Bushido - The Soul of Japan - A Classic Essay on Samurai Ethics

Bushido, The Soul of Japan is an amazing book in many respects. Written in English and published in the USA in 1900, within a few years it had been translated into Japanese and seven other languages. It became an international bestseller and found such favour with President Theodore Roosevelt that he gave copies to friends to read. Bushido has endured to the present day as a significant cross-cultural and cross-theological comparison of Christian and non-Christian belief systems. A century ago, when Japan was transforming itself from an isolated feudal society into a modern nation, a Japanese educator queried about the ethos of his people composed this seminal work, providing insight into the character of the Japanese people. He found in Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, the sources of the virtues most admired by his people: rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, sincerity, honour, loyalty and self-control. His approach to his task was eclectic and far reaching. He delved into the indigenous traditions of Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism and the moral guidelines handed down over centuries by Japan's samurai and sages, and contrasted them with Western philosophers and statesmen, and shapers of European and American thought going back to the Romans, Greeks, and Biblical times...