The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-02-19

race, was the easier commandment oil
the two, he naturally gave it precedence
To protect his ma (name) from all
| aspersions was his continual care aio
the most powerful appeal which could
be addressed to him, whether as boy OF
man, was the one, Are you moi
ashamed" 1t was customary for a Sa.
mural to pledge his honor in manner
more liberal than our term implies. The
form of agreement would run thus =
I'm default of repayment of the sum
lent me, shall say nothing to being
rdiculed in public" or. "ln case fail
to pay you back, you may call me a
fool" ("baka,' the one term of insult
in Japan; and such pledges were con-
sidered the surest of guarantees. Honor
| was the pearl of great price to the Sa-
mural, the prize of his earthly existence.
And so to shun shame, or to win for
himself name among men, Samurai
boys were ready to undergo any suffer
ing or privation. 1t was fame, not
wealth, not knowledge, for which they
strove. Life was lightly laid down for
honor's sake. 1t was the over-estima-
ton of this honor, or rather the con-
founding of the apparent with the real,
which produced most of the excuses Of
the Samurai. For their code was not
without its teaching of patience and
long suffering, as the sayings of Ogawa,
the great Tye'yasu, and many others can
testify. kamazawa taught when others
blame thee, blame them not when
others are angry with thee, return not
anger. Joy cometh only as Passion and
Desire part And the term "Bush no
nasake," the tenderness of warrior"
was living phrase to the grim old Sa
mural
That this teaching was not merely
theoretical, but was carried into daily
practice, the life of the late Count Kat
su can testify. Count Katsu lived
through one of the most turbulent times
in japanese history, when assassinations
and suicides were of daily occurrence.
Many attempts were made on his life,
and though he was himself at one time
possessed of almost absolute power, he
never furnished his sword with blood.
He said in his own quaint way:
"Tve great dislike to killing people
so l never killed single man. don't
like chopping off heads. release the
men instead. A friend of mine said to
me one day, You don't kill enough.
Don't you eat pepper and egg plants
had the hilt of my sword fastened so
draw it without difficulty. l made up
my mind people might cut at me. l
wouldn't cut at them. Yes, yes, some
people truly are like mosquitoes and
f1eas-they bite, but what's that? 1t just
itches bit, that's all. 1t doesn't kill"
Most Samurai, it is true, did not rise
to the magnanmIty of Count Katsu
they erred more on the side of killing
too much than of killing too little, but
the killing did not come from thirst
for blood. but from sense of honor
over-sensitive at times-from the daring
of courage, and from the sternest sense
OF duty and loyalty.
The whole training of the Samurai
went to the building up of his character
not to the cultivation of his intell-
gence, or his tastes as such. Religion
and theology were left to the priests
Science was outside his sphere. Litera-
ture was to him pastime, while phi
losophy he regarded only as practical
aid in the formation of character. The
Samurai was man of action, and so his
training was chiefly in fencing, archery,
jujitsu, horsemanship, and the use of the
spear. He learned caligraphy, ethics,
literature and history. But mind stored
with information was not greatly ad-
mired. The Samurai valued decision of
character, not superiority of intelligence;
and all their education and training had |
this practical end so much in view that |
the Samurai became the best fighting
unit of the Orient, if not of the world |
His code might almost be summed up in |
the words of one of them, for it was,
indeed, to know "how to die when it |
was right to die how to strike when it |
was right to strike for which the Sa-
mural strove. This is the spirit, which,
handed down through generations of
dead warriors. forms today the train
ing at the back of the japanese officer.