Bushido, Tokugawa period in Japan 57 Spate, O H K “The Alexandrine Bulls and the Treaty of Tordesillas,” in Spanish Lake, Australian National University Press, N.D epress.anu.edu.au/spanish_lake/ch02s02.html (cited November 14, 2005) Nancy Pippen Eckerman Bushido, Tokugawa period in Japan When Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated Ishida Mitsunari at the Battle of Sekigahara in October 1600, Bushido, the “way of the warrior,” which his victorious samurai followed, was just reaching its apogee (Bushi, which means “warrior,” is another term used interchangeably with samurai, which means “one who serves [a lord].”) It is an unwritten code that governed the lives of the upper-class warrior and was more severe than the law code governing the common people In 1603, Tokugawa was recognized as the shogun, or military ruler of Japan, by Emperor Go-Yozei A samurai served in the household of a daimyo, or lord A samurai whose lord’s line was extinct became a ronin, or masterless samurai As a result of prolonged warfare between lords before 1603, there were many ronin in Japan Bushido’s origins can be traced to the first appearance of Zen Buddhism in Japan in the 12th century Zen Buddhism was widely adopted by an emerging warrior class Zen gave samurai the moral and intellectual strength to follow a demanding calling in life, for which only death could free the true warrior Bushido emphasized strict loyalty to one’s lord, even to the point of death in battle And, if faced with disgraceful surrender, Bushido called for the samurai to meet death by his own hand In seppuku, commonly called hara kiri in the West, a samurai disemboweled himself with a short dagger, after which a trusted friend or comrade, acting as his second, would sever his head with a blow of his sword Bushido also demanded the samurai lead a clean and honorable life, protect the weak, abstain from riotous living and drunkenness, conscious that he was the representative of the daimyo he served, whose heraldic badge was always displayed prominently on his clothing Aside from giving him a code of honor, Bushido made the samurai a fearsome warrior with his sword He strove for mental discipline achieved through swordsmanship akin to that achieved through the pursuit of Zen Perhaps the greatest statement of Bushido and the sword in the Tokugawa period is found in 1716’s Hagakure, or “hidden leaves.” It is a compilation of the A ronin, or masterless samurai, fends off arrows in this Japanese print The study of samurai philosophy continues today philosophies of Yamamoto Tsunetomo that was sanctioned by the Tokugawa shoguns for its accurate representation of the prevailing philosophies during its reign It blended the discipline and insight of Zen with the ancestor worship taught by Confucianism See also ronin, 47 Further reading: Samuel, Robert T The Samurai: The Philosophy of Victory New York: Barnes and Noble, 2004; Sato, Hiraoki, trans and ed The Sword and the Mind New York: Barnes and Noble, 2004; Musashi, Miyamoto The Book of Five Rings Translated by Thomas Cleary Boston: Shambhala, 2003; Shigesuke, Tairo Code of the Samurai Translated by Thomas Cleary Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 1999 John Murphy