新渡戸稲造

This is an account of the significance of martial codes on Japanese life andhought. The author explains the persistence of the ethics of feudal Japannto the modern era, with the aim of eludicating the Japanese mind, the groupthos and the martial spirit.

The Soul of Japan

Bushido

Safiya 

A very simple glimpse of ethics in Japan from a Samurai point of view. To make his point, the author refers to similar or opposite forms in Christianity and quotes some biblical verses, or Westerner's philosophy : Ruskin, Lessing, . It seems that the author is deeply influenced by Nietzsche which made him even confess,that all of the Japanese folks are predisposed to embrace the "Deviens ce que tu es" creed, which is, according to me based on the little knowledge of the Japanese culture, not relevant at all. 
Shinto never seek to overpower nature, but a harmony of existence within it, acknowledging the nature's majesty..
Strikingly enough, Bushido shares it's "teachings" with many a religious esoteric values, such as :
"It is truly jarring to Japanese ears to hear the most sacred words, the most secret heart experiences, thrown out in promiscuous audiences. "Dost thou feel the soil of thy soul stirred with tender thoughts ? It is time for seeds to sprout. Disturb it not with speech; but let it work alone in quietness and secrecy (writes a young samurai in his diary."
Or :
" Him who once died in the bottom of his breast, no spears of Sanada nor all the arrows of Tametomo can pierce."
Or a characteristic point of view : 
"A typical samurai calls a literary savant a book smelling sot."
"Intellect itself was considered subordinate to ethical emotion.", which is also known in Islam as to know is to act العلم عمل
But beneath the warrior surface, lays a gracious soul, living for beauty as one may notice..
"Though they may wound your feelings, these three you have only o forgive, the breeze that scatters your flowers, the cloud that hides your moon, and the man who tries to pick quarrels with you."
"If there is anything to do, there is certainly a best way to do it, and the best way is both the most economical and the most graceful", e.g : tea ceremony
Some excerpts :
" Social evolution, in so far as i is other than biological, may be defined as he undetermined result of the intentions of great men."
"I found in brief, that all great nations learned their truth of word and strength of thought in war; that they nourished in war and wasted by peace, taught by war deceived by peace;trained by war betrayed by peace, in a word, that they were born in war and expired in peace." Crown of Wild Olive, Ruskin

Bushido The Soul of Japan

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