The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke [Hardcover]

Yuzan Daidoji (Author), Oscar Ratti (Author), Thomas Cleary (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1999

Code of the Samurai is a four-hundred-year-old explication of the rules and expectations embodied in Bushido, the Japanese way of the warrior. Bushido has played a major role in shaping the behavior of modern Japanese government, corporations, society, and individuals, as well as in shaping the modern martial arts within Japan and internationally. The Japanese original of this book has been one of the primary sources on the tenets of Bushido, a way of thought that remains fascinating to modern world, East and West.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Cleary is the translator of Opening the Dragon Gate (Tuttle, 1996) and The Story of Chinese Zen (Tuttle, 1995), as well as The Art of War, The Book of Five Rings, The Japanese Art of War, and dozens of other titles on martial philosophy, Buddhism, Taoism, religion, philosophy, and motivation.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

One who is supposed to be a warrior considers it his foremost concern to keep death in mind at all times, every day and every night, from the morning of New Year's Day through the night of New Year's Eve.

As long as you keep death in mind at all times, you will also fulfill the ways of loyalty and familial duty. You will also avoid myriad evils and calamities, you will be physically sound and healthy, and you will live a long life. What is more, your character will improve and your virtue will grow.

Here are the reasons for that. All human life is likened to evening dew and morning frost, considered something quite fragile and ephemeral. While this is so of all people's lives, the life of the warrior is particularly precarious.

If people comfort their minds with the assumption that they will live a long time, something might happen, because they think they will have forever to do their work and look after their parents-they may fail to perform for their employers and also treat their parents thoughtlessly.

But if you realize that the life that is here today is not certain on the morrow, then when you take your orders from your employer, and when you look in on your parents, you will have the sense that this may be the last time-so you cannot fail to become truly attentive to your employer and your parents. This is why I say you also fulfill the paths of loyalty and familial duty when you keep death in mind.

In any case, when you forget death and become inattentive, you are not circumspect about things. You may say something offensive to someone and get into an argument. You may challenge something you might as well have ignored, and get into a quarrel.

Or you may stroll about in resorts where you have no business, not avoiding the crowds, where you might bump into some oaf and get into an unexpected brawl. You could lose your own life, get your employer bad publicity, and cause your parents and siblings difficulties.

All this trouble comes from inattentiveness when you fail to keep death in mind at all times.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing (September 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804831904
• ISBN-13: 978-0804831901
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 119 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The REALISTIC guide for the samurai, May 19, 2001

By 

Plotinus - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke (Hardcover)

The first time I read a book about samurai philosophy and customs, it was the Hagakure. After reading it, I felt sick and even embarassed that I was so heavily into martial arts having origins in such a death-focussed, suicidal, slavish mentality. After reading it, I lost most of my interest in the origins of the Japanese martial arts, and Japanese culture. How mistaken I was... Two years ago, I bought the "Code of the Samurai", and my interest immediately returned. This book was written one hundred years earlier than the Hagakure and thus it was written closer to the time when the Samurai were in fact warriors and not so only in theory (as they were at the time of the publication of the Hagakure). Both books have in intention the reformation of the Samurai class to what the authors consider to be proper moral standards. But after reading both, it seems evident that the Hagakure is a forlorn attempt to recreate some kind of "glorious" suicidal mindset that never existed much in reality. The "Code of the Samurai" gives suggestions for every facet of behaviour... Everything about this book is remarkably humane, and very well thought out. It promotes responisibility to all one's aquaintances, colleagues, and leaders. This book could be retitled as "How to be a Responsible Citizen". It is about how to live well, not about how to die. For those martial artists who are interested in learning about the cultural roots of their Japanese "ways" (DO), and about how they can model their lives in part on the lives of the samurai, or for those whose interest is simply in Japanese culture, this book is critical reading, even more so because it will take away the inhuman face given the Japanese by English translations of books like the Hagakure, and not confront the reader with the kind of bewliderment faced when reading the combination of practical and mystical found in the "Book of Five Rings". Do not be put off buying this book because of its "mere" ninety-eight pages. Every page is packed with fascinating ethical and corporate lessons. One can get more out of this book than tomes hundreds of pages long written by modern Westerners who have never lived in 17th Century Japan. The ideals held within the covers of this book are those that have been striven after in the Japanese martial arts right up to the present day, and, for those interested in the lives of the Samurai, this covers every significant factor.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death is the central issue..., October 19, 2003

By 

C. Middleton (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke (Hardcover)

In a time of peace, at the end of the Tokugawa regime, (1603-1867), the Samurai extended their duties into the administrative class, developing from mere 'attendants' to philosophers, scholars, physicians, and teachers, creating concise systems of mental and moral training. This class influenced the country's culture in profound ways, which continues to be felt and seen in modern day Japan. Fearing that the Samurai would lose their basic purpose and essential character, author Taira Shigesuke, (1639-1730) a Confucian scholar, wrote this handbook for the novice knight. For the beginning knight, this book would have been indispensable, in terms of conducting oneself in the true spirit of the Samurai.

The book is structured in three parts, including subjects ranging from education, familial duty, frugality, courtesy and respect, laziness, discretion to military service, vassalage and loyalty to dealing with one's superiors. What is so valuable about this book for the modern western reader is that it provides age-old ethical guidelines that are exceedingly practical and relevant to the present day.

Central to the Samurai philosophy is the notion of concerning oneself daily with death. Shigesuke emphasises from the outset, that, "As long as you keep death in mind at all times, you will also fulfil the ways of loyalty and familial duty." In other words, everything else follows from this basic attitude - a long life, and a character that will improve and virtue that will grow. This makes sense, of course, because as the author points out, when you think your time here will last, you're inclined to take it for granted, thereby saying things you shouldn't say and letting important matters slide because "...it can always be done tomorrow."

This powerful little book is as compelling and relevant as it was over 400 hundred years ago. It will not take more than an hour to read, but its contents hold treasures that should be referred back to in order to remind one that life is short and should never be taken for granted. This book is also recommended to students of Asian studies as it provides a fundamental understanding of Japanese culture.

82 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great research material, June 28, 2000

By 

Gaylin Walli - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke (Hardcover)

I am somewhat at a loss as to why this book, Code of the Samurai, fascinates me. I liked it enough that I bought a copy for my husband and would consider giving it as a gift to several friends who have interests in "courtly behavior," "chivalry," and "medieval" Japanese history in general (all are members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, like I am).

I have never made it through an entire reading of The Art of War and quite frankly The Book of Five Rings was no better as a shortened form thereof. Code of the Samurai is really neither of these books and shares little more than a common Asian ancestry. Instead, it reads rather like one of the pre-1600s Western culture books of proper behavior (for members of recreation organizations, think books like The Babees Book and the Book of Courtesey). Instead of Western Europe, however, this one is set in Tokugawa-era Japan (if I am remembering my history correctly).

The book very clearly addresses the actual life of a samurai. Thankfully, the book does not heavily focus on the martial aspects of the samurai's life (though these are touched upon) nor the esoteric, philosophical ideals that might be expected of a book on "Bushido." Instead, the examples of this book simply show you the proper and improper behavior of samurai in a variety of situations as they were viewed in classical Japan.

Unfortunately, I cannot speak for the accuracy of the translation because this book includes only the modern English (and I don't read classical or modern Japanese). The text as a whole, despite the lack of original manuscript versions, is rendered in an easy-to-follow style that you can read straight through or only a chapter at a time, at your leisure.