Inazo Nitobe argues that Bushido, the unwritten code of the samurai, shaped Japanese moral life through Buddhism, Shinto, and Confucianism. The deck covers his account of Bushido's origins, its sources, and its core ideals.
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Chapter 1 · Question
Why did Nitobe write Bushido, according to the preface?
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Chapter 1 · Answer
Nitobe says the book arose from frequent questions by his wife about why certain Japanese ideas and customs prevail, and from his attempt to answer M. de Laveleye's astonishment that Japanese schools gave no religious instruction. He concluded that without understanding Feudalism and Bushido, the moral ideas of present Japan remain a sealed volume. He wrote during enforced idleness from a long illness.
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Section 13 cards
Why did Nitobe write Bushido, according to the preface?
Nitobe says the book arose from frequent questions by his wife about why certain Japanese ideas and customs prevail, and from his attempt to answer M. de Laveleye's astonishment that Japanese schools gave no religious instruction. He concluded that without understanding Feudalism and Bushido, the moral ideas of present Japan remain a sealed volume. He wrote during enforced idleness from a long illness.
Chapter 1
What does Nitobe claim about moral education in Japanese schools?
The author recounts that the Belgian jurist M. de Laveleye asked whether Japan had no religious instruction in its schools, and was astonished at the negative reply. Nitobe says he could give no ready answer, since the moral precepts he learned in childhood were not given in schools; only later did he realize Bushido had breathed them into him.
Chapter 1
How does Nitobe describe his position relative to Western writers on Japan?
Nitobe names Lafcadio Hearn and Mrs. Hugh Fraser on one side and Sir Ernest Satow and Professor Chamberlain on the other, calling it discouraging to write anything Japanese in English after them. He says his only advantage is that he can assume the attitude of a personal defendant, while those distinguished writers are at best solicitors and attorneys.
Chapter 1
Section 24 cards
What does the word Bushido literally mean, and what class observed it?
Nitobe renders Bushido literally as "Military-Knight-Ways"—the ways which fighting nobles should observe in their daily life as well as in their vocation. He calls it the "Precepts of Knighthood," the noblesse oblige of the warrior class, and explains he keeps the original Japanese term because the teaching is so circumscribed, unique, and local that translation would do it scant justice.
Chapter 2
Is Bushido a written code, and what does Nitobe compare it to?
Nitobe says Bushido is not a written code; at best it consists of a few maxims passed down orally or from some well-known warrior or savant, and more often it is unuttered and unwritten, sanctioned by veritable deed and "written on the fleshly tablets of the heart." He compares its position in ethics to the English Constitution in political history, though it has nothing like Magna Charta or the Habeas Corpus Act.
Chapter 2
How does Nitobe date the origin of Bushido and feudalism in Japan?
Nitobe says no definite time or place can be named as Bushido's fountainhead; only as it attains consciousness in the feudal age may its origin be identified with feudalism. He compares Japan to England: as English feudalism dates from the Norman Conquest, Japanese feudalism rose with Yoritomo's ascendancy late in the twelfth century, though its social germs existed long before.
Chapter 2
Why did the samurai class need a common standard of behavior?
Nitobe explains the samurai were a privileged class, originally a rough breed making fighting their vocation, recruited during long warfare from the manliest and most adventurous while the timid and feeble were eliminated. Professing great honor, privileges, and corresponding responsibilities, and always on a belligerent footing across different clans, they soon felt the need for a common standard of behavior and a resort for final judgment on misdemeanors.
Chapter 2
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What did Buddhism contribute to Bushido, according to Nitobe?
Nitobe argues Buddhism furnished Bushido with calm trust in Fate, quiet submission to the inevitable, stoic composure in the face of danger or calamity, and a disdain of life paired with friendliness toward death. He illustrates this with a swordsmanship teacher who, seeing his pupil master the art, told him that beyond this point instruction must give way to Zen teaching.
Chapter 3
How does Nitobe describe Zen and its purpose?
Nitobe calls Zen the Japanese equivalent of Dhyâna, representing human effort to reach through meditation zones of thought beyond verbal expression. Its method is contemplation, and its purport is to become convinced of a principle underlying all phenomena and, if possible, of the Absolute itself, putting oneself in harmony with it. Whoever attains perception of the Absolute rises above mundane things.
Chapter 3
What does the mirror in Shinto shrines typify?
Nitobe explains that Shinto shrines are conspicuously devoid of objects of worship, with a plain mirror in the sanctuary as the essential furnishing. The mirror typifies the human heart, which when perfectly placid and clear reflects the very image of the Deity. Worshiping before it, you see your own image, making the act tantamount to the Delphic injunction 'Know Thyself' — moral introspection, not physical self-knowledge.
Chapter 3
What two features did Shintoism give to Bushido?
Nitobe argues Shintoism imbued Bushido with loyalty to the sovereign and love of country, the two predominating features of the emotional life of his race. Shinto taught loyalty, reverence for ancestral memory, and filial piety, imparting passivity to the otherwise arrogant samurai character. These acted more as impulses than doctrines, since Shinto prescribed scarcely any credenda but simple agenda.
Chapter 3
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Which two Chinese sages most influenced Bushido's ethical doctrines?
The chapter states Confucius was the most prolific source of Bushido's ethical doctrines, his five moral relations suiting the samurai ruling class. Next to him, Mencius exercised immense authority; his forceful, often democratic theories appealed to sympathetic natures, though they were long censured as dangerous and subversive to the existing social order.
Chapter 4
How did Bushido regard knowledge and learning, according to the chapter?
The author argues Bushido made light of knowledge as such, pursuing it not as an end but as a means to wisdom. Mere acquaintance with the classics was held in low esteem; proverbs ridiculed the pedant and compared unassimilated learning to an ill-smelling vegetable needing boiling. Knowledge counted only when assimilated and shown in character; an intellectual specialist was considered a machine.
Chapter 4
What doctrine of Wang Yang Ming does the chapter emphasize?
The chapter presents Wang Yang Ming as the greatest exponent of the Socratic doctrine that knowledge is identical with its practical application in life, never wearying of repeating, "To know and to act are one and the same." The author notes parallels to the New Testament in his writings and describes his idealistic, conscience-centered system.
Chapter 4
How does Mencius define Benevolence and Rectitude?
The chapter says Mencius calls Benevolence man's mind and Rectitude or Righteousness his path. He laments that men who lose their fowls and dogs seek them again, but lose their mind and do not know to seek it. Righteousness is a straight and narrow path a man ought to take to regain the lost paradise.
Chapter 4
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What did the epithet Gishi signify, and who bore it in popular parlance?
Gishi meant a man of rectitude, and was considered superior to any name signifying mastery of learning or art, even in later feudalism when peace brought leisure and gentle accomplishments. The Forty-seven Faithfuls, much made of in popular education, are known in common parlance as the Forty-seven Gishi.
Chapter 5
How did Giri's meaning change from its original sense?
Giri literally means Right Reason and originally meant duty pure and simple—the duty owed to parents, superiors, inferiors, and society. In popular acceptance it became a vague sense of duty that public opinion expected an incumbent to fulfill. The author argues it degenerated into casuistry and cowardly fear of censure, a secondary power in ethics inferior to the Christian doctrine of love.
Chapter 5
How does Confucius define courage in the Analects, as quoted?
Confucius defines courage by its negative: perceiving what is right and not doing it argues lack of courage. Put positively, courage is doing what is right. The author notes this aligns with Plato's definition of courage as knowledge of what a man should fear and should not fear, and with the Prince of Mito's saying that true courage is living when right and dying only when right.
Chapter 5
What did Bushido consider a 'dog's death'?
Death for a cause unworthy of dying for was called a dog's death. The Prince of Mito taught that rushing into battle and being slain is easy and the merest churl can do it, but true courage is to live when it is right to live and die only when it is right to die. Rashness in arms was called valor misbegot and was not applauded in the Precepts of Knighthood.
Chapter 5
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According to Bushido, what is the spiritual or statical manifestation of valor?
The author argues that valor's spiritual aspect is composure—calm presence of mind, called tranquillity or courage in repose. A truly brave man is serene, never surprised, and keeps his mind level amid catastrophes; daring deeds are merely valor's dynamical form. Such composure, betraying no tremor in writing or voice, is taken as an index of a capacious mind (yoyū).
Chapter 6
What did Kenshin do when the Hōjō cut off Shingen's salt supply?
Though at war with Shingen for fourteen years, Kenshin wrote that the Hōjō lord had committed a mean act and ordered his own subjects to furnish Shingen plenty of salt, saying 'I do not fight with salt, but with the sword.' The author compares this to Camillus's 'We Romans do not fight with gold, but with iron,' and to Nietzsche on being proud of one's enemy.
Chapter 6
What does the author say about feudalism, despotism, and paternal government?
The author argues it is a mistake to identify feudalism with despotism, noting Frederick the Great's 'Kings are the first servants of the State' coincided with Yozan's identical declaration in Japan. A feudal prince felt responsibility to ancestors and Heaven as a father to subjects. Despotic and paternal government differ in that one breeds reluctant obedience, the other willing, dignified submission.
Chapter 6
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How does Nitobe describe the samurai ideal of mercy (bushi no nasaké)?
The author argues samurai mercy was not a blind impulse but recognized due regard to justice and was backed by power to save or kill. He calls it "effectual" mercy, like effectual demand in economics, because the warrior had power to act for the good or detriment of the recipient. He notes it was not generically different from anyone's mercy, but implied mercy where justice was considered.
Chapter 7
What warning does Masamuné's aphorism give about rectitude and benevolence?
Masamuné's oft-quoted aphorism states: "Rectitude carried to excess hardens into stiffness; Benevolence indulged beyond measure sinks into weakness." The chapter uses it to warn against indiscriminate charity not seasoned with justice and rectitude. Nitobe presents benevolence as a tender, mother-like virtue, while upright rectitude and stern justice are described as peculiarly masculine.
Chapter 7
How does the story of Kumagaye at Sumano-ura illustrate samurai tenderness?
In the 1184 battle, Kumagaye overpowered a beardless youth; war etiquette required no bloodshed unless the foe was of equal rank or ability. He released the boy, but the youth refused to flee and begged to be killed. Reminded of his own son, Kumagaye beheaded him, then renounced war, shaved his head, and devoted his life to pilgrimage. Nitobe says the story shows tenderness, pity, and love adorned samurai exploits.
Chapter 7
What evidence does Nitobe give that the Red Cross found easy acceptance in Japan?
Nitobe argues the Red Cross movement, though considered peculiarly Christian, readily found footing in Japan. Decades before the Geneva Convention, novelist Bakin had familiarized readers with medical treatment of a fallen foe. In Satsuma, young men practiced tender biwa melodies rather than war drums, soothing fiery spirits. He also cites Polybius on Arcadia's music requirement for youths under thirty, credited with reducing cruelty there.
Chapter 7
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According to the Shirakawa prince's thoughts, what three things should a warrior cherish?
The prince advises that even if they come stealing to your bedside at night, you should not drive away but cherish the fragrance of flowers, the sound of distant bells, and the insect humming of a frosty night. He also names three things to forgive: the breeze that scatters your flowers, the cloud that hides your moon, and the man who tries to pick quarrels with you.
Chapter 8
Why was verse writing encouraged among samurai, and what anecdote illustrates it?
The author argues poetry was ostensibly to express but actually to cultivate gentler emotions, giving Japanese poetry an undercurrent of pathos and tenderness. A rustic samurai told to versify on "The Warbler's Notes" flung a crude verse about keeping his ear apart from the warbler's song; his master persisted until the youth's soul awakened and he wrote of standing mailed and strong to hear the uguisu.
Chapter 8
What does the author say politeness should be, and what is its highest form?
The author argues politeness is a poor virtue if actuated only by fear of offending good taste; it should be the outward manifestation of sympathetic regard for others' feelings, implying due regard for fitness of things and respect for social positions rooted in actual merit. In its highest form, politeness almost approaches love, described with the words of 1 Corinthians: it suffers long, is kind, envies not, and is not puffed up.
Chapter 8
How does the author defend elaborate ceremony and the tea ceremony against European criticism?
The author admits there may be unnecessary niceties but questions whether ceremonial etiquette is more foolish than adherence to ever-changing Western fashions. He considers ceremony the result of long observation on the most appropriate method of achieving a result, and cites Mr. Spencer's definition of grace as the most economical manner of motion. The tea ceremony's prescribed ways of handling bowl, spoon, and napkin, though tedious to a novice, prove the most saving of time and labor.
Chapter 8
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How does Nitobe link graceful deportment to power?
The author argues that if gracefulness means economy of force, then constant practice of graceful deportment brings a reserve and storage of force. Fine manners therefore mean power in repose. He illustrates with the Gauls pulling the senators' beards during the sack of Rome, blaming the old men for lacking dignity and strength of manners.
Chapter 9
What is Cha-no-yu and what is its greatest value?
Cha-no-yu is the tea ceremony, which Nitobe calls more than a ceremony: a fine art, poetry with articulate gestures for rhythm, and a modus operandi of soul discipline. Its greatest value lies in this last, spiritual phase. Calmness of mind, serenity of temper, and composure are its first essentials, and the bare, clean tea-room directs thoughts away from the world.
Chapter 9
Why do Japanese depreciate a gift while Americans praise it?
Nitobe explains that in America one praises a gift, meaning 'this is nice, for it would insult you to give anything but nice.' In Japan one depreciates it, meaning 'you are so worthy that no gift is nice enough; accept it as a token of good will.' He argues both ideas are ultimately the same: the American speaks of the material, the Japanese of the spirit.
Chapter 9
What does Nitobe say about propriety carried beyond bounds?
Quoting Masamuné, Nitobe states that 'propriety carried beyond right bounds becomes a lie.' He insists it is perverse to judge the principle of propriety by its least important details, and defers full comment on truth versus politeness until the chapter on Veracity or Truthfulness, without which politeness is a farce and a show.
Chapter 9
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According to the chapter, what did Bismarck's 1880 circular warn German consuls about?
Bismarck sent a circular to professional consuls of the German Empire in November 1880 warning of "a lamentable lack of reliability with regard to German shipments," apparent in both quality and quantity. The author uses this to argue that advancing industry makes veracity profitable, noting that within twenty years German merchants learned that honesty pays.
Chapter 11
How did Bushido treat lying, and what motive did the author suspect lay behind its veracity?
Lying was not condemned as sin, since there was no positive commandment against bearing false witness; it was denounced as weakness and therefore highly dishonorable. The author wonders whether Bushido's veracity had any motive higher than courage, and notes that honesty's Latin and German etymology is identified with honor.
Chapter 11
What terms conveyed the idea of honor, and how was shame used in a child's education?
Honor was conveyed by terms like na (name), men-moku (countenance), and guai-bun (outside hearing). The sense of shame (Ren-chi-shin) was among the earliest things cherished in juvenile education; appeals such as "You will be laughed at," "It will disgrace you," and "Are you not ashamed?" were the last resort for correcting a youthful delinquent.
Chapter 11
How does the chapter say the morbid excess of honor was counterbalanced, and what maxims did Iyéyasu leave?
The excess was counterbalanced by preaching magnanimity and patience; taking offense at slight provocation was ridiculed as "short-tempered," and an adage held that to bear the unbearable is really to bear. Iyéyasu's maxims include that life is like a long journey with a heavy load, to reproach none but watch one's own shortcomings, and that forbearance is the basis of length of days.
Chapter 11
Section 124 cards
According to the chapter, what did Mencius teach about anger and insults?
Mencius taught that anger at a petty offense is unworthy of a superior man, but indignation for a great cause is righteous wrath. He also wrote that others cannot defile one's soul by outrage, even if one is denuded and insulted. The chapter cites these teachings to show how far natural religion can approach revealed morality in practical ethics.
Chapter 12
What did Ogawa and Kumazawa teach about responding to blame and anger?
Ogawa said that when others speak evil against you, return not evil for evil but reflect that you were not more faithful in discharging your duties. Kumazawa taught that when others blame you, blame them not, and when others are angry, return not anger, since joy comes only as passion and desire part. The chapter says such sayings were embodied in acts, not just uttered.
Chapter 12
What did the young son of Iyéyasu say after being placed at the rear at Osaka?
During the siege of Osaka, Iyéyasu's young son begged to be in the vanguard but was placed at the rear. When the castle fell, he wept bitterly, and an old councillor consoled him that many years lay ahead for distinguishing himself. The boy replied indignantly, asking how foolishly the man talked, since his fourteenth year could never come round again.
Chapter 12
Why does the author call loyalty the distinctive feature of Bushido, and how does he answer Hegel?
The author argues loyalty—homage and fealty to a superior—is the keystone making feudal virtues a symmetrical arch, since other virtues are shared with other ethical systems. He notes Hegel criticized feudal fidelity as a bond to an individual rather than a Commonwealth, founded on unjust principles. The author counters that personal loyalty is not a monopoly of any race but lingers where feudalism lasted longest.
Chapter 12
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In the Genzo story, why does the father identify the boy's head as genuine?
The father serves the enemy of his family's benefactor but cannot be untrue to his own master. His son could serve the grandsire's lord, so the boy becomes a conscious, willing victim. The father, entrusted with identifying the head, pronounces the false head genuine, then tells his wife to rejoice that their son proved of service to his lord.
Chapter 13
How does Bushido conceive the family's interest compared with Western individualism?
The author argues Western individualism recognizes separate interests for father and son, husband and wife, which highlights duties owed between them. Bushido held the interest of the family and its members to be one and inseparable, bound up with natural, instinctive, irresistible affection. Loving those who love you, he notes, earns no special reward.
Chapter 13
When filial piety conflicts with loyalty, which does Bushido choose?
The author states Bushido never wavered in its choice of Loyalty. Shigemori's heart was torn—if loyal, his father is undone; if he obeys his father, duty to the sovereign fails—and he prayed for death as release. The author argues neither Shakespeare nor the Old Testament adequately renders ko, the conception of filial piety.
Chapter 13
Does Bushido require conscience to submit to a lord or king?
No. The author argues Bushido did not make conscience the slave of any lord or king, citing Mowbray: life thou shalt command, but not my shame. A man who sacrificed conscience to a sovereign's caprice was despised as nei-shin or chô-shin. A loyal subject first tried to persuade an erring master, as Kent did Lear, and might shed his own blood as a final appeal.
Chapter 13
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What was the primary aim of samurai education according to Nitobe?
The author argues that knightly pedagogics aimed first to build up character, leaving prudence, intelligence, and dialectics in the shade. Aesthetic accomplishments were accessories, not essentials. Intellectual superiority was esteemed, but Chi meant wisdom first, with knowledge subordinate. The samurai was essentially a man of action, and education was conducted with a practical end in view.
Chapter 14
What subjects made up the Bushido curriculum, and what was notably absent?
The curriculum consisted mainly of fencing, archery, jiujutsu or yawara, horsemanship, the use of the spear, tactics, caligraphy, ethics, literature, and history. Mathematics was conspicuously absent, explained partly because feudal warfare was not carried on with scientific precision, and partly because samurai training was unfavorable to fostering numerical notions.
Chapter 14
How did Bushido regard money and finance, and why?
The author argues chivalry was uneconomical and disdained money-making and hoarding. Children were raised with disregard of economy; ignorance of coin values was a token of good breeding, and counting money was left to meaner hands. Thrift was enjoined not for economic reasons but for abstinence. The author credits this with keeping public men free from corruption, though he laments plutocracy's advance.
Chapter 14
Why did Bushido hold teachers in such high esteem and reject payment for their service?
Because character, not intelligence, was the material teachers developed, their vocation partook of a sacred character. A preceptor was a father to the fatherless and an adviser to the erring. Bushido believed spiritual service could not be repaid in gold or silver, since the best service in soul development is not definite, tangible, or measurable. Pupils brought seasonal offerings, not payments.
Chapter 14
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Why does Nitobe call Japanese stoicism 'apparent' rather than true?
The author argues true stoicism cannot be the characteristic of a whole nation, and some Japanese manners may seem hard-hearted to foreigners. Yet he insists the Japanese are as susceptible to tender emotion as any race. The discipline of fortitude and politeness combined to produce an outward stoicism, not an inner absence of feeling.
Chapter 15
What two teachings combined to engender the stoical turn of mind?
Nitobe identifies the discipline of fortitude, which inculcated endurance without a groan, and the teaching of politeness, which required not marring another's pleasure or serenity by displaying one's own sorrow or pain. Together these engendered a stoical turn of mind that eventually became a national trait of apparent stoicism.
Chapter 15
How did the crowd at the railway station behave when the regiment left?
During the war with China, an American resident expected loud demonstrations at the farewell. Instead, as the whistle blew, thousands silently removed their hats and bowed in reverential farewell—no waving handkerchiefs, no words, only deep silence with a few broken sobs audible to an attentive ear. Nitobe offers this as an example of calmness undisturbed by passion.
Chapter 15
How does self-restraint explain the scarcity of revivals in Japanese Christian churches?
Nitobe says the same discipline of self-restraint accounts for fewer revivals: when a soul is stirred, the first instinct is to quietly suppress any indication of it. Only rarely does an irresistible spirit free the tongue. He argues encouraging light public speech about spiritual experience puts a premium on breaching the third commandment, and that openly voicing inmost feelings signals they are neither profound nor sincere.
Chapter 15
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What did Democritus call the highest good, per the chapter's ideal of self-restraint?
The chapter says the ideal of self-restraint is to keep the mind level, or, borrowing a Greek term, to attain the state of euthymia, which Democritus called the highest good. It also warns that discipline in self-control can go too far, repressing the soul, breeding hypocrisy, or dulling affections, so each virtue must be followed by its positive ideal.
Chapter 16
On what anatomical belief was the choice of the abdomen in seppuku based?
The chapter states the choice was based on an old belief that the soul and affections reside in the abdomen. It cites biblical references to Joseph's bowels yearning and the prophets' troubled bowels, notes the Semites placed emotion in the liver and kidneys, and says modern neurologists speak of abdominal and pelvic brains. The syllogism: open the seat of the soul and show whether it is polluted or clean.
Chapter 16
How does the chapter distinguish seppuku from mere suicide?
The author argues seppuku was not a mere suicidal process but an institution, legal and ceremonial—an invention of the middle ages by which warriors could expiate crimes, apologize for errors, escape disgrace, redeem friends, or prove sincerity. When enforced as legal punishment it was practiced with due ceremony, a refinement of self-destruction requiring coolness of temper and composure, befitting the bushi profession.
Chapter 16
What does the chapter say about religious or moral justification of suicide?
The author explicitly says he does not wish to be understood as asserting religious or even moral justification of suicide, but that the high estimate placed upon honor was ample excuse with many for taking one's own life. He notes death when honor was involved was accepted in Bushido as a key to solving complex problems, and cites Garth's sentiment that when honor's lost, death is a relief.
Chapter 16
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In Nitobe's account, what is a kaishaku and how does the role differ from an executioner?
Nitobe insists the word executioner is no equivalent for kaishaku. The office is that of a gentleman; it is often performed by a kinsman or friend of the condemned, and the relation is rather that of principal and second than victim and executioner. In the Taki Zenzaburo case the kaishaku was a pupil of Taki, chosen by Taki's friends for his swordsmanship.
Chapter 17
How did Taki Zenzaburo prepare and arrange his body before the dagger, and why?
He let his upper garments slip to his girdle, remaining naked to the waist, and carefully tucked his sleeves under his knees to keep from falling backward, since a noble Japanese gentleman should die falling forwards. Seated in the Japanese fashion, knees and toes on the ground with body on the heels, he remained in that position of respect until death.
Chapter 17
What does the Sakon and Naiki story show about how the brothers treated young Hachimaro?
Condemned with their eight-year-old brother Hachimaro, Sakon told the boy to go first so he could be sure it was done right. The child asked to watch his brothers first, and they smiled through tears, praising him as their father's child. Placed between them, he watched their cuts, then calmly followed their example after both died.
Chapter 17
According to Nitobe, what was the downside of glorifying seppuku?
The author argues the glorification of seppuku tempted its unwarranted committal: hot-headed youths rushed into it for causes incompatible with reason or reasons undeserving of death, as insects fly into fire. Mixed and dubious motives drove more samurai to the deed than nuns into convent gates, and honor was not always solid gold but alloyed with baser metals.
Chapter 17
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According to Bushido, why was hastening death or courting it considered cowardice?
The chapter states that for a true samurai, hastening or courting death was cowardice. True honor lies in fulfilling Heaven's decree and bearing calamities with patience and a pure conscience. Death incurred in doing so is not ignominious, but death to avoid what Heaven has in store is cowardly. The author cites Mencius and Sir Thomas Browne's line that where life is more terrible than death, it is truest valor to dare to live.
Chapter 18
What reasoning does the chapter give for revenge satisfying a sense of justice?
The avenger reasons that his good father did not deserve death, the killer did great evil, Heaven hates wrongdoing, and it is the will of father and Heaven that the evildoer perish by the avenger's hand. The chapter calls this ratiocination simple and childish, though notes Hamlet did not reason much more deeply, and says it shows an innate sense of exact balance and equal justice: an eye for an eye.
Chapter 18
Under Bushido, when was revenge justified and whose wrongs could be avenged?
The chapter says revenge was justified only when undertaken on behalf of superiors and benefactors. One's own wrongs, including injuries to wife and children, were to be borne and forgiven. Thus a samurai could sympathize with Hannibal's oath to avenge his country's wrongs but scorned James Hamilton for carrying earth from his wife's grave as incentive to avenge her wrongs on Regent Murray.
Chapter 18
Why did suicide and redress lose their raison d'être after the criminal code?
The chapter states both institutions lost their raison d'être at the promulgation of the criminal code. Police now spy out the criminal for the injured party and the law metes out justice, so the state and society see that wrong is righted. With the sense of justice satisfied, kataki-uchi is unnecessary. The author notes seppuku has no legal existence but still recurs, calling normal seppuku an example of rational suicide requiring utmost sang-froid.
Chapter 18
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What did the samurai boy receive at age five in the sword ceremony?
At age five the samurai boy was dressed in samurai costume, placed on a go-board, and initiated into the military profession by having a real sword thrust into his girdle, replacing the toy dirk he had played with. After this ceremony of adoptio per arma, he was not to be seen outside his father's gates without this badge of status, though a gilded wooden dirk was usually substituted for everyday wear.
Chapter 19
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What two seeming contradictions did Nitobe say defined the Bushido ideal of woman?
The author argues the Bushido ideal of womanhood combined domesticity with Amazonian traits. He calls this only a seeming paradox, since the ideal was preeminently domestic yet praised women who displayed heroic fortitude worthy of the strongest men. He insists these traits are not inconsistent with the Precepts of Knighthood.
Chapter 20
Why were samurai girls trained in weapons like the nagi-nata?
Nitobe gives a twofold motive, personal and domestic, not use in battle. Woman had no suzerain of her own, so she formed her own bodyguard, guarding her personal sanctity as her husband guarded his master's. The domestic utility was educating her sons. Fencing also counterbalanced sedentary habits and could be turned to use in need.
Chapter 20
What was the purpose of the pocket poniard given to girls at womanhood?
It might be directed at the bosom of an assailant, or, if advisable, at her own. Nitobe says the latter was very often the case, and he declines to judge severely, citing Pelagia and Domnina, two suicides canonized for purity and piety. A samurai woman had to know the exact spot to cut and how to compose her limbs.
Chapter 20
How did Nitobe describe the accomplishments taught to samurai women?
Music, dancing and literature were required, but kept subservient to moral worth. Dancing smoothed angular movements; music was to regale fathers and husbands, its aim purification of heart rather than technique. Accomplishments were a home diversion, not for show or social ascendency, and domesticity guided women's education.
Chapter 20
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According to Nitobe, what was the Bushido standard for gauging woman's value?
The author argues Bushido used a binomial, or double, standard: it gauged woman's value on the battle-field and by the hearth. As a social-political unit she counted for very little, but as wife and mother she received the highest respect and deepest affection. He compares this to Roman matrons being venerated as mothers rather than as fighters or law-givers.
Chapter 21
How does Nitobe apply Spencer's and Guizot's theories to Japanese classes?
The author argues both are right. Herbert Spencer held that in militant societies woman's position is necessarily low; Nitobe says this applied exclusively to the samurai class, where women experienced the least freedom. Guizot's favorable view of feudalism applied to the higher nobility, the daimio and kugé, who were fighters only in name. The peaceful classes below showed more equality between spouses.
Chapter 21
What was Naijo, and how did Nitobe describe woman's role in the scale of service?
Naijo means 'the inner help.' The author argues woman's self-surrender to husband, home, and family was as willing and honorable as man's self-surrender to lord and country. In the ascending scale of service, woman annihilated herself for man, that he might annihilate himself for the master, who in turn obeyed heaven. Nitobe concedes Christianity's superiority in requiring direct responsibility of each soul to its Creator.
Chapter 21
What does Nitobe say about the American call for Japanese daughters to revolt?
The author argues a revolt is rash and unnecessary. He asks whether it would improve women's status or repay the loss of gentleness and sweetness, and cites Roman matrons' loss of domesticity as followed by gross moral corruption. He concludes changes must and will come without revolts, and that Bushido's doctrine of service rests on eternal truth.
Chapter 21
Section 224 cards
Why does Nitobe say Japanese call their wives 'my rustic wife'?
Nitobe argues it is a polite self-debasement, not contempt: the same custom produces phrases like 'my foolish father,' 'my swinish son,' and 'my awkward self.' Since husband and wife are thought one flesh, praising one's spouse would be praising oneself, and self-praise is considered bad taste. He notes this usage was most in vogue among the samurai.
Chapter 22
How does Nitobe contrast Bushido's moral standard with Western respect for women?
The author argues that in Western civilization, especially among Teutonic and American peoples, respect paid to woman became the chief standard of morality. In Bushido, he says, the main dividing line between good and bad lay elsewhere: along the line of duty binding man to his own divine soul and then to other souls, in the five relations.
Chapter 22
What does Nitobe claim about Bushido's influence beyond the samurai class?
Nitobe argues Bushido's virtues did not stay confined to the military class. Comparing it to sunrise tipping the highest peaks before lighting the valleys, he says the ethical system that first enlightened the warriors drew followers from the masses over time. He cites Emerson on the contagion of wisdom and insists no class can resist moral influence.
Chapter 22
What role does Nitobe assign to the samurai in shaping Japan?
Nitobe asserts that what Japan was, she owed to the samurai, calling them not only the flower of the nation but its root as well. Though socially aloof from the populace, they set a moral standard and guided by example. He distinguishes esoteric and exoteric teachings: the latter eudemonistic, caring for the commonalty's welfare; the former aretaic, valuing virtue for its own sake.
Chapter 22
Section 231 cards
Why does the author prefer the sakura to the European rose?
The author argues the wild cherry is indigenous, spontaneous, and simple, while the rose lacks that simplicity. He says the rose hides thorns beneath sweetness, clings to life as though afraid to die, prefers to rot on its stem, and has showy colors and heavy odors. The sakura, by contrast, carries no dagger or poison under its beauty, is ever ready to depart life at nature's call, and has modest colors and a light fragrance that never palls.
Chapter 23
Section 243 cards
What does Nitobe claim about Bushido's role in shaping New Japan?
The author argues that Bushido, not Christian missions, was the main force behind New Japan. He says the statesmen of the Restoration knew no other moral teaching than the Precepts of Knighthood, and that Christian missionaries have had only indirect, largely invisible effect, chiefly in education. He cites Henry Norman on Japan's code of honor as the ruling influence.
Chapter 24
How does Nitobe respond to Townsend's view of Japan's transformation?
Townsend argues Japan's change was self-generated: Europeans did not teach Japan, Japan chose to learn European organization and mechanical science, like the Turks importing artillery. Nitobe agrees the spring of action lay within Japan, and adds that if Townsend had probed Japanese psychology he would have found that spring was Bushido, especially the sense of honor at being looked down upon.
Chapter 24
What faults does Nitobe attribute to Bushido's influence?
The author concedes Bushido is largely responsible for Japanese character defects. The neglect of metaphysical training under Bushido's educational regimen explains the lack of abstruse philosophy, despite scientific reputations abroad. The sense of honor produces exaggerated sensitiveness and touchiness, and the conceit foreigners charge Japanese with is called a pathological outcome of honor.
Chapter 24
Section 253 cards
Who is described as 'the last fragment of Bushido'?
The shosei, or student: a young man with unkempt hair and shabby dress, carrying a large cane or book, indifferent to mundane things. The author describes him as thirsting for knowledge, viewing penury as a stimulus and worldly goods as shackles, and calls him the repository of Loyalty and Patriotism and self-imposed guardian of national honor.
Chapter 25
How does the author illustrate Bushido's unconscious influence on moral appeals?
The author argues that appealing in old Bushido terms works where other persuasion fails. A backsliding Christian was reverted by an appeal to loyalty, the fidelity he once swore to his Master. A college 'students' strike' disbanded when the Director asked whether the professor was blameless or weak—making the moral issue dwarf the scientific incapacity that began the trouble.
Chapter 25
What forces does the author identify as threatening Bushido's future?
The author argues Bushido's days seem numbered. Unlike European Chivalry, which the Church renewed after Feudalism, Bushido was left an orphan when Feudalism fell, with no religion large enough to nourish it. He cites Shintoism as superannuated, Chinese sages supplanted by Bentham and Mill, and triumphant democracy, popular instruction, industry, wealth, and city life as antagonistic to Chivalry's class spirit.
Chapter 25
Section 263 cards
What did Nitobe say formally abolished Bushido, and when?
The author states that the 1870 edict abolishing Feudalism tolled the knell of Bushido, and the edict two years later prohibiting the wearing of swords rang out the old order and rang in the new age. He compares this to Dr. Miller's claim that Chivalry was formally abolished in 1559 when Henry II of France was slain in a tournament.
Chapter 26
How does Nitobe answer claims that guns or schools won Japan's war with China?
The author argues these are less than half-truths. He asks whether a piano plays Liszt without a master's hand, and why Louis Napoleon's Mitrailleuse or Spanish Mausers did not win their wars. He concludes the spirit quickeneth, and that what won the battles was the ghosts of the fathers guiding Japanese hands and hearts.
Chapter 26
What does Nitobe predict about Bushido's future and its relation to Christianity?
The author expects Bushido to disappear as an entity, like a cherry blossom dying at the first breeze, yet never be totally extinct—alive as a virtue though dead as a system, like Stoicism. He argues Christianity is the only system powerful enough to cope with Utilitarianism and Materialism, and calls Bushido a dimly burning wick to be fanned into flame.
Chapter 26
Section 273 cards
What does Nitobe say will happen to Bushido as an independent code of ethics?
Nitobe concedes that Bushido as an independent code of ethics may vanish, and its schools of martial prowess or civic honor may be demolished. Yet he argues its power will not perish from the earth: its light and glory will long survive the ruins, and its perfume will still enrich life even after its customs are buried and its name forgotten.
Chapter 27
To what does Nitobe compare Bushido's survival after its decline?
He compares it to its symbolic flower: once blown to the four winds, it still blesses mankind with the perfume that enriches life. Ages later, when its customs are buried and its very name forgotten, its odors will float in the air as from a far-off unseen hill, and the traveler will feel sweetness near without knowing whence it comes.
Chapter 27
Which poet does Nitobe quote, and what image closes the passage?
Nitobe quotes the Quaker poet, whose lines describe a traveler owning a grateful sense of sweetness near, he knows not whence, and pausing to take with forehead bare the benediction of the air. This image of unearned, unattributed blessing closes the passage, illustrating how Bushido's influence may persist unrecognized long after its name is forgotten.
Chapter 27
Source and licence
Text used: Project Gutenberg eBook #12096 (Public domain in the United States). Generated from the full text; cards paraphrase the source.
Version: Public domain edition. Retrieved 2026-11-01. Cards reviewed 2026-11-01.
These cards paraphrase the text for study. They are not a substitute for reading the book, and they do not reproduce long passages.
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