Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan

The Past and Present Book Series

by Oleg Benesch

Inventing the Way of the Samurai examines the development of the 'way of the samurai' - bushido; - which is popularly viewed as a defining element of the Japanese national character and even the 'soul of Japan'. Rather than a continuation of ancient traditions, however, bushido; developed from a search for identity during Japan's modernization in the late nineteenth century. The former samurai class were widely viewed as a relic of a bygone age in the 1880s, and the first significant discussions of bushido at the end of the decade were strongly influenced by contemporary European ideals of gentlemen and chivalry. At the same time, Japanese thinkers increasingly looked to their own traditions in search of sources of national identity, and this process accelerated as national confidence grew with military victories over China and Russia.

Inventing the Way of the Samurai considers the people, events, and writings that drove the rapid growth of bushido , which came to emphasize martial virtues and absolute loyalty to the emperor. In the early twentieth century, bushido; became a core subject in civilian and military education, and was a key ideological pillar supporting the imperial state until its collapse in 1945. The close identification of bushido; with Japanese militarism meant that it was rejected immediately after the war, but different interpretations of bushido; were soon revived by both Japanese and foreign commentators seeking to explain Japan's past, present, and future. This volume further explores the factors behind the resurgence of bushido , which has proven resilient through 130 years of dramatic social, political, and cultural change.

Genres: Japan, History, Nonfiction, Japanese History, Japanese Literature, Military History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

A specialist in the history of Japan and China in a global context, Oleg Benesch is Reader in Modern History at the University of York.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If, like me, you were brought up on the myths (made famous in the 1970s mostly) of Samurai feudalism and Bushido, then this easily accessible academic work will really add to your understanding.

[Emmanuel Gustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I once had a business dinner with two Japanese scientists and engineers, who were rather strongly convinced that if I ever visited Japan, all I would want to see are the castles of the Samurai, because the samurai, their battles and castles entirely define the image of Japan for the outside world. I did not protest too much (after all I really would like to see some of the castles, even knowing that many of them had to be rebuilt in later times) but it struck me as a view that took my ignorance of all the rest of Japanese history for granted.

Benesch's book sort of explores this narrow perspective of Japanese history, both for insiders and outsiders, that develops when it seen only through the lens of bushido. That ideological concept was supremely malleable, but mostly it was firmly anchored in an idealisation of the bushi or warriors of earlier times, one of which the historicity could be defended (at best) only by a highly selective reading of the sources. Usually this resulted in a mental framework that would have been alien to most of the real fighting men of the past, whose first priority was plain survival, just as later European notions of chivalry would have baffled the medieval knight. A parallel that is by no means a coincidence, because Benesch points out that formalised 19th century philosophical ideas of bushido were established in large part as a national answer to Victorian concepts of chivalry.

(A striking characteristic of bushido as the ambitious defining story for a nation is that it was centred on a state of mind. Most nations have had writers that helped to define national identity by writing a national story; but far more often than not, these stories are hooked to events or to persons: Battles, kings, resistance leaders, revolutions. It was perhaps because in Japan the past was so bound up in controversy, that its intellectuals embraced a specific attitude to life and death as national anchoring point.)

Benesch traces the development of the idea through modern Japanese history, from the Meiji period, when it was first given the status of a national ideology, through Taisho and the WWII Showa period. He shows how bushido evolved from a complex spectrum of attempts to define and defend the uniqueness of Japanese culture in a period that saw pervasive outside influence, into a homogenous radicalising wartime ideology that underpinned the legitimacy of an increasingly aggressive regime. He uses the description "Imperial Bushido" for the latter, an ideology that was seen by propagandists in the Japanese military and society, but also among their enemies, as a deeply ingrained motivating factor. As Benesch highlights, this was a real factor, as it was systematically pushed as a part of both civilian education and military training, but nevertheless it should not be taken for granted without limit or criticism, as many Japanese were capable of distancing themselves from the official ideology. The author appears to have studied his sources very thoroughly, in relation to each other. Among the many different strands, it is easy to get lost among the names. But the pattern that emerges is that a few influential ideologists, such as Inoue Tetsujiro, played a large role in defining and promulgating an exclusionary nationalistic version of the ideology, which in the 1930s managed to displace other interpretations, often by threat of violence, and otherwise by a widespread campaign of indoctrination.

Perhaps a weakness of Benesch's study is that it seems exclusively rooted in literary and philosophical sources, many of them rather high-brow. It would be interesting to have more detailed on the expressions of ideology in material culture (such as the re-introduction in the 1930s in the army of swords modelled on ancient Kamakura-era patterns instead of the French patterns adopted during the Meiji period) and in popular culture. It is true that Benesch goes some way in discussing the role of bushido ideology in theatre, books and movies created for a wide audience; but his perspective is still largely that of the author (or authority) rather than that of the consumer. It would be enlightening to know what the ordinary Japanese made of the official story.

The three large axis powers of WWII are often simply defined as "fascist". That is true by definition of Mussolini's Italy, and by easy extension also of Germany. But the concept of national polity (kokutai) and the ideology of imperial bushido as they developed in Japan, while certainly not free from influence from far-right European thinking, had important unique characteristics. I think this books really helps a lot to understand them better and add important nuance to a discourse on Japanese history, that has too often been extremely simplistic. That does not at all mean that it makes the Japan of the 1930s and 1940s look better, rather the contrary, but it does look certainly look a bit different from what you might have assumed.

[Frederick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough and scholarly take on how the Japanese hierarchy created the concept of bushido and the myth of the samurai in the late 1800s this book is a must-read for students of Japanese history and World War Two like myself. It really draws together the reasons behind the propaganda that so negatively impacted the Japanese people from the 1920s on and helped determine their self-defeating behavior in World War Two. The Japanese are a great people and worthy of admiration for many reasons but this book shows in detail how they were, like everyone else, impacted by pure myth and nationalistic fantasy in their early twentieth century actions.

[Jakob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was truly a great book for understanding Japan's modern state ideology of Bushido, which still lingers today despite its role in World War II.
It is presented chronologically, from its inception during the Meiji period until today.
It is strange that this isn't taught when studying Japanese studies since it has had such a great impact on Japanese history.
I feel that I gained much needed knowledge of Japan through this account of Japanese national ideological development.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The concept of "bushido" and the samurai as it has been transmitted into the modern era is largely a construct of Imperial Japanese Military propaganda. This book does an incredible job of laying out the progression and growth of this concept as it has evolved and changed throughout the modern era and is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Japanese history or the martial arts.