yeah, sometimes the most simple truths are hard to grasp.
I read in a book that talks about the origin of "bu" from Chinese and
explains how things were done in imperial China. People who
represented "Bu", warriors were placed nearly at the same level as
those who represented "Boon" that is the thinkers/advisors. Boon&Bu
are "supposed" to assist the leader in making decisions.
Many books out there will as you mentioned give the definition to
bushido as "the way a samurai is supposed to conduct himself" perhaps
this is due to the elaboration of the meaning during the Tokugawa
period when things were ~relatively~ peaceful---and there was a need
to redefine their roles? During the Tokugawa many samurai added more
"peaceful" aspects to their way of life right (popularity of zen,
calligraphy, and flower arrangement <- this one still shocks me but I
definately read this in a book on samurai!)? So for non practitioners
who just read anything that comes our way the definition of bushido
itself is far removed from its origins (99.9% of the writers do not
practice martial arts and therefore can't tap into the warrior aspect
of the samurai).
If you guys have a chance, join e-budo.com and read the posts to get
an idea of what others are thinking and there are some really
knowledgeable posters some of whom have all these characteristics
1)know the language 2)research 3)practice martial arts (some for
several decades).
My favorite post is "Rural swordsmen beat urban "Zen" swordsmen" which
reminds me of Kondo and company moving into Kyoto :)
E-Budo.com > Koryu Bujutsu > Sword Arts > Rural swordsmen beat urban
"Zen" swordsmen
http://www.e-budo.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=2ae32c79ca36fe0c19b56ae7bbdfda37&threadid=22266&highlight=Rural+swordsmen+beat
--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Jon Mesina" wrote:
> These are just some thoughts I wanted to share since it relates to
the samurai in general.
>
> This whole week i've been attending a seminar for Suio Ryu headed by
the headmaster who came from Japan. Tonight was one night that had
probably one of the most interesting discussions of the week. Our
headmaster was presented with a scroll with the kanji for "bushido" on
it which was written by one of the grandfather's of one of the students.
>
> Our headmaster then told us the meaning of the word bushido, which
pointed to it's simplest meaning, yet I and many others never saw of
it as this way. He broke down the meaning of the strokes in the first
kanji "bu" and told us it basically meant "to stop conflict". "shi"
refers to a person i.e. samurai. And "do" the way. But basically he
said it means "The way of stopping conflict". He then asked how do you
stop conflict. Thinkuing to the hisotry of Japan, the only way to stop
conflict is to produce conflict. To fight. To suppress the enemy so
that you cease their ability to produce conflict.
>
> From this, I could see the truth behind the word. Bushido is not
what is written in books about the samurai code, the way a samurai is
supposed to conduct himself, it's true meaning is simply in the way of
combat, the way of the warrior.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]