WHAT IS BUSHIDO: A brief Introduction

現在、武士道に関する本を執筆中です。これはその中からの抜粋ですが、まだ推敲中ですのでその旨、ご了承下さい。

Preface: Because Bushido has tended to become an obscure subject to many modern Japanese people, perhaps being forced aside in favor of "Americanization" or "Globalization", the question has come up here several times "What is Bushido?" We could probably write a great volume here but this is not quite the place and a major work on the topic is in progress. Instead, we offer this very brief introduction in the hopes that it might begin to answer that question and stimulate discussion, thought, and study.

BUSHIDO: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Bushido, meaning “Way of the Warrior” is a code of conduct, a way of thought, as well as a way of life which had existed for centuries and which is part of what makes Japan unique among nations and cultures, and which is part of what makes being Japanese unique as well. It originates from the moral code of the Samurai and stresses such things as loyalty, frugality, mastery of Budo and most importantly, honor. Bushido took “root” or began to develop as early as the 9th Century, although much of the formal literature about Bushido does not begin to appear until the 17th Century. So, one could define Bushido as a unique philosophy or ronri that began to spread through the warrior class In the Muomachi (chusei) Period.

As Nitobe Inazo stated in his book Bushido: The Soul of Japan, it is a code of moral principles that Samurai were instructed to and expected to observe. More often than not, Bushido is a code which has been largely unwritten (not written as a unified code until much of it was adopted into the Japanese Feudal Law under the Tokugawa Shogunate) but rather in a number of various writings. Much of Bushido was taught verbally, directly from sensei to pupil, from father (or grandfather) to child. It has always been a living thing: growing and evolving over the centuries and continues to evolve to this very day, although often pushed aside in favor of “Americanization” or Globalization. There is however a strong and every growing feeling among Japanese, old and young alike, that a return to the core principles of Bushido is perhaps needed in order to preserve and protect the unique Japanese culture.

In keeping with the simplicity of Zen, which itself has had a tremendous influence on Japanese culture (and Bushido itself): Bushido is being Japanese. -Tokugawa

字数の関係で日本文と英文は対応していません。

世の中がグローバル化するにつれ、日本人は増々アメリカナイズされ、武士道精神は過去の遺物として、脇に押しやられています。 さて、武士道は何かという質問が私のもとに時々寄せられますが、今はその問いに対する入り口程度の回答でご勘弁願います。 武士道は立ち居振る舞いから考え方に至るまで、日本人を日本人たらしめている教えです。 もともとは、侍の守るべき道徳でした。忠誠心、質素倹約、武道修行など侍のための心得です。 9世紀ごろに生まれたこの思想は17世紀に入るまでは正式な書物としては世にでていません。 武士道は室町時代に武士階級を通じて世に広まっていった哲学であるといえます。 新渡戸稲造は武士道の副題に「日本の心」とつけています。 それは武士の守るべき道徳律です。 その教えが統一されたのは、家康の時代、封建法の中に組み入れられるようになってからです。 武士道の教えは口伝えで先生から生徒へ、親から子へと伝わりました。 その教えは、人から人に伝わり、育まれ、進化し、現代まで伝わっている生きた教えです。 日本人はアメリカナイズされつつあるとはいえ、今の日本には武士道精神が必要であると強く感じている人たちがいます。日本を見失わないためにも、それが必要です。 禅の思想(侘び、寂び)は日本文化に多大な影響を与え、私たちの中に深く浸透しています。 武士道も同じです。
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Copyright 2007 by Hayato Tokugawa, Aoi Tokugawa, Sekishinkan Tokugawa Dojo

MUSASHI AND SELF- DISCIPLINE

MUSASHI AND SELF- DISCIPLINE

類い稀な体力、精神力、知性の持ち主、二刀流の達人、独力で剣の極意を得た剣豪、といえば、「バガボンド」の主人公宮本武蔵ですね。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　これだけ有名な剣豪ですが、さて、幼少の頃の武蔵はどうだったかということになると、なかなか資料が見つかりません。ただ、現存する資料や武蔵関連の書物から子供時代の武蔵を推測すると、武蔵は幼少の頃より自己鍛錬に励み、強い意志を持った青年だったようです。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　武蔵には師匠と呼べる人はいません。仮に、武蔵がどこかの道場の門下生だったとしましょう。武蔵は13歳にして、すでに木刀の達人であり、当時、巷で強いと評判の剣豪達に戦いを挑んでいました。そんなすごい生徒なら、道場が黙っているわけはありません。道場の評判を高める為にも、○○道場門下生として武蔵の名を世間に公表したであろう事は十分に考えられすがそのような記述はみたことがありません。また、武蔵の剣豪としての意識は子供の頃に形成され、剣の修行のため、幼い頃から独力で鍛錬に励みました。
さて、武蔵のおこなった修行を現代に当てはめて考えてみましょう。武蔵の修行ががどれほどのものであったか、想像してみてください。

金メダル目指してトレーニングしているオリンピック選手と比較してみるのが良いかと思います。コーチの指導を全く受けずに、技術的な面も精神的な面も助言を与える人が全くいない状態で金メダルを目指さなければならないとしたら、どうでしょう。

武蔵は独力で金メダルを獲得しました。

武蔵の修行の中から、何か私たちの日々の生活に取り入れられるものが、きっとあるはずです。


MUSASHI AND SELF- DISCIPLINE

One can assume that tremendous mental, physical, intellectual, and spiritual self-discipline are the reasons that Musashi Miyamoto was able to achieve his great success and reputation as Japan’s finest swordsman while still a relatively young man. Despite the fact that records of Musashi’s youth are both scarce and confused, as one learns more about him, it becomes apparent that he was indeed strong-willed and extraordinarily self-disciplined from an early age.

In Go Rin Sho, Musashi wrote that he himself had no teacher but rather that he was self-taught. This would seem to be true if for no other reason than any one of the formalized schools of Budo, which kept careful, strict records could have claimed him as a student and would have done so. By the age of thirteen, he was exceedingly adept at least with a wooden staff, to the extent that he had no hesitation in challenging a veteran samurai who had killed many men in one-on-one fighting.

This alone is enough to make Musashi distinctive in the chronicles of the samurai and indeed rare in any context. It supports Musashi’s claim that his own ambition formed very early on and compelled him to a level of self-discipline that seems rather extraordinary for a boy on his own.

In a modern application, perhaps the best way to point up the degree of self-discipline required in Budo would be to compare it with what men and women training for the Olympics would have to go through without the benefit of coaches, or sponsors. There is, however, nothing really new with regard the role of discipline in developing skills of any kind. Musashi’s deeds make it clear that in order to achieve that kind of success one must exercise comparable self-discipline, which can, be applied to any of life’s undertakings.

copyright 2007 by Hayato Tokugawa and Sekishinkan Tokugawa Dojo