Category Archives: Thinking Beyond History: Why the Samurai Ethos Still Matters

Saigō Takamori’s “kindness, gentility and modesty”

Posted on by

“I don’t know about difficult things such as affairs of state.” Saigō Takamori

Saigo Takamori

Katsu Kaishu told an anecdote illustrating Saigō’s kindness and gentility—and his modesty. It has to do with a man named Hitomi Yasushi, who had been among those in the Bakufu opposing Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu’s abdication. Hitomi had fought against the Satsuma troops at the outbreak of civil war at Toba-Fushimi in Keio 4/1 (1868), and later against the forces of the Imperial government at Hokodate. Not long after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Hitomi visited Kaishu at his home. Saying that he wanted to meet Saigō, he asked for a letter of introduction. “But it seemed that he intended to kill Saigō,” Kaishu recalled:

“I wrote the letter for Hitomi, but included the following warning: ‘This man intends to kill you. But please meet with him anyway.’ So Hitomi went down to [Saigō’s home in] Satsuma. The first person he met there was Kirino [Toshiaki]. Kirino . . . had a discerning eye. . . . So when he opened and read my letter to Saigō, he understood the situation. Even the fearless Kirino was a little startled—and immediately informed Saigō. But Saigō remained absolutely calm. ‘If he’s got an introduction from Katsu, I’ll meet him,’ he said. So on the next day Hitomi visited Saigo’s home. ‘My name is Hitomi Yasushi,’ he announced. ‘I’ve come to talk to you.’ Saigō was lying down near the front door. Hearing Hitomi’s voice, he calmly got up and said, ‘…I don’t know about difficult things such as affairs of state. Just listen to this. The other day I took a trip. . . . Along the way I got very hungry. So I bought some potatoes and ate them. Certainly you can’t expect a guy like me, who can satisfy his hunger [with just potatoes], to know about the state of things in our country.’ Then he opened his mouth wide and burst out laughing. The impetuous Hitomi was caught off-guard by the sudden words. Far from killing Saigo, he left without saying so much as ‘goodbye.’ He was struck with admiration, and when he got back told me, ‘Saigō is truly a great man.'”

Hikawa Seika (Kodansha, vol. 21, p. 56)

Read more about Saigō Takamori’s philosophy in “Revere Heaven, Love Mankind” (敬天愛人)“

For more about my books in English, including Samurai Revolution, visit my Books at a Glance page.

Follow me on Facebook | Amazon Author page

 

“Revere Heaven, love mankind” (敬天愛人): Saigō Takamori’s Words of Wisdom

Posted on by
敬天愛人

敬天愛人 — “Revere Heaven, love mankind” — was Saigō Takamori’s cherished motto. In Samurai Revolution, I wrote the following:

“Revere Heaven, love mankind” represents a Confucian ethic that dictates the relationship between the people, the government, and the Emperor—in a universe ruled by Heaven. But Heaven cannot feasibly watch over each and every person, assuring peace and harmony in human society. That role, then, is allotted to the Emperor, the Son of Heaven. Assisting the Emperor in his holy obligation are the feudal lords. Assisting each feudal lord in assuring peace and harmony for the people in his domain are the government officials, selected from among the lord’s samurai vassals.

Heavy is the responsibility of the officials who oversee the everyday affairs of the feudal domains. Since they directly control the fate of the people, one blunder by just one official can mean catastrophe for a great number. As a leader of the people, a government official must win the hearts and minds of the people. To do so, he must put aside self-interest for the benefit of the people, who have no choice but to obey him. [end excerpt]

Saigo Takamori

Saigō’s philosophy is timeless. It expresses an enduring moral vision rooted in compassion, duty, and leadership. More than a political maxim, “Revere Heaven, love mankind” embodies the moral foundation of his life and actions—a teaching that continues to illuminate Japan’s transformation in the Bakumatsu–Meiji era.

[The image of Saigō’s calligraphy is from the website of Kagoshima Prefectural Library (鹿児島県立図書館). The image of Saigo is used in Samurai Revolution, courtesy of Japan’s National Diet Library.]

___________________

Read more about Saigō Takamori’s character in Saigō Takamori’s ‘gentility, kindness, and modesty’.

For a full account of Saigō Takamori’s life and philosophy, see Samurai Revolution.

Giri: Is It Alive in Japanese Society Today?

Posted on by
義理

Giri, usually translated as “duty,” “obligation,” or “moral debt,” is one of the most misunderstood elements of Japanese ethics. In the Bakumatsu era it shaped the behavior of men like Takéchi Hanpeita, Katsu Kaishū, and Sakamoto Ryōma, and it raises an important question today: does giri still survive in modern Japan?

In Samurai Revolution (Chapter 5) I wrote the following: “Giri was integral to bushidō, the code of the samurai, a basic tenet of which was “strictness with superiors, and leniency with subordinates.” Based on loyalty to one’s feudal lord (i.e., obligation for favor received from one’s lord) and integrity founded on shame, giri, to a great extent, accounted for the harmony in samurai society, and it was an inherent element of both the aesthetics and the moral courage of the samurai caste.

unknown-2

Takechi Hanpeita (武市半平太), leader of the Tosa Loyalist Party in the 1860s, wrote: “to be born a human being and not to have a sense of giri and gratitude is to be less than a beast.” (人と生まれて義理と恩とをしらざれハちくしょふにもおとり申し候)

 
Katsu_Kaishu
In Samurai Revolution (Chapter 5) I reported that Katsu Kaishū, in his history of the Japanese navy (海軍歴史), compared the Japanese navy to the navies of other countries. He implied that in the Japanese system severe punishment of sailors by commanding officers was probably unnecessary because, “We sustain the hearts and minds of our people only through obligation and justice, and integrity and shame.” (「皇国は属殊にして外国の風に似ず、ただ恩義と廉恥を以て衆心を維持」する)
Sakamoto Ryoma
When Sakamoto Ryōma famously led a Chōshū warship against the Tokugawa Navy at Shimonoseki, more than the danger of battle he feared that he might encounter his former mentor, Katsu Kaishū, in command of the enemy fleet. “I could never fight against him,” he later told Tosa’s minister of justice, Sasaki Sanshirō (later Sasaki Takayuki).
 
Clearly giri was alive and powerful in the Bakumatsu years. Whether any of it survives in 21st-century Japan is another question entirely.
 
[For a fuller discussion of giri and its role in samurai ethics, see my Samurai Revolution, Samurai Assassins, and Samurai Swordsmen: The Definitive History of the Shinsengumi (forthcoming from Helion).]

 

“Without war there can be no true letters, and without letters there can be no true war”

Posted on by

Bushido, “way of the warrior,” was fundamental to samurai society. It was an unwritten code which incorporated the eight virtues of Confucianism: benevolence, justice, loyalty, filial piety, decorum, wisdom, trust, and respect for elders. Its most cherished values were courage and loyalty to one’s feudal lord. Chapter 8 of Samurai Revolution is titled “A Brief Discussion on Bushido.” I included it because a fundamental understanding of bushido is essential, I think, to understanding Japanese history.

Bushido Kyokai (武士道協会), a Tokyo-based NPO, describes bushido as “the spiritual foundation of the development of modern Japan.” The organization, which exalts life and world peace, states that its purpose is to “revive bushido in the hearts of modern Japanese people and people from around the world who live in Japan.”

Samurai were expected to be accomplished in bunbu ryōdō— “both the literary and martial arts.” As I mentioned in Samurai Revolution, the Confucianist Nakaé Toju (1608-1648) wrote of the reciprocal relationship between the literary and martial arts, as both were fundamental to government. “Without war there can be no true letters, and without letters there can be no true war.” Literature is the root of martial arts, and war is the root of literature—the purpose of war being to facilitate governing through the threat of arms. The Chinese character for war, pronounced bu (as in bushi, a synonym of “samurai”), is a combination of two simpler characters: “arms” (hoko) and “cease” (yamu). In other words, the true purpose of war and the martial arts is to keep the peace.

[Originally published August 2, 2015. Substantially revised and retitled November 2025.]

Follow me on Facebook | Amazon Author page

Words of Wisdom from the “Shogun’s Last Samurai”

Posted on by

“We sustain the hearts and minds of our people only through obligation and justice, and integrity and shame . . . .” Katsu Kaishū

Katsu Kaishū is “the shogun’s last samurai” of my Samurai Revolution. He is one of the most fascinating men in an age of fascinating men.

[This photo of Katsu Kaishu, taken just before the surrender of Edo Castle in the spring of 1868, is used in Samurai Revolution, courtesy of Yokohama Archives of History.]