Square One Titles

In eighteenth-century Japan, Tsunetomo Yamamoto created the Hagakure, a document that served as the basis for samurai warrior behavior. For the next two hundred years, the Hagakure was secretly circulated among the "awakened" samurai--the samurai elite. In 1906, the book was first made available to the general Japanese public, and until 1945, its guiding principles greatly influenced the Japanese ruling class--particularly those individuals in military power. However, the spirit of the Hagakure touched a deeper nerve in Japanese society. It was this book that shaped the underlying character of the Japanese psyche, from businessmen to politicians, from students to soldiers.

Bushido: The Way of the Samurai is the first English translation of the Hagakure. From its opening line, "I have found the essence of Bushido: to die!" this work provides a powerful message aimed at the spirit, body, and mind of the samurai warrior. It offers beliefs that are difficult for the Western mind to embrace, yet fascinating in their pursuit of absolute service. By reading this book, one can better put into perspective the historical path that Japan has taken for the last three hundred years, and gain greater insight into the Japan of today.

Tsunetomo Yamamoto was born in 1659 and devoted his adult life to the service of his Shogun master, Lord Mitsushige Nabeshima, and his clan, rising to become a highly respected samurai warrior. Upon his master’s death in 1700, Yamamoto renounced the world and retired to a hermitage. While at his retreat, a close friend and disciple recorded Yamamoto’s thoughts and ideas on what it meant to be a Japanese warrior. Although Yamamoto requested that the work never be published, the Hagakure--literally meaning "hidden behind the leaves"--did survive, influencing the development of a culture and serving as the basis of Bushido, the way of the samurai.

Minoru Tanaka, translator, is a professor of English at a college in Kyoto, Japan. He has taught English to Japanese speakers for the past thirty years.

Justin F. Stone, editor, is an accomplished writer, musician, poet, and artist. He is fluent in the Japanese language and is a Master of T’ai Chi. Over the past thirty years, Stone has traveled extensively throughout Japan. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

BOOK ONE

The Essence of Bushido
Two Ways of Thinking
Two Methods of Criticism
How to Stop Yawning
Foresight in Relationships
Samurais of Satori and Non-Satori
If the Water Is Clear No Fish Will Live
The Marrow of Service
The Use of Onlookers
High Upon High
Think Lightly on Serious Matters
People You Can Trust
The Thinking Process
Models to Imitate
The Puppet Show World
Conduct at the Wine Feast
The Use of the High Spirit
Lesson From the Heavy Rain
The Winner’s Spirit
Bringing Up Samurai Children
Arts and Crafts
Groundless Suffering
Testing Your Friend’s Loyalty
Good and Evil
Discharging Servants

On the Men of Learning
Burn With Mad Death
The Samurai Superintendent Officer
Passing the First Barrier
"My Master Is Human and So Am I"
Making Important Decisions
The Liked and the Disliked
Conceal Your Wisdom
Fall Seven Times and Get Up Eight
Talk to Your Inferiors
How to Excel Above Others
Bushido Alone Is the Way
Honor and Wealth
On Homosexuality
How to Conduct Yourself
Spiritual Vigor
The "Death" of Yamamoto
The Samurai Ideal of the Handsome Man
Consulting Others
Under Forty
How to Acquire Talented People
Expressing the Spirit
Giving and Receiving Advice
Accomplishment in the Arts and Crafts

BOOK TWO

Persuasion Tactics
"Yes" Men
How to Treat Your Superiors
On Serious Thoughts
A Little Learning
How to Get Useful Ideas
Father’s Favorite Sayings
A Samurai Esprit de Corps
The Present and the Past
Make the Best of Each Occasion
O, What a Vain World
Handling Negative Feelings
Samurai’s Toilette
At the Conference
Deny the Gods if They Stand in Your Way
Human Life Is Trivial
You Cannot Tell Your Own Ability
Dignity
Don’t Despise the "Upstarts"

Keeping a Respectful Distance
Weigh Your Words
Two Kinds of People
Defeating Yourself by Victory
On Visiting Others
Analogy of the Sword
Talent and the Times
Listening to Veterans
Drop Out Completely
Samurais: Men of Action
The Family Grant
On Servants
A Koan on the Art of Homosexuality
The Connection Game
On the Spur of Madness
Handling Difficulties
On Dreams
The Samurai Ideal of Love

BOOK THREE
Collapsing House
Story of the Thwarted Ghosts

BOOK FOUR
Four Kinds of Samurai
Saving Face

BOOK FIVE
Humility of the Lord

BOOK SIX
Compassion and Courage

BOOK SEVEN
To Kill
The Loyal Samurai Cook
To Win Is to Overcome Yourself
The Essence of Service
A Story Concerning Lord Tsunashige

BOOK EIGHT
About Kichinosuke Shida
About the Promotion of Ichiemon Kuno
How to Restore the Clan After It Collapses
Cut Down the Gods if They Stand in Your Way
Two Kinds of Samurais

BOOK NINE
A Samurai and His Adulterous Wife

BOOK TEN
How Not to Get Nervous
How to Win in a Debate

BOOK ELEVEN
Do Not Turn Your Back on the Enemy
Do Not Learn Strategy
Some Hints for Arguing
On Victory
How to Win in the Long Run
Success and Failure
Die Every Morning in Advance
To Be Taciturn
Social Appearance
A Story Concerning Family Honor
On Governing

Footnotes
Glossary
Index

Introduction

The Shogunate Rule (1603-1867) was a period of peace and political stability. In order to preserve its power, the Shogunate Government maintained a closed door policy toward all foreign countries. Under the Shogunate system, each clan was relatively independent but was required to pay allegiance to the central government of Shogunate. Within each clan, the lord and his samurais composed the leading class. As a ruling group, they held dominion over the farmers, manufacturers, merchants, and craftsmen.

The author of Hagakure, Tsunetomo Yamamoto (1659-1719), was a member of the powerful Nabeshima clan. As a youth, Yamamoto attended on his master, Lord Mitsushige Nabeshima. For 30 years, Yamamoto devoted his life to the service of his Lord and clan. His service varied from being a page boy to a highly respected samurai. Then, on the death of Mitsushige Nabeshima in 1700, Yamamoto renounced the world and retired to a hermitage in the mountains. Ten years later, Tsuramoto Tashiro visited him and became his close friend and disciple. For a period of seven years (1710-1716) they lived together in the mountain retreat. During this time Tashiro recorded verbatim what his master said to him at random.

Yamamoto forbade Tashiro to publish the talks that were later to be called Hagakure (which literally means, ’Hidden Behind the Leaves.’) The reason he forbade publication was that he knew his teachings were too radical and excessive for the then-peaceful world. Also, his ideas were not altogether consistent with the then-prevalent official study of the teachings of Confucius (who advocated peace and order).

During the period that Hagakure was being recorded, peace within the country enabled the people to devote time to cultural matters. Even the samurais, who were expected to be warriors, tended to forget their experiences in the Civil Wars (1467-1568). They began to neglect their military practices and their mastery of Bushido, the Way of the Samurai, and gave more and more of their time and attention to personal accomplishments rather than to the military arts and the traditional loyal service of their Lord. They did this knowing that they were expected to be efficient bureaucrats in the service of the Lord and clan, and, as a result tended to become tender and effeminate. They began to act out of their own self-interests. No definite ideal prevailed among the samurais at this time.

During this period, Yamamoto came to the conclusion that respectability and discretion were based on Man’s preference of life to death. In other words, he saw cowardice and fear as the basis for all the various kinds of humanitarian ideas and philosophies. Regardless of ideas and philosophies, he suggested that the samurai throw away all self-imposed limitations caused by the choice of life rather than death. In his talks he wanted every samurai to become a super-man. But he wanted super-men who were capable of gaining great power, not for their own self interest, but for the interest of the clan. He wanted super-men who were capable of operating effectively for the solidarity of the clan.

In spite of Yamamoto’s prohibition, the original writings of Hagakure were secretly copied by hand. They were then circulated among the so-called "awakened" samurais. Yet, the book was kept secret from the general public until it was eventually published in 1906. The publication influenced many Japanese--particularly generals and officers and others engaged in the control of military power.

The eighty years or so from the Restoration of Imperial Rule in 1867 to the surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces in 1945 was a period of continual warfare for Japan. This warfare was based upon the economic development and military expansion of the country. During this period, the relation between the Lord and his samurais changed into a similar relation between the Emperor and His trusted soldiers. During the last stage of the Pacific War (1941-45), the Kamikaze fighting pilots--made up mostly of students--rationalized their action of self-sacrifice through the often quoted passage of Hagakure:

"I have found the essence of Bushido: to die!"

When the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers in 1945, Hagakure was ’burned’ because it was considered to be an ideological war-criminal. Though the book was ’burned,’ its spirit still survived. It is the energy from this spirit that has enabled the Japanese people to revive and rapidly develop their economy and national prestige.

Today there exists a general belief that a powerful force--militarism based upon the so-called economic imperialism--is again reviving in Japan. The very existence of this belief--be it valid or not--accounts for the recent revival of Hagakure among the Japanese people. Since the end of the Pacific War, four different editions of Hagakure have been published in Japan. The fifth (Japanese) edition is now under preparation. There is no doubt that Hagakure has come to be read by more and more Japanese as a book of today. Indeed, one of the latest editions has emphasized the up-to-dateness of Hagakure as a book showing how individual members of an organization should cooperate with one another in a common cause. According to this edition, the basic pattern of the Japanese society has remained the same: The present ’clans’ take the form of the Japanese business company. The executive of the company, or often the company itself, is the ’Lord.’ The businessmen are the present-day ’samurais,’ who literally give themselves to their ’clans.’

Hagakure is a book for those interested in discovering the truth about Japan and the Japanese people. It will certainly give the reader a deeper insight into the Japanese mentality.

--M.T., 1, July, 1971

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