Bushido: The Soul of Japan

Introduction

A Belgian jurist once asked Nitobe Inazō: 'You have no religious instruction in your schools? How then do you impart moral education?' The question stunned him, and set him thinking until he realised that what had given him his sense of right and wrong was bushido. Written in English for Western readers, and drawing constant comparisons with Western philosophy, literature and history, Bushido treats in turn rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, sincerity, honour, loyalty, self-control, seppuku and revenge, the sword as the soul of the samurai, the education and position of women, and the future of bushido. Published in the United States in 1900, it became a sensation; President Theodore Roosevelt bought copies by the dozen to give to friends. It remains the classic Western introduction to the Japanese spirit.