What Makes a Samurai is What Unmakes Him

            What Makes A Samurai Is What Unmakes Him; & vice versa

    In pre-modern Japan there existed a class of warriors known as samurai. These samurai were the muscle and bodyguards that protected their lord (or daimyo) and carried out his edicts. The samurai were a very dedicated, single-minded, and loyal source of manpower
. They followed the way of bushido which dictated their every action. These warriors were representative of the teachings of bushido and a good samurai was one whose actions best matched those teachings. By defining what it is to be a follower of bushido and applying that definition to three characters in two different Japanese texts, the examples from those texts will show that Kanpei from the Chushingura was most representative of bushido and the way of the samurai. This will be shown to be true because a good death was more important for a samurai than a good life. It is the nature of the death that truly is representative of the samurai’s true understanding and dedication to bushido.

    Samurai following bushido were the enforcers and held powerful positions in Japanese culture for hundreds of years. During this time many wars were fought as well as countless more battles which were usually caused by power struggles between rivaling daimyos. In Japan’s pre-modern period there were two important written accounts which describe the characteristics of both good and bad samurai. These two works are the Tale of the Heike, which describes events that happened during the Japanese civil war that ended in 1185, and the Chushingura which is a play about the famous story of the forty seven ronin and their revenge against the man who had forced their previous lord to commit seppuku (ritual suicide).
    Before understanding the significance of the deaths that will be focused on, one must first have some definitions of what was expected of samurai following the way of the bushido. The bushi had a slightly shifting set of parameters for allowable actions, but the focus of their way of life was based on the understanding and acceptance that death could happen at any time. Although there is not one absolute guideline containing all the rules of bushido, based on the Hagakure–which is a collection of teachings from an eighteenth century samurai name Yamamoto Tsunetomo–“in bushido there is only a mania for death. Within its scope loyalty and filial piety are implied as a matter of course.” This mania is the drive and the reasoning behind all actions taken by a samurai. A true samurai sought out death, but not a meaningless death. The samurai, like many fierce warriors in history, prized glory and fame beyond their own death. They sought out means to gain this glory by accomplishing incredible feats in battle, reportedly slaughtering countless opponents while acquiring “trophies” of the decapitated heads of their more famous and/or skilled defeated foes. One must understand that the samurai held his own glory after that of his daimyo and all his deeds were done in the hopes that distinction would be set upon his lord. When death is the only possible end outcome for the samurai then the way in which one gets there is all that matters. The Hagakure solidifies this point by stating:

“Victory and defeat are determined by circumstances. Conduct that does not incur dishonor is a different matter. It needs only the determination to die. Even when one is going to be defeated, he must strike back at once. Intelligence and strategy do not enter into it.”

    In addition to this mania for death followers of bushido are discouraged from deep consideration into the actions they must commit. This principle of spontaneity is important for the samurai because a samurai already knows the outcome of his actions therefore a lot of thought is unnecessary. Roger Ames writes the embodiment of “bushido makes himself the selfless agent of his morality, the spontaneity and energy of his action” already determined when the samurai decides to follow bushido in the first place.

    The final and most important distinction to be made when describing the way of the bushi is the judgement of the samurai based on his death. Alongside the glory gained in battle for the samurai and his lord, a bushiin may be praised on his method of death. “He (the samurai) is not judged on why he dies, but rather on how he died...the strength of his resolve (to die) supersedes all considerations of ability, intelligence, and physical prowess.” The way in which a samurai dies is so important because it reflects how dedicated he was to bushido and its fiats. A samurai that rushes in quickly, especially when outnumbered, and dies honorably fighting worthy adversaries is remembered as a samurai of the top caliber.

    There is a definite connection between the samurai and a “live-fast-and-die-young” mentality. Samurai did not often grow to be old men and they would often choose to end their own lives at the peak of their glory rather than fade away into memory. Because of Japan’s lasting connection to Buddhism and its tenet of the impermanent nature of things, many samurai felt that nothing was lost when their life was ended as all things are connected and have no beginning or ending but rather change in form. This belief is expressed by the popular metaphor of a “fleeting cherry blossom with petals that fall at the height of their beauty when they are fully what they are.”

    It must also be considered that war is not constant and a samurai’s role changes from military force to protector of the daimyo’s land and peasants when there is no enemy to meet on the battlefield. When no war was available for the samurai to commit acts which would increase their glory, they were forced to show their fortitude in other ways. The samurai acted also as a police force to control the daimyo’s peasants and to maintain law in their region. This gave the samurai, comparatively, much less to do and so many less opportunities to prove his worth by means of battle; which caused the samurai to show their loyalty and fealty to their lord in ways other than valor on the battlefield.

    Another key part of bushido is the belief in ritual suicide (seppuku). Seppuku is used for a number of different reasons, all of which in essence are a means to convey a very strong statement. The statement is different depending on the circumstances of the seppuku. After his lord has died, a samurai may commit seppuku in order to follow the lord even in the afterlife. Seppuku may also be enacted as a protest against an order given or action committed by the samurai’s daimyo. The act was also used at times during battle when a famed warrior would kill himself rather than lose honor by being killed by an unworthy adversary. Seppuku was an alternate means for a samurai to die without having to lose honor by poor circumstances of death or as a way of gaining honor by proving a worthy point. The act itself was a way to show the strength of resolve of the samurai as the process was incredibly physically painful as well as mentally taxing for one who was not truly ready to accept death.

    The ronin–masterless samurai–in the Chushingura had all these concepts firmly in mind when they were setting up their plot for revenge. The story took place in a peaceful time in Japan’s history with a generation of samurai that had never seen war. Because of this their connection to bushido was different than the warrior samurai of centuries past. When one ronin, Hayano Kanpei, is faced with the possibility that he accidentally shot and killed his own father-in-law. After making this discovery he is confronted by two samurai who used to follow his same lord. These samurai, heeding the cries of the mother-in-law, loom with swords drawn over Kanpei’s head when Kanpei, realizing his discretion would dishonor his former lord, drives his blade into his stomach in the style of seppuku described above. He does this because, as far as he knows, he has killed his father and disgraced himself but more importantly that he disgraced his former lord. Kanpei does not take time to consider his options because he already knows that death is the outcome for a samurai so he immediately takes action. By committing seppuku, Kanpei was making reparations to the honor he lost by supposedly killing his father and by doing it without thought or fear he was showing just how connected he was to the way of the bushi. Because of this dedication, Kanpei was given the honor owed to him as a samurai who strictly followed bushido by adding his name to the official document of revenge of the forty seven ronin.

    Alternatively, during the time of the Tale of the Heike there was a civil war in Japan with warring factions facing each other daily in a battle to the death to see who would gain control of the country. The Gempei Wars allowed for much combat and therefore many accolades and praise to be given to the fighting samurai. The samurai of this time period were able to show their resolve to die by charging into battle day after day. In the Tale of the Heike there is a section about two samurai and their exploits on the battlefield during the war. Lord Kiso and his step-brother and vassal Kanehira. Kiso and Kanehira went to school together from a young age and both ended up becoming samurai. The two of them were so dedicated to their friendship that they refused to die without the other being there with them. In the story, because they spend so much time worrying about their counterpart’s fate, they lose sight of the way of the bushi and lose honor by doing so. By putting their friendship before their dedication to bushido, they both end up losing their lives in dishonorable ways: one by getting shot in the back by an inferior warrior and the other staying alive after losing the battle in disgrace only to be killed after having lost all the honor that was connate with a samurai.

    Although these are just small sections in their respective books, conclusions can still be gleaned from them. Even though samurai are warriors, they are first and foremost followers of the way of the bushi. A samurai’s worth can be evaluated by the how rather than the why of his death. Also, regardless of their situation, their dedication to bushido is what makes a good samurai. From the selections presented here and using the definitions of bushido, clearly it was shown that the better deaths, and therefore the better samurai, existed in the Chushingura.

 

WORKS CITED:
Tsunetomo, Yamamoto. Hagakure

Ames, Roger. Bushido: Mode of Ethic?; p. 288;