It makes sense to me... till to :
" Had Bushido been correctly passed down to the
Imperial Army, defeat in the last world war might
have been avoided since Bushido held the wisdom to end war.''
Nothing on this world could have avoided Japan's defeat but to avoid the
war in itself. At least 100 years of history should be rewrote to obtain
such a result...
-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Kitsuno [mailto:
samurai-listowner@...]
Inviato: domenica 13 febbraio 2005 0.39
A:
samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com
Oggetto: [samuraihistory] Article: SAMURAI SPEAK: Literary battle over
warriors' words
SAMURAI SPEAK: Literary battle over warriors' words
By SHUNJI MORIMOTO, The Asahi Shimbun
--------------
A favorite word among executives and politicians, Bushido-the code
of the samurai-evokes yamato damashii (Japanese spirit) and seppuku
(ritual suicide by disembowelment). Such an association, however,
``is a mere vestige'' of the Bushido that existed for more than 700
years up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, stresses University of
Tokyo professor Kakumyo Kanno in his recent book ``Bushido no
Gyakushu'' (Bushido strikes back). In the paperback, published by
Kodansha, the 49-year-old professor of ethics argues that the Meiji
Restoration severed that thinking and that discontinuity served as a
remote cause of Japan's defeat in World War II. Kanno shared his
views on Bushido in a recent interview.
Why has thinking very different from the original Bushido gained
ground, even though the word bushi (samurai) remains in the name?
Kanno began by citing ``Bushido: the Soul of Japan,'' written in
English by Inazo Nitobe and published in the United States in 1899.
``The Bushido spirit presented by Nitobe has nothing to do with the
thinking of the samurai.
``The actual standpoint of the samurai is completely ignored,'' said
Kanno sharply.
``Nitobe was a Christian who lived in the modern era. The Meiji
Restoration ended the age of the samurai. His Bushido is a modern
concept that, so to speak, could be called Meiji Bushido. Nitobe
borrowed the word Bushido to use as a link between the Japanese and
a universal Western thinking that is the same as Christian
thinking,'' said Kanno.
Then what is the real Bushido like?
Kanno cited three key terms-self, warrior and community.
The beginnings of the samurai can be traced back to the 10th
century. At that time, private bands of warriors were formed after
the ritsuryo (legal code) state, which had national troops, ceased
to exist. According to Kanno, the thinking that sustained the new
bands of private soldiers was Bushido.
Since Bushido is the thinking of private warriors, it adheres
completely to personal attachments. A warrior fights for the sake of
his independence, relying solely on his own capability. This does
not necessarily mean violence without a specific purpose. Kanno
believes that the samurai fought for his own interests, those of his
wife and children and for the community that embraced his lord.
``To us, used to the idea of citizens within the framework of the
modern nation-state, this thinking is practically
incomprehensible.''
Then why does Meiji Bushido, cloaked in the Bushido shell, still
hold interest?
To explain this, Kanno cites the fact that Bushido thinking was
previously declared a national moral code. An example is the gunjin
chokuyu, the Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors issued by
Emperor Meiji in 1882. By examining its formation, Kanno observes
that Bushido was remodeled to become a principle to control the
armed forces of a modern state.
The leaders of the imperial army in the early days ingeniously
removed the spirit of the ``original Bushido,'' rooted in personal
attachments. And to govern the nation's army, they are said to have
created the ``yamato (Japanese) spirit'' to replace the ``original
Bushido.''
``Bushido is a way of thinking that was severed by the Meiji
Restoration.'' Had Bushido been correctly passed down to the
imperial army, Kanno believes, defeat in the last world war might
have been avoided since ``Bushido held the wisdom to end war.''
Kanno, a priest of the Soto sect of Zen Buddhism, is known for his
studies of Shinto and his research on Motoori Norinaga, a scholar of
classical culture. In addition to publishing ``Shinto no Gyakushu''
(Shinto strikes back), Kanno addressed the topic of Yasukuni Shrine
in the January edition of Shokun! magazine.
``Although Yasukuni Shrine is a fitting place to console the souls
of the deceased, it needs to be supplemented in its present form. It
seems all of us, politicians included, are trying to take advantage
of the fallen soldiers. We must think first of the war dead,'' said
Kanno.(IHT/Asahi: February 12,2005)
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