Tokio. That address affirms espe- cially the facts concerning Bushido of which Hosh's assassin is the last illus tration. pr. Inounye described graphi- 'cally the faith of the samurai But his main object in doing so was to show the unfitness of that faith as embodied in it's old forms for the present and fu- | ture moral development of Japan, He stated that it reached its fullest de- yelopment under the TolSugawa sho- | guns" And though the despotic gov ernment with which 1t was so long as- sociated has ceased to exist, the nation- | al regard for Bushido Is still very | deep" Dr. Inouye's address concludes | with these words: There are writers | (Dr. Nitta, for instance) who advocate i the revival of the Bushido and it's use as a moral system to-day. This can never be done. We no longer approve of suicide nor of the vendetta. The | Bushdo in its old form could never be resuscitated without doing harm to buL llS SplilL-lHlS CdIl oS 1 utilized to any extent. The spirit of the Bushido is the old national spirit, which should never be allowed to die out" agree fully with Dr. Inouye. The spirit of loyalty, scense of personal honor and virtue of life of Bushido are in every way to be praised and kept, but not the suicide or the vendetta, which were so common as practical issues of the samurai's faith.
 Again, al Iba's trial, one of the legal counsel, Takuzo Hanai, pleaded that r "the crime could not be regarded as wilful murder, but must be ciassed as homicide. The law has tears as well as frowns. Iba had unquestionably obeyed a desire to promote the best interest of the state" Another of Iba's counsel, MT. Myoshi, added the plea that the Japanese nation would like to preserve in Iba living memento of the samurai spirit"
 Yet again, we must not forget the judgment of the court. Ibas crime e- gally involved his death. He asked for death, The states prosecutor demand ed death, but the court, fin view of ex- circumstances senteuoed the