>>26878773 These military clans, however, whose highest caste were the of the bushi or samurai, certainly did not follow the demonstration of their predecessors in power, in so far as individual training and cooperative discipline was concerned. On the contrary, as a strict hierarchy of warriors, their mutual supervision and punishing influence was of the severest degree. We are told that a Japanese Shinto classic of the 17th century was able to lay down as an axiom that "it is impossible for an evil-hearted man to retain possession of a famous sword," and in every respect the Bushi-Do, in other words, the way of the warrior, was by all means and qualifications a way which was, by definition, the very reverse of smooth and easy-going in any element, clime, or period of life.
Truth and the most relentless and restricted self-control seem to have been expected from all who claimed the ownership and privilege of the bushi's or samurai's sword, and these virtues were practiced with such persistence and steadfastness, that they gradually became the characteristics of unity and culture for the whole nation.
Captain F. Brinkley, speaking of the bushi's and samurai's domestic morality, in his excellent and thoughtful, “Japan, Its History, Art, and Literature”, observes: "This doctrine of truthfulness, for the sake of the matter and spirit of uncompromising manliness, social order, and permanence of strength and principle, permeated society thoroughly throughout. In the 17th century, the promise to pay back a debt took the form not of the threatening of foreclosure of property, but of a contract that failure to pay would be to essentially forfeit the debtor's title of manhood. To this extent are a body of leaders and their followers able, if they choose, to establish an ideal, and a lofty, utile, and beneficial course of conduct for a whole people!
>>26878746I have no relation to this Anon.
