The Bushido Code: An Overview
Bushido, which means "way of the warrior," refers to a complex set of Japanese values
stressing honor and loyalty to country and family above all else. These values began
to develop very informally as early as the ninth century among the samurai warrior
class, as various ideas circulated about the characteristics of an ideal warrior.
Having evolved over many centuries, these warrior values began to become more
standardized as a code during the Tokugawa Shogunate, an era of samurai rule in
Japan that began at the turn of the 17th century. In the late 1860s, civil war ended
the nearly 300-year shogunate, bringing about the Meiji imperial restoration and a
new era of modernization. Yet the deep-rooted influence of Bushido on Japanese
culture persisted.
A principal value running
Bushido was a strict hierarchy
that emphasized obedience to
authority. It called for warriors
to fight to the death in battle to
preserve the honor of their
family or overlord, and in the
face of imminent failure or
disgrace, ritualistic suicide
(seppuku) was required.
Off the battlefield, Bushido
required warriors to exhibit a
strict sense of honor and selfcontrol at all times. They were
to maintain a benevolent yet
detached attitude toward life;
caring for the earth and other
people without developing
passions that could cloud their
judgment. This ethos bears
deep traces of dominant
religious ideas of the time,
including Confucian ideals of
proper social relations and ZenBuddhist teachings about
meditation and reincarnation.
Over time, the basic tenets of Bushido have been variously altered, transposed, and
recycled within Japanese society, but a general emphasis on loyalty to country and
family, and a downplaying of individualism have remained characteristic.
In the 20th century, Bushido concepts were expressed both through the educational
system and by propagandists to fuel Japanese nationalism, as the country pursued its
international ambitions and also grappled with the powerful forces of Western
individualism. With its endorsement of sacrificial death, Bushido also worked as a
Copyright © 2005 WGBH Educational Foundation
motivation for Japanese pilots to take on
kamikaze missions during World War II.
What influence the Bushido code may have had
on Chiune Sugihara, whose mother came from
a long line of samurai, is difficult to determine.
Certainly, his decision to issue unauthorized
visas to Jewish refugees in Lithuania in 1940
embodied the sort of noble altruism that
Bushido espouses. Yet many of Sugihara's
major choices in life — such as defying his
father's wish that he study medicine, and his
disobedience of government authority in writing
the visas — indicate an individualistic streak
that could be seen as running contrary to
traditional Bushido ideals. Sugihara's adult
conversion to Christianity is a further
suggestion that Bushido did not constitute his
primary set of motivating values.
Copyright © 2005 WGBH Educational Foundation