Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

The periodic emphasis on the ideal character and behavior of a samurai,
especially during the samurai decline in the Tokugawa period, indicates
the need for reminding samurai who and what they ought to be. The ideal
traits of the warrior, then, were emphasized as a measure of persuasion to
encourage warriors to adhere to the “right” way. Yamaga Sokô (1622–
1685), a thinker and a Confucian scholar, first took on the task of systematically
codifying the proper “way and creed of the warrior” (shidô
bukyô). Sokô was concerned with the degeneration of warrior society following
a prolonged period of peace during which they were gradually becoming
idle and abusing their hereditary status. Sokô argued that since
warriors do not produce or trade in anything, they in fact live off the work
of others. Therefore, according to Confucian thought, being a ruling elite
places them as the moral exemplars for all social classes, and their role was
to protect moral principles. Sokô viewed the role of the samurai as shifting
from a purely military function to that of an intellectual military aristocracy
whose role is to provide the people with a righteous government. The
“way of the warrior” was to be achieved by learning the Confucian classics,
and in addition, diligently practicing military disciplines. Of course,
the latter was in sharp contrast to Confucian thought, but nevertheless the
combination of “military” and “letters” (bunbu) set the basis for what is
now known as bushidô.
Another way to view the role of the concept of ideal warrior traits is
to place it in its political context. Historically, top retainers and close relatives
were potentially the most dangerous adversaries. Since the thirteenth
century, warrior houses had promulgated their own house laws (kahô) and
house regulations (kakun) as a way to eliminate any such danger, but there
never existed a unified system of thought until the establishment of the
Tokugawa shogunate. The shogunate emphasized samurai ideals because
this code contributed to its own security and stable politics, reducing the
probability of rising opposition. The bakufu made use of Confucian ideology
and native beliefs to create a clear image of the ideal samurai, looking
back at the age of the early samurai and romanticizing it to fit a certain desirable
image, then using the image of early legendary warriors as a model.
It is therefore important to emphasize that although samurai ideals had become
part of the warrior heritage centuries earlier, the Tokugawa codification
and promotion of these ideals was largely a method of securing loyalty
and obedience to the bakufu, and on the other hand, dealing with economically
exhausted and disgruntled samurai.
Sokô’s thought no doubt contributed greatly to the increasing popularity
of martial disciplines in the Tokugawa period. Training in these disciplines
became a way for self-improvement for Tokugawa samurai. Yet,
the most celebrated ideals of shidô, those of obligation and ultimate loyalty
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