BUSHIDO
THE SOUL OF JAPAN

“There are, if I may so say, three powerful spirits, which have from time to time, moved on the face of the waters, and given a predominant impulse to the moral sentiments and energies of mankind. These are the spirits of liberty, of religion, and of honor.”
—Hallam,
Europe in the Middle Ages.

“Chivalry is itself the poetry of life.”
—Schlegel,
Philosophy of History.

PREFACE

About ten years ago, while spending a few days under the hospitable roofof the distinguished Belgian jurist, the lamented M. de Laveleye, ourconversation turned, during one of our rambles, to the subject ofreligion. “Do you mean to say,” asked the venerable professor, “that youhave no religious instruction in your schools?” On my replying in thenegative he suddenly halted in astonishment, and in a voice which Ishall not easily forget, he repeated “No religion! How do you impartmoral education?” The question stunned me at the time. I could give noready answer, for the moral precepts I learned in my childhood days,were not given in schools; and not until I began to analyze thedifferent elements that formed my notions of right and wrong, did I findthat it was Bushido that breathed them into my nostrils.

The direct inception of this little book is due to the frequent queriesput by my wife as to the reasons why such and such ideas and customsprevail in Japan.

In my attempts to give satisfactory replies to M. de Laveleye and to mywife, I found that without understanding Feudalism andBushido,[1] themoral ideas of present Japan are a sealed volume.