Hi.
Sorry for the late response to this post and my apologies if someone else
has already addressed this issue. I am trying to get caught up on my
list-reading, and am doing a fairly bad job. Maybe when winter break
comes...
Anyway, my understanding is that what later becomes referred to as Bushido
has many precursors that appeared prior to _Hagakure_. It is a little out
of my period, but I recall that Yamaga Soko (1622-1685) wrote a treatise (or
portion thereof) that was entitled "shido". In it he sets out what he
believes to be the correct comportment of a member of the samurai class.
Apart from these all-encompassing "this is what a warrior is (or should be)"
type of texts, there are many ways in which warrior ideals were disseminated
and/or propaganidized. Not the least of which would have been the war tales
-- albeit, as originally oral tales meant for nonliterate audiences. Also,
many high-ranking warrior leaders from the Kamakura era onward wrote buke
kakun "warrior house codes" which were short treatises usually with a target
audience of the writer's successor/descendants as well as the higher ranking
retainers. This is not to suggest, however, that there was anywhere near a
consensus as to "a warrior is X type of person, dresses in Y type of
clothing, and comports himself in Z manner", and as such no tidy overarching
ideal of a samurai to which all aspired. So the kakun, although exhibiting
some similarities to one another, really reflected the inidividual
predilections of the author and to some extent the prevailing beliefs of the
time period in which they were written.
An example of this is that the kakun from the early Medieval period often
stressed the importance of samurai improving their ability in letters
(writing, music, poetry, etc.) This was likely due to the fact that the
warriors (mostly from the Eastern part of Japan) were coming into increasing
contact with the people of high breeding from Kyoto and found their
abilities in this area lacking. As the courtiers had had a monopoly on
governmental positions until the Kamakura period, their tastes and
refinements were, to a certain extent synonymous with governmental
authority. The case is drastically different as regards kakun from the
Gekokujo period (1467 onward), at least as far as those written by samurai
that held court rank. These men were highly literate and as such were not
concerned with whether their kids could read or write. These house codes
are much more pragmatic in tone and generally deal with issues of immediate
concern to the preservation of the "clan" and its territories .
So I guess, my points for this rant are as follows. 1) There were certainly
precursors to the ideals set forth in Hagakure, those from the period
immediately preceeding it being the closest in both form and tone. 2) There
was some sense of a warrior identity as far back as the Kamakura period, but
its specific articulation varied by person, geography and time period.
In closing please allow me to aopologize for the incomplete reference, but I
am currently at "work" and dont have access to my files. I will look into
the Yamaga Soko thing and will try to send more complete info in a day or
two.
Shannon
PS - Might be a good idea to check out the kakun translated in _Ideals of
the Samurai_ by William Scott Wilson
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Hey Angry Lllama
That is true what you said about the hagakure being a rather late
development (1716), but I
figure Yamamoto Tsunetomo was "standing on the shoulders" of those who went
before him.
To say that there was no bushido before 1716... is it really fair to claim
that? Just because it
wasn't written down? Sure, it may have varied from region to region and era
to era, but the
samurai as a caste surely had a set of expectations or ethics - whether
self-imposed or
imposed by others. If I'm way off base, let me know. Related to this, I'd
like to know: is there
any evidence for "bushido" prior to the Hagakure? What are the other main
pieces of samurai
literature?
Thanks.
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