Inazo Nitobe "Bushido"

[Mikawa Ossan]

Has anyone heard of Inazo Nitobe? He wrote a book in 1899 entitled, Bushido: The Soul of Japan in English . It's a very interesting read. I am quite certain that the copywrite laws are such that it is in the public domain, and I would like to post it little by little. (If this causes any problems to JREF, please remove this thread, Administrators! ) I'd like to think that we all have something we can learn from this book!

I begin with the Preface to the first edition:

About ten years ago, while spending a few days under the hospitable roof the the distinguished Belgian jurist, the lamented M. de Laveleye, our conversation turned during one of our rambles, to the subject of religion. "Do you mean to say," asked the venerable professor, " that you have no religious instruction in your schools?" On my replying in the negative, he suddenly halted in astonishment, and in a voice which I shall not so easily forget, he repeated "No religion! How do you impart moral education?" The question stunned me at the time. I could give no ready answer, for the moral precepts I learned in my childhood days were not given in schools; and not until I began to analyse the different elements that formed my notions of right and wrong, did I find that it was Bushido that breathed them into my nostrils.

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

In my attempts to give satisfactory replies to M. de Laveleye and to my wife, I found that without understanding feudalism and Bushido, the moral ideas of present Japan are a sealed volume.

Taking advantage of enforced idleness on account of long illness, I put down in the order now presented to the public some of the answers given in our household conversation. They consist mainly of what I was taught and told in my youthful days, when feudalism was still in force.

Between Lafcadio Hearn and Mrs. Hugh Fraser on one side and Sir Ernest Satow and Professor Chamberlain on the other, it is indeed discouraging to write anything Japanese in English. The only advantage I have over them is that I can assume the attitude of a personal defendant, while these distinguished writers are at best solicitors and attorneys. I have often thought,--"Had I their gift of language, I would present the cause of Japan in more eloquent terms!" But one who speaks in a borrowed tongue should be thankful if he can just make himself intelligible.

All through the discourse I have tried to illustrate whatever points I have made with parallel examples from European history and literature, believing that these will asist in bringing the subject nearer to the comprehension of foreign readers.

Should any of my allusions to religious subjects and to religious workers be thought slighting, I trust my attitude toward Christianity itself will not be questioned. It is with ecclesiastical methods and with the forms which obscure the teachings of Christ, and not with the teachings themselves, that I have little sympathy. I believe in the religion taught by Him and handed down to us in the New Testament, as well as in the law written in the heart. Further, I believe that God hath made a testament which may be called "old" with every people and nation,--Gentile or Jew, Christian or Heathen. As to the rest of my theology, I need not impose upon the patience of the public.

In concluding this preface, I wish to express my thanks to my friend Anna C. Hartshorne for many valuable suggestions.

Twelfth Month, 1899. Inazo Nitobe

 

[Index]

An interesting read, but I'd say overly idealized and romantic.

 

[Mandylion]

Great, keep 'em coming. I've never read through the whole thing so I'll look forward to it.

For those interested in Bushido, I humbly direct you to this thread for your enjoyment

 

[nhannah]

I enjoyed this book. Has anyone ever heard of the book Bushido Shoshinsu ?

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Idealized and romantic? Of course. But so was just about everything I ever learned about what it meant to be an "American".

I continue:

Chapter 1 Bushido as an Ethical System

Chivalry is a flower no less indigenous to the soil of Japan than its emblem, the cherry blossom; nor is it a dried-up specimen of an antique virtue preserved in the herbarium of our history.
It is still a living object of power and beauty among us; and if it assumes no tangible shape or form, it not the less scents the moral atmosphere, and makes us aware that we are still under its potent spell.

The conditions of society which brought it forth and nourished it have long disappeared; but as those far-off stars which once were and are not, still continue to shed their rays upon us, so the light of chivalry, which was a child of feudalism, still illuminates our moral path, surviving its mother institution.

The Japanese word which I have roughly rendered Chivalry, is, in the original, more expressive than Horsemanship.
Bu-shi-do means literally Military-Knight-Ways--the ways which fighting nobles should observe in their daily life as well as in their vocation; in a word, the "Precepts of Knighthood," the noblesse oblige of the warrior class.

Bushido, then, is the code of moral principles which the knights were required or instructed to observe.
It is not a written code; at best it consists of a few maxims handed down from mouth to mouth or coming from the pen of some well-known warrior or savant.
More frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten, possessing all the more the powerful sanction of veritable deed, and of a law written on the fleshly tablets of the heart.
It was founded not on the creation of one brain, however able, or on the life of a single personage however renowned.
It was an organic growth of decades and centuries of military career.

We cannot, therefore, point out any definite time and place as say, "Here is its fountain-head."
Only as it attains consciousness in the feudal age, its origin, in respect to time,may be identified with feudalism.
But feudalism itself is woven of many threads, and Bushido shares its intricate nature.


-To Be Continued-

 

[Mandylion]

wonder what age of feudalism he is going to draw his moral principles from - Warring States or mid-Tokugawa. The two are quite different....

 

[Index]

It's definitely not Warring States. What he proposes is similar to the European idea of chivalry, which conveniently ignores the blood and guts side of things, as well as the depserate means people go to to try and stay alive when in an "it's me or him" situation. Yet that's not to say that the ideas are not noble. Strategically there are some flaws in his thinking, like when he suggests that a samurai should not think when he is offended, but rather act in the heat of the moment to take revenge immediately.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

I think that he would argue that it of course didn't arise directly or solely from the Warring States period, but it was a necessary part of history for Bushido to form into what it eventually became.

Next installment:

Again, in Japan as in Europe, when feudalism was formally inaugurated, the professional class of warriors naturally came into prominence.
These were known as samurai , meaning literally, like the old English cniht (knecht, knight), guards or attendants--

A Sinico-Japanese word Bu-ke or Bu-shi (Fighting Knights) was also adopted in common use.
They were a privileged class, and must originally have been a rough breed who made fighting their vocation.

Coming to profess great honour and great privileges, and correspondingly great responsibilities, they soon felt the need of a common standard of behaviour, especially as they were always on a belligerent footing and belonged to different clans.

Fair play in fight! What fertile germs of morality lie in this primitive sense of savagery and childhood.

Is it not the root of all military and civic virtue?
We smile (as if we had outgrown it!) at the boyish desire of the small Britisher, Tom Brown, "to leave behind him the name of a fellow who never bullied a little boy or turned his back on a big one."

And yet, who does not know that this desire is the corner-stone on which the moral structures of mightly dimensions can be reared?

The desire of Tom is the basis on which the greatness of England is largely built, and it well not take us long to discover that Bushido does not stand on a lesser pedestal.

If military systems had operated alone, withouth higher moral support, how far short of chivalry would the ideal of knighthood have fallen!

"Religion, war, and glory were the three souls of a perfect Christian knight," says Lamartine.
In Japan there were several sources of Bushido.

-To Be Continued-
Next: Chapter 2 Sources of Bushido

 

[Index]

"Fair play in fight" (ie. ritualisation) is a luxury which can only be afforded in peaceful times. It also means that the unpleasant aspects of war are forgotten (ie. pain, death, injury, betrayal etc.), resulting in pomp, arrogance, innefective strategy and fighting tactics, and possibly repetition of the behaviour that leads to war. Alternatively, if it can lead to a peaceful society without class distinctions and discrimination then it has some validity. Too bad if you are invaded by a less "refined" power and none of your citizens can fight however.

 

[Maciamo]

Everytime I hear of Bushido, it strikes me how these chivalresque values have almost entirely disappeared from modern Japanese society. It happens from time to time, when enter a shop, that the staff starts panicking because I am a foreigner and they don't speak English. Everytime, I am watch them trembling in fear, freezing or mumbling shyly something in Japanese, I think "But where has the samurai spirit gone ?" and laugh in my head.

The only breed of people who may have inherited the strict honour code (rather than "moral" code) of the samurai, are the Yakuza. It's only natural as they are somehow the direct heir of the "warriors".

It is not a written code; at best it consists of a few maxims handed down from mouth to mouth or coming from the pen of some well-known warrior or savant.
More frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten, possessing all the more the powerful sanction of veritable deed, and of a law written on the fleshly tablets of the heart.
It was founded not on the creation of one brain, however able, or on the life of a single personage however renowned. It was an organic growth of decades and centuries of military career.

How very Japanese ! It reminds me of the "common consciousness" of contemporary Japanese as what defines them as "Japanese". For example, almost every single Japanese think that they are Japanese because they live in harmonious and homogenous society, think of themselves as a polite and self-sacrificing people, think of Japan as a "small country", and have "4 seasons" that influence their daily life. Like the Bushido, this modern common consciousness is unwritten, usually unuttered (except when explaining it to foreigners), and is not the creation of one brain, but an organic growth of decades of defining themselves as Japanese. The problem is that this was done in contrast to the USA, but without considering similarities with other Asian countries, or European countries. Interestingly, the Bushido was written by Inazo Nitobe with the same purpose of defining Japaneseness as opposed to "Westerness", although this time it was not just by opposition to the USA, like modern Japanese people.


I found this on Wikipedia regarding the sources of Bushido :

According to Inazo Nitobe, Author of "Bushido: The Soul of Japan", "As to strictly ethical doctrines, the teachings of Confucius were the most prolific source of Bushido.....Next to Confucius, Mencius exercised an immense authority over Bushido. His forcible and often quite democratic theories were exceedingly taking to sympathetic natures, and they were even thought dangerous to, and subversive of, the existing social order, hence his works were for a long time under censure.

This clearly shows that the "typically Japanese values" described in the Bushido actually come from China, like most of the traditional Japanese culture. What is it with the Japanese (since Meiji) that always make them want to define themselves in opposition to the West, and completely forget about the roots of their culture in China ? Try to tell a Japanese that his/her culture mostly derives from China and they will be angry or at best uncomfortable.

There is an awkward sense of both superiority and inferiority toward China, and the Japanese usually do not want to be associated with the Chinese in almost any way. They still look down on China as formerly conquered land, and think of it as a backward, undeveloped and immoral society. When I told them how developed and safe Shanghai is, many who haven't been there just think that I am grossly exaggerating. The Chinese are are typically associated with Japan's rising criminality and not much more. I guess the Japan-China relations still have a long way to go before the Japanese accept identifying themselves as culturally close to the Chinese.

 

[Index]

Everytime I hear of Bushido, it strikes me how these chivalresque values have almost entirely disappeared from modern Japanese society. It happens from time to time, when enter a shop, that the staff starts panicking because I am a foreigner and they don't speak English. Everytime, I am watch them trembling in fear, freezing or mumbling shyly something in Japanese, I think "But where has the samurai spirit gone ?" and laugh in my head.

Perhaps shop clerks never had those values? Don't forget that Bushi were a privileged class of essentially elite, specialized units. The majority of troops were ordinary solidiers, just as now special forces make up only a small proportion of the military. You wouldn't expect shopkeepers in Europes to have internalized the codes and behaviours of Knights would you? In any case, socially speaking there seems to be a view that modern Japanese are not descendenats of the Samurai class, but rather the merchant class. Whether or not this has any basis in reality or not, I don't see how one could expect shopkeers, or even business people to uphold values associated with the military and aristocracy.

You'll find the bushi/bushido mentally (however ritualized or diluted) quite common amongst Japanese practitioners of old martial arts.

 

[Maciamo]

Perhaps shop clerks never had those values? Don't forget that Bushi were a privileged class of essentially elite, specialized units.

I completely agree. But I was under the impression that Inazo Nitobe wrote the Bushido to describe the "Spirit of Japan", i.e. what describes the Japanese values on the whole. I have also heard some Japanese businessmen refer to the "spirit of the samurai" as if all Japanese had inherited it.

You wouldn't expect shopkeepers in Europes to have internalized the codes and behaviours of Knights would you?

Certainly not. Nor anybody else. I have never heard anyone in Europe claiming that the "codes and behaviours of Knights" were still alive today (except some kids). But I have in Japan. People still read this book (Bushido) to understand the values of Japanese society, now ! I think it is at best anachronistic.

In any case, socially speaking there seems to be a view that modern Japanese are not descendenats of the Samurai class, but rather the merchant class.

I found in Wikipedia that about 6 to 10% of the Japanese in early Meiji were samurai. Over 80% were farmers, which leaves little space for the merchants and artisans. Indeed, I always hear Japanese people say that they descend either from farmers or samurai.

You'll find the bushi/bushido mentally (however ritualized or diluted) quite common amongst Japanese practitioners of old martial arts.

Which means ? 1% of the population ? It seems to me that proportionally less Japanese practice martial arts nowadays than Belgian or French people. I have done judo and karate myself, and so have quite a few of my friends and family members. It's one of the most popular sport in Belgium after football, tennis and cycling.

 

[Index]

I completely agree. But I was under the impression that Inazo Nitobe wrote the Bushido to describe the "Spirit of Japan", i.e. what describes the Japanese values on the whole.

I didn't get that impression when I was reading it, but perhaps you are right.

I have also heard some Japanese businessmen refer to the "spirit of the samurai" as if all Japanese had inherited it.

I daresay a part of being a samurai meant a measure of fanaticism, so maybe there is some validity to that claim?

I found in Wikipedia that about 6 to 10% of the Japanese in early Meiji were samurai. Over 80% were farmers, which leaves little space for the merchants and artisans. Indeed, I always hear Japanese people say that they descend either from farmers or samurai.

Interesting statistics. I was referring to social consciousness or behaviour however, though it makes little difference. As you say, the book is anachronistic and romanticised.

Which means ? 1% of the population ?

Not many at all. Yet that is where the flame (or at least a shadow of the flame) is being carried on.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

I'd love to join in the debate, but...we must go onwards with our book!

Chapter 2 Sources of Bushido

I may begin with Buddhism.
It furnished a sense of calm trust in Fate, a quiet submission to the inevitable, that stoic composure in sight of danger or calamity, that disdain of life and friendliness with death.

"Zen" is the Japanese equivalent for the Dhyana, which "represents human effort to reach through meditation zones of thought beyond the range of verbal expression."
Its method is contemplation, and its purport, so far as I understand it, to be convinced of a principle that underlies all phenomena, and, if it can, of the Absolute itself, and thus to put oneself in harmony with this Absolute.

What Buddhism failed to give, Shintoism offered in abundance.
Such loyalty to the sovereign, such reverence for ancestral memory, and such filial piety as are not taught by any other creed, were inculcated by the Shinto doctrines, imparting passivity to the otherwise arrogant character of the samurai.

Everybody has observed that the Shinto shrines are conspicuously devoid of objects and instruments of worship, and that a plain mirror hung in the sanctuary forms the essential part of its furnishing.
The presence of this article is easy to explain: it typifies the human heart, which, when perfectly placid and clear, reflects the very image of the Deity.
When you stand, therefore, in front of the shrine to worship, you see your own image reflected on its shining surface, and the act of worship is tantamount to the old Delphic injunction, "Know Thyself."
But self-knowledge does not imply, either in the Greek or Japanese teaching, knowledge of the physical part of man, not his anatomy or his psycho-physics; knowledge was to be of a moral kind, the introspection of our moral nature.

-To Be Continued-

 

[Maciamo]

Its method is contemplation, and its purport, so far as I understand it, to be convinced of a principle that underlies all phenomena, and, if it can, of the Absolute itself, and thus to put oneself in harmony with this Absolute.

This is very close to my onw atheistic philosophy, but I don't think many modern Japanese would actually understand it.

What Buddhism failed to give, Shintoism offered in abundance.
Such loyalty to the sovereign, such reverence for ancestral memory, and such filial piety as are not taught by any other creed, were inculcated by the Shinto doctrines, imparting passivity to the otherwise arrogant character of the samurai.

I think our Inza Nitobe is mistaking here. The values of loyalty to the sovereign, such reverence for ancestral memory, and such filial piety all come from Confucianism, not Shintoism.

Everybody has observed that the Shinto shrines are conspicuously devoid of objects and instruments of worship, and that a plain mirror hung in the sanctuary forms the essential part of its furnishing.

Well, I have seen many Shinto shrines, and most big ones (except Ise Jingu ) had more abundant furnishings and decoration than most Buddhist temples.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Chapter 2 Sources of Bushido Continued

The tenets of Shintoism cover the two predominating features of the emotional life of our race.--Patriotism and Loyalty.

This religion--or, is it not more correct to say, the race emotions which this religion expressed?--thoroughly imbued Bushido with loyalty to the sovereign and love of country.

As to strictly ethical doctrines, the teachings of Confucius were the most prolific source of Bushido.
His enunciation of the five moral relations between master and servant (the governing and the governed), father and son, husband and wife, older and younger brother, and between friend and friend, was but a confirmation of what the race instinct had recognized before his writings were introduced from China.

Next to Confucius, Mencius exercised an immense authority over Bushido.
His forcible and often quite democratic theories were exceedingly taking to sympathetic natures,

The writings of Confucius and Mencius formed the principal text-books for youths and the highest authority in discussion among the old.
A mere acquaintance with the classics of these two sages was held, however, in no high esteem.
A common proverb ridicules one who has only an intellectual knowledge of Confucius, as a man ever studius but ignorant of Analects.

Bushido made light of knowledge of such.
It was not pursued as an end in itself, but as a means to the attainment of wisdom.
Hence, he who stopped short of this end was regarded no higher than a convenient machine, which could turn out poems and maxims at bidding.
Thus, knowledge was conceived as identical with its practical application in life; and this Socratic doctrine found its greatest exponent in the Chinese philosopher, Wan Yang Ming, who never wearies of repeating, "To know and to act are one and the same."

Thus, whatever the sources, the essential principles which Bushido imbibed from them assimilated to itself, were few and simple.


Next, Chapter 3 Rectitude or Justice

 

[Index]

I think our Inza Nitobe is mistaking here. The values of loyalty to the sovereign, such reverence for ancestral memory, and such filial piety all come from Confucianism, not Shintoism.

Not necessarily. (State) Shintoism was used by the government following the Meiji restoration as tool to inspire nationalism and Emperor worship. Confucianism does not necessarily refer to a monarch, but rather to a hierarchy based on moral legitimacy embedded in the patriarch (which is the state).

 

[Maciamo]

Not necessarily. (State) Shintoism was used by the government following the Meiji restoration as tool to inspire nationalism and Emperor worship. Confucianism does not necessarily refer to a monarch, but rather to a hierarchy based on moral legitimacy embedded in the patriarch (which is the state).

The Chinese system was the same. The monarch/sovereign was the Celestial Emperor (exactly the translation of 窶弖ﾂ皇 "tennou", the word referring to the Japanese Emperor). In both Japan and China, the hierarchy, elders and sovereign had to be respected. This is one of the fundamentals of Confucianism, which has ruled Japanese societies ever since the first permanent capital was established at Nara (and even a bit before that). Nowadays, if Buddhisst values have always completely disappeared from Japanese minds, Confucianism is still extremely strong - much more than in China, where Communist values have destroyed most of it.

State Shinto is also a very recent invention (Meiji period ), and disappeared after WWII. So, if Inazo Nitobe wanted to described the values of traditional Japan, "the organic growth of decades and centuries", he would not have mentioned the then nascent State Shinto that people weren't yet familiar with.

The tenets of Shintoism cover the two predominating features of the emotional life of our race.--Patriotism and Loyalty.

This refers to State Shintoism only. Traditional Shintoism is an animist religion that reveres the "spirits of nature". The most popular type of Shinto shrines are the Inari-jinja, dedicated to the goddess of rice and fertility. These probably make up over 95% of all Shinto shrines in Japan. Some are so tiny that they fit between 2 houses, even in Tokyo (there are a few of these Inari -jinja in my neighbourhood).

This religion--or, is it not more correct to say, the race emotions which this religion expressed?--thoroughly imbued Bushido with loyalty to the sovereign and love of country.

That's interesting to see that Inazo Nitobe could not distinguish between the recent ideas of State Shinto taught at school from the Meiji Restoration and traditional Shintoism. He was born in 1862, and so was only 6 years old when the Meiji regime started. He thus belonged to the very first generation of children to be indoctrinated State Shintoism and its values of loyalty to the sovereign and love of country. When he wrote his book, he was 38 and had been inculcated these values for 32 years.

Ironically, he was a Christian but try to explain that Shintoism is a "race emotion" that defines Japaneseness. Quite contradictory with Christian values of exclusive faith.

 

[pipokun]

Perhaps shop clerks never had those values? Don't forget that Bushi were a privileged class of essentially elite, specialized units. The majority of troops were ordinary solidiers, just as now special forces make up only a small proportion of the military. You wouldn't expect shopkeepers in Europes to have internalized the codes and behaviours of Knights would you?

Just google "Ishida Baigan".
Pax Tokugawana was lucky for Japanese to develop a positive view on the merchant class and lucky that the samurai class had no complaint with their poor positions.
After the post war era, it was lucky to have managers with their ethics like Matsushita Konosuke or Inamori Kazuo. Honda Soichiro must be an otaku by nature.

But it was stupid Japan created the bureaucratic giant, esp., in the army in the end of Meiji after the in-between generation, Edo and early Meiji, died.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Chapter 3 Rectitude or Justice

Here we discern the most cogent precept in the code of the samurai.
Nothing is more loathsome to him than underhand dealings and crooked undertakings.
The conception of Rectitude may be erroneous--it may be narrow.
A well-known bushi defines it as a power resolution;--"Rectitude is the bone that gives firmness and stature. As without bones the head cannot rest on the top of the spine, nor hands move nor feet stand, so without rectitude neither talent nor learning can make of a human frame a samurai. With it the lack of accomplishments is as nothing."
Mencius calls Benevolence man's mind, and Rectitude or Righteousness his path.

Righteousness, according to Mencius, is a straight and narrow path which a man ought to take to regain the lost paradise.

Rectitude is a twin brother to Valour, another martial virtue.
--hence, we speak of the Giri we owe to parents, to superiors, to inferiors, to society at large, and so forth.
In these instances Giri is duty; for what else is duty than what Right Reason demands and commands us to do?
Should not Right Reason be out categorical imperative?
Giri primarily meant no more than duty.

The instant Duty becomes onerous, Right Reason steps in to prevent our shirking it.

Giri this understood is a severe task master, with a birch-rod in his hand to make sluggards perform their part.

I deem it a product of the conditions of an artificial society--of a society in which accident of birth and unmerited favour instituted class distinctions, in which the family was the social unit, in which seniority of age was of more account than superiority of talents, in which natural affections had often to succumb before arbitrary man-made customs.

Starting as Right Reason, Giri has, in my opinion, often stooped to casuistry.
It has even degenerated into cowardly fear of censure.

Carried beyond or below Right Reason, Giri became a monstrous misnomer.
It harboured under its wings every sort of sophistry and hypocrisy.
It would have been easily turned into a nest of cowardice, if Bushido had not a keen and correct sense of courage, the spitit of daring and bearing.

-Next: Chapter 4 Courage, The Spirit of Daring and Bearing-

 

[Index]

Just google "Ishida Baigan".
Pax Tokugawana was lucky for Japanese to develop a positive view on the merchant class and lucky that the samurai class had no complaint with their poor positions.
After the post war era, it was lucky to have managers with their ethics like Matsushita Konosuke or Inamori Kazuo. Honda Soichiro must be an otaku by nature.

But it was stupid Japan created the bureaucratic giant, esp., in the army in the end of Meiji after the in-between generation, Edo and early Meiji, died.

Thank you for the suggestion pipokun. An interesting character, Ishida Baigan. Are you suggesting his ideas are (or were) widespread amongst merchants and others in the service industry?

 

[Index]

Great, keep 'em coming. I've never read through the whole thing so I'll look forward to it.

For those interested in Bushido, I humbly direct you to this thread for your enjoyment

Thanks for reminding me of this thread...I still haven't got around to reading those links you put up then :sorry:

 

[miles7tp]

to Maciamo

This clearly shows that the "typically Japanese values" described in the Bushido actually come from China, like most of the traditional Japanese culture. What is it with the Japanese (since Meiji) that always make them want to define themselves in opposition to the West, and completely forget about the roots of their culture in China ? Try to tell a Japanese that his/her culture mostly derives from China and they will be angry or at best uncomfortable.
There is an awkward sense of both superiority and inferiority toward China, and the Japanese usually do not want to be associated with the Chinese in almost any way. They still look down on China as formerly conquered land, and think of it as a backward, undeveloped and immoral society. When I told them how developed and safe Shanghai is, many who haven't been there just think that I am grossly exaggerating. The Chinese are are typically associated with Japan's rising criminality and not much more. I guess the Japan-China relations still have a long way to go before the Japanese accept identifying themselves as culturally close to the Chinese.

Undoubtedly ancient Chinese culture deeply influenced on old Asian culture.
Similarly, undoubtedly "ancient Greek culture", "ancient Egyptian culture", "ancient Roman culture" and "Islamic culture" made the base of European cultures.
Today, do the European people thank "modern Greeks", "modern Egyptians", "modern Italians" and "modern Muslims" ?
If they had respected Muslims, the Middle East War might not have happened.
I guess the Europe- Islam relations still have a long way to go before the European accept identifying themselves as culturally close to Muslim.
And Chinese civilization(a mariner's compass, gunpowder and Type printing) deeply influenced on Europe.
Do European thank "modern Chinese" ?
And "Japonisume"(Japanism) influenced on European art(picture,craft products,architecture).
"Zero" discovered by Indians changed the world dramatically !
Endless !
☝
I am a fool Japanese girl, so I am hardly interested in "modern Chinese".
Am I sinful ?

There are some schools in Confucianism. Even in the same school of Confucianism, Japanese Confucianism is different from Chinese Confucianism or Korean Confucianism. A Chinese scholar, Gao Zengjieﾂ坂? 窶伉敘ｾ^ argued that peculiarity of Japanese Confucianism had made Japan the first modern nation in Asia. He said, "Japanese had transformed Confucianism and matched it with Japanese culture. Consequently Japanese Confucianism became different from Chinese Confucianism."("窶氾ｰﾅｽjﾅ?X窶慊ｹ"10/2004, p104)
The Confucianism developed in peculiar way in Japan influenced on "Busido".

Do you believe European people could develop ancient Greek philosophy but Asian people could NOT develop Confucianism for a long time ?
:auch:

This refers to State Shintoism only. Traditional Shintoism is an animist religion that reveres the "spirits of nature". The most popular type of Shinto shrines are the Inari-jinja, dedicated to the goddess of rice and fertility. These probably make up over 95% of all Shinto shrines in Japan. Some are so tiny that they fit between 2 houses, even in Tokyo (there are a few of these Inari-jinja in my neighbourhood).

You should learn Shintoism. Shintoism is not so simple as you think. Have you seen a Shinto priest in tiny Inari-jinja ?

That's interesting to see that Inazo Nitobe could not distinguish between the recent ideas of State Shinto taught at school from the Meiji Restoration and traditional Shintoism. He was born in 1862, and so was only 6 years old when the Meiji regime started. He thus belonged to the very first generation of children to be indoctrinated State Shintoism and its values of loyalty to the sovereign and love of country. When he wrote his book, he was 38 and had been inculcated these values for 32 years.

When did you think State Shinto was made ? State Shinto is not a instant food.


"It is easy to talk irresponsibly, but it is fruitless. It is difficult to talk responsibly, but it is fruitful.", said Kaerupop, a fool female senior high school student.

 

[Maciamo]

Similarly, undoubtedly "ancient Greek culture", "ancient Egyptian culture", "ancient Roman culture" and "Islamic culture" made the base of European cultures.
Today, do the European people thank "modern Greeks", "modern Egyptians", "modern Italians" and "modern Muslims" ?
If they had respected Muslims, the Middle East War might not have happened.
I guess the Europe- Islam relations still have a long way to go before the European accept identifying themselves as culturally close to Muslim.

I think you are making a mistake. European culture certainly inherited a lot from the Greeks and Romans, but very little from the Egyptians, and even less from the Muslims.

We discussed the contributions of Ancient Egypt to the world (including Western cultures) in a recent thread, and it turned out that the original thread poster was so mistaken about what actually came from Egypt that we had to create a new poll. The only notable Egyptian contributions to Europe were glass-making, surveying and the 365-day solar calendar. The 2 first spread to the whole world, and are thus not "cultural". The calendar used in the West was the Roman one invented by Juius Caesar, which was modified by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. So, even that calendar does not come from Egypt. I'd say that European culture owns much more to the Levant (present-day Israel and Lebanon) than to Ancient Egypt. Then, don't forget Babylon and Persia, which influenced a bit Ancient Greco-Roman culture too.

As for Islam, the religion was only founded in the 7th century. The only part of Europe that ever became Muslim was Southern and Central Spain, and South-East Europe (Bosnia, Alabania, Bulgaria...). I saw a BBC documentary recently about what the Muslims "gave us". But almost everything we owe to the Muslims are translations of Ancient Greco-Roman books (esp. the works of Aristotle). Europe also obtained the Indian numbers and Chinese black powder from the Arabs. In any case, do not confuse the word "Arab" with "Muslim". Some Arabs were/are Christians, and about 80% of the world's Muslims are not Arabs (mostly Iranian, Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi and Indonesian).

And Chinese civilization(a mariner's compass, gunpowder and Type printing) deeply influenced on Europe.

Deeply influenced ? These are just 3 inventions. Nothing in terms of culture, arts, philosophy, theoretical sciences, etc. It is not even sure that the compass was first invented in China. The Chinese did find out how to make black powder, but not gunpowder, as the first guns were not invented in China.

And "Japonisume"(Japanism) influenced on European art(picture,craft products,architecture).

That's true. But that seem so tiny compared to Western or Chinese influence in Japan. What's more Japonisme was in fact a European (mostly French) artistic current. The same way that "ome-rice" or "karee" are Japanese, although influenced by European and Indian cuisine. The original Japanese ukiyoe are not called "Japonisme" and the original Indian curry is not called "karee".

There are some schools in Confucianism. Even in the same school of Confucianism, Japanese Confucianism is different from Chinese Confucianism or Korean Confucianism. A Chinese scholar, Gao Zengjieﾂ坂? 窶伉敘ｾ^ argued that peculiarity of Japanese Confucianism had made Japan the first modern nation in Asia. He said, "Japanese had transformed Confucianism and matched it with Japanese culture. Consequently Japanese Confucianism became different from Chinese Confucianism."("窶氾ｰﾅｽjﾅ?X窶慊ｹ"10/2004, p104)

I don't know what you are trying to say. This is as obvious as there are hundreds of types of Christianity. Roman Catholics are based in Rome, Armenian Catholics in Armenia, Anglican Catholics in England, Greek Orthodox in Greece, Russian Orthodox in Russia, Ethiopian Orthodox in Ethiopia, Coptic in Egypt, etc. It does not matter. Christianity is still a Hebrew religion, as much as Buddhism is Indian and Confucianism is Chinese, because of their founders.

Do you believe European people could develop ancient Greek philosophy but Asian people could NOT develop Confucianism for a long time ?

I still don't understand that question. Could you write it in Japanese ?

You should learn Shintoism. Shintoism is not so simple as you think. Have you seen a Shinto priest in tiny Inari-jinja ?

I live near one of the biggest Shinto Shrines in Tokyo. I have seen various ceremonies. Anyway, do you understand that I am an Atheist, hate Christianity and Islam, and don't mind Buddhism and Shinto ? Do you know that one of my main reason to live in Japan is that there is no Christian influence and people are not very religious ? Saying that Japanese people are not very religious is a praise (ﾅｽ]ﾂ湘?, not negative criticism.

When did you think State Shinto was made ? State Shinto is not a instant food.

State Shinto was established by the Meiji government based on traditional Shinto. But it added the cult of the emperor of elements of nationalism, both of which I dislike, because it has led to the invasion of other Asian countries and the killing of millions of people. I dislike strong religious beliefs because they cause wars and desolation.

 

[Maciamo]

"It is easy to talk irresponsibly, but it is fruitless. It is difficult to talk responsibly, but it is fruitful.", said Kaerupop, a fool female senior high school student.

I have found out from your IP address that you are in fact the ignominous "miles7tp" that was banned a few months ago. Such a hypocrite !