Foreword by Dwight
In this section, Inazo Nitobe discusses the training and education of the samurai class. He discusses the social patterns that samurai took almost no part in, such as finance, mathematics, and science. The samurai are all about action and a little less science.(Corresponding cast)
Nitobe's Education and Training a Samurai
Life
being regarded as the means whereby to serve his master, and its
ideal being set upon
honor, the whole education and training of a samurai, were conducted accordingly. The first point to observe in knightly pedagogics was to
build up character, leaving in the shade the subtler faculties of
prudence, intelligence and dialectics. We have seen the important
part aesthetic accomplishments played in his education. Indispensable
as they were to a man of culture, they were accessories rather than
essentials of samurai training. Intellectual superiority was, of
course, esteemed; but the word Chi, which was employed to denote
intellectuality, meant wisdom in the first instance and placed
knowledge only in a very subordinate place. The tripod that supported
the framework of Bushido was said to be Chi, Jin, Yu, respectively
Wisdom, Benevolence, and Courage. A samurai was essentially a man of
action. Science was without the pale of his activity. He took
advantage of it in so far as it concerned his profession of arms.
Religion
and theology were relegated to the priests; he concerned himself with
them in
so far as they helped to nourish courage. Like an English poet the
samurai believed "'tis
not the creed that saves the man; but it is the man that justifies
the creed." Philosophy
and literature formed the chief part of his intellectual training;
but even in the
pursuit of these, it was not objective truth that he strove
after,—literature was pursued
mainly as a pastime, and philosophy as a practical aid in the
formation of character,
if not for the exposition of some military or political problem.
From
what has been said, it will not be surprising to note that the
curriculum of studies,
according to the pedagogics of Bushido, consisted mainly of the
following,— fencing,
archery, jiujutsu oryawara, horsemanship, the use of the spear,
tactics, caligraphy,
ethics, literature and history. Of these, jiujutsu and caligraphy may
require a
few words of explanation. Great stress was laid on good writing,
probably because our
logograms, partaking as they do of the nature of pictures, possess
artistic value, and
also because chirography was accepted as indicative of one's personal character. Jiujutsu may be briefly defined as an application of
anatomical knowledge to the purpose of offense or defense. It differs
from wrestling, in that it does not depend upon muscular strength. It
differs from other forms of attack in that it uses no weapon. Its
feat consists in clutching or striking such part of the enemy's body
as will make him numb and incapable of resistance. Its object is not
to kill, but to incapacitate one for action for the time being.
A
subject of study which one would expect to find in military education
and which is rather
conspicuous by its absence in the Bushido course of instruction, is mathematics. This,
however, can be readily explained in part by the fact that feudal warfare was not carried
on with scientific precision. Not only that, but the whole training
of the samurai was unfavorable to fostering numerical notions.
Chivalry
is uneconomical; it boasts of penury. It says with Ventidius that
"ambition, the
soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss, than gain which
darkens him." Don Quixote
takes more pride in his rusty spear and skin-and-bone horse than in
gold and lands,
and a samurai is in hearty sympathy with his exaggerated confrère of
La Mancha.
He disdains money itself,—the art of making or hoarding it. It is
to him veritably
filthy lucre. The hackneyed expression to describe the decadence of
an age is "that
the civilians loved money and the soldiers feared death."
Niggardliness of gold and
of life excites as much disapprobation as their lavish use is
panegyrized. "Less than
all things," says a current precept, "men must grudge
money: it is by riches that wisdom
is hindered." Hence children were brought up with utter
disregard of economy.
It was considered bad taste to speak of it, and ignorance of the
value of different
coins was a token of good breeding. Knowledge of numbers was indispensable in the mustering of forces as well, as in the
distribution of benefices and fiefs; but the counting of money was
left to meaner hands. In many feudatories, public finance was
administered by a lower kind of samurai or by priests. Every thinking bushi knew well enough that money formed the sinews of war; but he
did not think of raising the appreciation of money to a virtue. It is
true that thrift was enjoined by Bushido, but not for economical
reasons so much as for the exercise of abstinence.
Luxury
was thought the greatest menace to manhood, and severest simplicity
was required of the warrior class, sumptuary laws being enforced in
many of the clans. We read that in ancient Rome the farmers of
revenue and other financial agents were gradually
raised to the rank of knights, the State thereby showing its
appreciation 0f their
service and of the importance of money itself. How closely this was
connected with
the luxury and avarice of the Romans may be imagined. Not so with the
Precepts of
Knighthood. These persisted in systematically regarding finance as something low—low as compared with moral and intellectual
vocations.
Money
and the love of it being thus diligently ignored, Bushido itself
could long remain
free from a thousand and one evils of which money is the root. This
is sufficient
reason for the fact that our public men have long been free from
corruption; but,
alas, how fast plutocracy is making its way in our time and generation! The mental discipline which would now-a-days be chiefly
aided by the study of mathematics,
was supplied by literary exegesis and deontological discussions. Very
few abstract subjects troubled the mind of the young, the chief aim
of their education being, as I have said, decision of character.
People whose minds were simply stored with information found no great
admirers. Of the three services of studies that Bacon gives,—for
delight, ornament, and ability,—Bushido had decided preference for
the last, where their use was "in judgment and the disposition
of business." Whether it was for the disposition of public
business or for the exercise of self-control, it was with a practical
end in view that education was conducted. "Learning without
thought," said Confucius, "is labor lost: thought without
learning is perilous."
When
character and not intelligence, when the soul and not the head, is
chosen by a teacher for the material to work upon and to develop, his
vocation partakes of a sacred character.
"It is the parent who has borne me: it is the teacher who makes
me man." With
this idea, therefore, the esteem in which one's preceptor was held
was very high.
A
man to evoke such confidence and respect from the young, must
necessarily be endowed
with superior personality without lacking erudition. He was a father
to the fatherless,
and an adviser to the erring. "Thy father and thy mother"—so
runs our maxim—"are
like heaven and earth; thy teacher and thy lord are like the sun and moon."
The
present system of paying for every sort of service was not in vogue
among the adherents
of Bushido. It believed in a service which can be rendered only
without money
and without price. Spiritual service, be it of priest or teacher, was
not to be repaid
in gold or silver, not because it was valueless but because it was
invaluable. Here
the non-arithmetical honor-instinct of Bushido taught a truer lesson
than modern Political
Economy; for wages and salaries can be paid only for services whose
results are
definite, tangible, and measurable, whereas the best service done in
education,— namely,
in soul development (and this includes the services of a pastor), is
not definite, tangible
or measurable. Being immeasurable, money, the ostensible measure of
value, is of inadequate use. Usage sanctioned that pupils brought to
their teachers money or goods at different seasons of the year; but
these were not payments out offerings, which
indeed were welcome to the recipients as they were usually men of
stern caliber, boasting
of honorable penury, too dignified to work with their hands and too
proud to beg.
They were grave personifications of high spirits undaunted by adversity.
Musings
Absolutely fascinating section. Just as we discovered that the French and Italians applied math and science to the fencing arts, the Japanese went for more of the action over science. Obviously, a vast generalization, but that seems to be the case after reading this section. Also the Samurai incorporated calligraphy, poetry and philosophy into their training, which is why I think many people romanticize about the Samurai. Not only warriors, but mindful and artistic.
