Bushido: The Soul of Japan
Bushido: The Soul of Japan is a book written by Inazō Nitobe exploring the way of the samurai. It was published in 1899. Overview. "Bushido: The Soul of Japan" is, along with "Hagakure" by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719), a study of the way of the samurai. A best-seller in its day, it was read by many influential foreigners, among them President Theodore Roosevelt, President John F. Kennedy and Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts. Nitobe originally wrote "Bushido: The Soul of Japan" in English (1899), in Monterey, California, though according to the  book's preface it was written in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The book was first published in English in New York in 1899. It was subsequently translated into Japanese in 1908 by Sakurai Hikoichirō. Thereafter, Yanaihara Tadao’s translation became the standard text in Japanese which was published by Iwanami Shoten. As Japan underwent deep transformations of its traditional lifestyle and military while becoming a modern nation, and the result of his meditations was this seminal work. A fine stylist in English, he wrote many books in that language, which earned him a place among the best known Japanese writers of his  age. He found in Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, the sources of the seven virtues most admired by his people: rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, sincerity, honor and loyalty. He also delved into the other indigenous traditions of Japan, such as Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism and the moral guidelines handed down over hundreds of years by Japan's samurai and sages. Nitobe sought similarities and contrasts by citing the shapers of European and American thought and civilization going back to the Romans, the Greeks and Biblical times. He found a close resemblance between the samurai ethos of what he called Bushido  and the spirit of medieval chivalry and the ethos of ancient Greece, as observed in books such as the "Iliad" of Homer. Criticism. The book has been criticized as portraying the "samurai" in terms of Western chivalry which had different interpretations compared to the pre-Meiji period bushido as a system of warrior values that were focused on valor rather than morals. Nitobe Inazo did not coin the term "bushido". The written form "bushidō" was first used in Japan in 1616 with the Kōyō Gunkan. In the 17th century, the concept of bushido spread to the common population such as  the ukiyo-e book by artist Hishikawa Moronobu (1618-1694) which was written in the accessible kana and includes the word "bushido". Bushidô as a system of warrior values existed in multiple forms dating back to the medieval era. The unwritten form of bushido first appeared with the rise of the samurai class and the shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199) in the 12th century.