Nitobe Inazo and Bushido

By Sato Masahiro

Photo : Nitobe Memorial Museum I Christian publishing house in Tokyo and the publisher of a 23-volume The year 2000 marked the 100th and two supplementary volumes set anniversary of the publication of of the complete works of Nitobe, Nitobe Inazo’s (1862-1933) Bushido marked the 100th anniversary of – The Soul of Japan, which he wrote Bushido by publishing another in English. Ceremonies were held translation. Translated by myself, all over Japan to commemorate the this latest effort is based on the first event. The Nitobe Foundation, careful comparison of the first edi- which has been steadily carrying out tion and the revised 10th edition. a succession of fine activities since Bushido was published in 1900 by its foundation in 1984, held a grand a small firm in Philadelphia called commemorative event in the north- Reeds and Biddle. Nitobe was 37 ern city of Morioka, Iwate years old at the time, and the book Prefecture, where Nitobe was born, was a mere 127 pages long. Right to mark the 100th anniversary of the after the book came out, Nitobe publication. The foundation invited went to Taiwan, then Japan’s newly Tweed Roosevelt, great-grandson of acquired colony, to take part in an former U.S. President Theodore effort to improve the sugar industry Roosevelt, to take part in the activi- there. His studies of the sugar ties. It was a well chosen invitation, industry took him all over the world, for President Roosevelt had acted as from the United States to Europe, the intermediary in negotiations and from Egypt to the Indian Ocean. between Japan and Russia that led to He returned to Japan in 1901. There the Treaty of Portsmouth, which he discovered that a pirated version concluded the Russo-Japanese War of Bushido was already being pub- in 1905. At the event, Tweed lished and even went through sever- Roosevelt gave a speech titled Nitobe and his wife Mary with the current ¥5,000 note in al editions in Japan in English. “How Dr. Nitobe Changed World the foreground Within a few years of its publica- History” and scholars from around tion, the book was translated into the world had an international sympo- (Kagawa Prefecture) and Iwate German, Polish, Bohemian and Marathi sium on “What Dr. Nitobe Would Hope Prefecture’s Higashiyama-cho and (a language used on the Indian subcon- for in the 21st Century,” and a memori- Hanamaki. The lectures were held at a tinent), and not long afterwards more al essay contest for university students wide range of places, including univer- translations came out in French, throughout Japan was organized. In sities, community colleges, churches, Norwegian, Hungarian, Russian, addition, the Nitobe Seminar House clubs and junior high schools. Chinese, Greek and Arabic. The book was established in Towa-cho, Iwate Nitobe originally wrote Bushido in has now been translated into more than Prefecture. English while in California, and it has 30 different languages. Even including In Tokyo, the United Nations since been translated into Japanese novels, it has probably been translated University organized a symposium many times. The first Japanese version into more languages than any other (sponsored by the former Ministry of was made in 1908 by his friend Sakurai book by any post-Meiji Japanese Education, Culture and Sports, the Oson. A second translation was made author. (Meiji period: 1868-1912) Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the in 1938 by Nitobe’s disciple Yanaihara Why would Bushido be so well Yomiuri Shimbun) to mark the 100th Tadao (available in the Iwanami received all over the world, and even anniversary of the publication. Lectures Library of Classics), and four transla- today still be considered as required on Bushido and Nitobe were also held tions came out after World War II. reading for anyone wishing to under- in many other locations, including Each of these translations was based on stand Japan? Why would Nitobe Inazo, Sapporo (Hokkaido), Mito (Ibaraki the 10th revised and enlarged edition of who was trained in agricultural policy Prefecture), Osaka, Hiroshima, Zentsuji 1905. Kyo Bun Kwan, a leading and agricultural economics, write such

Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry: January / February 2002 39 a book? And why would he write it in father dug a tunnel and used water from the famous phrase, “I wish I would be a English, no less? To find the answers Towada Lake for irrigation, thus turn- bridge across the Pacific Ocean.” to these questions, one must take a ing the barren land around These words were to shape the rest of closer look at the life of young Nitobe Sanbongihara into a beautiful rice field. his life. Inazo. The two men also drew up plans for a Young Nitobe withdrew from the city. But Nitobe Jujiro’s obvious tal- University of Tokyo after just one year, II ents landed him in trouble with incom- however, and went off to study at Johns petent superiors, who cut Jujiro’s career Hopkins University of the United States, Nitobe was born on Sept. 1, 1862 as short through slander. Jujiro died in his where he would remain for three years. the third son of Nitobe Jujiro, a samurai anguish when Inazo was just five years While in the United States he was retainer of Nanbu Han (feudal domain) old. Nitobe, raised by his mother Seki, appointed a SAC assistant, and was sent centered on Morioka. In addition to eventually went to Tokyo to study at once to Germany, where he spent four two elder brothers, he also had four English, staying at a clothing shop run years studying at three different univer- older sisters (he was the youngest child by his uncle Ota Tokitoshi, who adopt- sities. He received a doctorate, got mar- in his family). The Nitobe name had ed the boy. In 1873, Nitobe enrolled in ried to Mary Patterson Elkinton (an been known since medieval ages in a famous Foreign Language School in American), and returned with his wife Japan. Throughout much of the Edo Tokyo (it would later become the to Japan in 1891, where he spent seven period (1603-1867), the Nitobe clan’s University Preparatory Academy). years as a professor at SAC. In addition fiefdom had received 700 koku of rice Then in 1877 he enrolled in the to teaching 19 hours of courses per per year, and even in the waning days Sapporo Agricultural College (SAC), week in a wide range of subjects at of the shogunate it was still a 200-koku which had been established in 1876 to SAC, he also served as principal of the fiefdom, thus the Nitobe were a gen- train personnel for the settlement of private Hokumei High School, worked uine samurai household. Both his Hokkaido. He graduated from the col- as a technical advisor to the Hokkaido father Jujiro and his grandfather Tsutou lege in 1881. Agency to assist in the still-new settle- worked to open up new land for culti- Nitobe entered SAC at the same time ment effort, and participated actively in vation in the domain’s Sanbongihara as Uchimura Kanzo (1861-1930; who a number of cultural organizations. The (modern-day Towada, Aomori went on to become an independent heavy workload resulted in a mild ner- Prefecture). Nitobe’s father and grand- Christian missionary) and Miyabe vous breakdown (writer’s cramp). Kingo (1860-1951; who Nitobe took a sabbatical and then retired Photo : Kyo Bun Kwan became a botanist and was from academic life in 1898. eventually given the presti- Upon the advice of Erwin Bältz, a gious Order of Cultural German doctor serving as personal Merits). He was first to sign physician to the Meiji Emperor, Nitobe the “Covenant of the went together with his wife Mary to Believers in Jesus,” estab- recuperate in the United States. While lished by William S. Clark resting at Hotel Del Monte (now after his much-celebrated extended and rebuilt as the Graduate year at SAC, among students School of the U.S. Navy) in Monterey, in the second class, and central California, Nitobe wrote Nitobe was baptized as a Bushido – The Soul of Japan. Christian the following year. Following graduation he III worked as a civil servant for the Hokkaido Development Nitobe’s reason for writing Bushido Agency, helping with the set- is stated clearly in the preface to the tlement effort, as required of first edition. While studying in all SAC graduates at that Germany, he visited the Belgian legal time. His post was later scholar Emile Louis Victor de Laveleye eliminated by reform, and in (1822-92) for two days in the fall of 1883 he began undergraduate 1887. During a stroll with de Laveleye, studies at the University of the conversation turned by chance to Tokyo. It was during his the subject of religion. The Belgian interview for admittance to was surprised when Nitobe told him the university that Nitobe, in that religion was not taught in Japanese Nitobe, Miyabe Kingo and Uchimura Kanzo (from the left) response to a question from schools, and stopped dead in his tracks around 1883 Toyama Masakazu, uttered to ask again, “No religion! How do

40 Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry: January / February 2002 you impart moral education?” Nitobe IV poetry as well. (Yamamuro Gumpei was at a loss for an answer, and the [1872-1940], founder of the Japanese question always remained in his mind. I can think of eight possible reasons. branch of the Salvation Army, made His American wife also had many similarly effective use of ancient questions about the behavior and (1) First, the word “bushido” was Japanese poems in writing The thought of the Japanese people. In for- almost never used in Japanese at that People’s Gospel.) mulating his responses, Nitobe gradual- time. The term does appear right at the ly formed the idea that it was bushido beginning of Hagakure, a book about (5) Bushido is a small book. The first (or the way of the samurai, means liter- the samurai spirit that was published edition only runs to 127 pages, and ally “Military-Knight-Ways”) that during the Edo period in the Saga even the revised 10th edition of 1905, underlay the traditional Japanese spirit. domain, but it was not until later years to which Nitobe added some 20%, and Happy to find himself with free time that Hagakure became widely known. which includes a long, superbly written thanks to his convalescence, he wrote Nitobe had not read it. What Nitobe introduction by William Elliot Griffis Bushido to explain his ideas on the sub- called “bushido,” people in the Edo (nine pages in the Tuttle Edition), still ject. period called “shido” or “budo” (see, falls well short of 200 pages. The book Bushido was thus written during a for example, works by Ihara Saikaku is divided into 17 chapters which pro- period of convalescence in the United [1642-1693; Budo Denraiki] and vide succinct discussions of everything States, virtually without any Japanese Daidoji Yuzan [1639-1730; Budo from the historical roots to the future of reference materials at hand. He did Shoshin-shu]). Indeed, some critics bushido, as well as the cardinal virtues make use of the local library in the have even charged that Nitobe fabricat- of the samurai way of life: rectitude, United States, but West-coast libraries ed the term “bushido” and its defini- courage, benevolence, sincerity, honour in those days could not have had many tion. Today, however, the word and self-control. It would be impossi- books on Japan. Working under such “bushido” exists in every country on ble to get as vivid a picture from a 500- adverse conditions, rather than consult- the planet. It is listed, for example, in page book. ing books and other written records, the Concise Oxford Dictionary. Nitobe must have relied on knowledge (6) The book is also very humorous. picked up here and there since child- (2) Second, anyone researching the way He compares the “patriarchy” of bushi- hood from legend and storytellers, of the samurai today is over a century do with what he playfully terms the combining what he knew of the samu- removed from their subject. They have “avuncular government” of Uncle Sam rai lifestyle with the deep knowledge of no personal experience of it. Nitobe, (the United States). He speculates that Western religion, history and philoso- on the other hand, was born to a samu- Adam and Eve, after breaking their phy that he had acquired during a life- rai clan. At the age of five he sat at a covenant with God and getting ban- time of rigorous academic work. ceremony of wearing a sword at his ished from paradise, must have been Bushido was most definitely not a side. Although just a child, he knew very sad to realize that there hadn’t scholarly tome. the weight of the sword. He grew up in been a gentleman in the Garden of Many rigorously researched works an authentic samurai atmosphere. His Eden. This type of refined humor must did come out after Nitobe’s Bushido, background could not but lend power to have gone over very well with Anglo- which met with considerable critical his writing. Saxon readers, who tend to appreciate success in Japan and abroad. The humor in their writing. University of Tokyo professor Inoue (3) The samurai that Nitobe referred to Tetsujiro (1854-1944) compiled a in Bushido to illustrate his points were (7) And most important of all, Nitobe multi-volume work on bushido in the the heroes of theatrical works, folk demonstrates enormous breadth of closing years of the Meiji reign, and tales and legends. As such, they were scholarship in the book, taking inspira- during the reign of the Taisho Emperor well known to average Japanese peo- tion from Japanese, Chinese and (1912-1926) the Zen monk Nukariya ple. As the classical embodiment of Western sources. From the East he Kaiten (1867-1934) published The Japanese legends, they enhanced the draws upon The Analects of Confucius, Religion of the Samurai in the United persuasiveness of Nitobe’s work. Mencius, Lao-tzu, The Great Learning, Kingdom. These are just two of the The Doctrine of the Mean and the many well-done studies published in (4) Writers in the Meiji period quoted Koran. At the same time, he also afflu- the ensuing years, but all of those acad- many ancient poems to illustrate their ently draws upon Western philosophy, emic works have since faded into obliv- points. This made their narrative historiography and literature. He dis- ion. Only Nitobe’s book still stands as extremely readable and created a strong cusses the ideas of Socrates, Plato, a classic today, a full century later. resonance in the minds of their readers. Aristotle, Democritus, the Stoic school, Why should that be? Nitobe also translated many ancient Descartes, Bacon, Hegel, Spencer, Japanese poems in Bushido, and he Marx and Nietzsche, and writes knowl- adroitly threw in English and Latin edgeably about the literature of Homer,

Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry: January / February 2002 41 Virgil, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Roosevelt since his days at Harvard, cowboys, and came to identify strongly Cervantes, Goethe, Carlyle, Tennyson, met with the president. To help with the cowboy spirit. After returning Longfellow and Whittier. Such histori- Roosevelt get a better understanding of to political life, he wrote a book about ans as Hesiod, Tacitus, Plutarch, Japan, Kaneko gave him a copy of cowboys. Gibbon and Momsen all make appear- Bushido. Upon reading the copy of Bushido ances in the book. English Bible Despite his heavy schedule, President given to him by Kaneko, Roosevelt was quotes abound. He manages to mention Roosevelt was in the habit of reading thunderstruck by the similarities he saw 250 figures from both East and West between Japan’s 700-year-old samurai without introducing complexity. He Photo : Archive Photos / APL tradition and the cowboy spirit that had was able to accomplish this feat grown up in just 50 years. Neither the because he clearly knew his subject samurai nor the cowboy had any desire matter inside and out. for needless conflict, but should the need arise, they were both capable of (8) And finally, Bushido appeared at running any risk. Both valued loyalty just the right time, between Japan’s to one’s superiors. Neither would ever wars with China and Russia. Japan, the tell a lie. Both demonstrated complete fastest-modernizing state in Asia, sincerity. Both placed the highest pos- defeated China, Asia’s “sleeping drag- sible value on honor. Both had great on,” and followed up by trouncing regard for self-control, and considered Russia, a great empire spanning Europe courtesy and common decency very and Asia, at both land and sea. The important. Both cared greatly about entire world was agog at Japan’s their weapons, and would keep them by impressive victories. To argue precise- their side day and night. ly at that time that the Japanese spirit That is why Roosevelt worked so was based on bushido, the way of the hard to facilitate peace talks between warrior, had a very convincing ring to Japan, the homeland of bushido, and observers throughout the world. That Russia. In this he succeeded, and for is why the book was so quickly trans- his efforts was awarded the Nobel lated into so many different languages. Theodore Roosevelt actively mediated peace Peace Prize. The smaller oppressed nations of between Japan and Russia Many things in life that seem to be Europe (such as Poland and Hungary) the product of mere chance are not were greatly heartened by Nitobe’s nar- an entire book per day, and sometimes actually so. Somewhere far behind the rative, and the peoples of Asia saw in would even read three. A formidable scenes, beyond our understanding, a bushido an example that they might fol- speed reader, Roosevelt promptly dis- force is at work, determining when ill- low. The world was ripe for the mes- patched Bushido and was deeply ness and accident shall strike, and when sage contained in Bushido. impressed. The First Lady also a loved one shall die. Nitobe was able acquired her own copy of Bushido and to write Bushido only because he over- V read it herself. The president bought worked himself to the point that he was another 30 copies and distributed them forced to quit his job at SAC and con- But Bushido played a still greater his- to colleagues, friends and acquain- valesce in the United States. Roosevelt torical role in the United States, and by tances, strongly advising them all to was able to appreciate the book so extension, throughout the entire world, read it. keenly precisely because he lost the for it was this book that prompted Roosevelt was so impressed by the two women he loved most at the age of Theodore Roosevelt to actively mediate book not just because he agreed with 24 and retreated to the American West, peace talks between Japan and Russia. the values discussed in it, but also where he got to know the cowboy Quite unlike the wars of the Showa because of a terrible tragedy that he had lifestyle. Nitobe’s illness, Roosevelt’s era (beginning from the Manchurian suffered in his own life. loss of two family members – these two Incident of 1931), the Japanese govern- Elected to the New York State seemingly unrelated happenings on ment began thinking of ways to end the Assembly at just 24 years of age, he opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean war with Russia almost as soon as the suddenly lost both his wife (during combined to bring about peace between hostilities broke out. It dispatched childbirth) and his mother (from dis- Japan and Russia, and catapulted Harvard-educated Kaneko Kentaro ease). Brokenhearted, he withdrew Nitobe and Bushido to international (1853-1942) as a special emissary to from politics and left the hustle and fame. Nothing in this world happens enlist the aid of the United States, bustle of New York behind, retiring to purely by chance. Everything is guided which did not have any territorial ambi- a ranch in North Dakota to heal his by the hand of Providence. tions in Asia. Kaneko, who had known wounds. There he got to know real-life

42 Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry: January / February 2002 Photo : Morioka Memorial Museum of Great Predecessors believed that by combining with greater teachings, bushido would make a great contribution to all of humanity. The way of the samurai is not something peculiarly Japanese, but is something of universal value to the entire human race. The people of other nationalities are also capable of appreciating its worth. Out of a desire to make Bushido which contains this important truth a bit more accessible to today’s youth, I have made a new translation of the book. I’ve added 640 footnotes to shed a bit of light on the facts, people, places and historical incidents mentioned in the book, and I’ve also compiled a detailed index. Nitobe was named Under Secretary- General of the League of Nations, which was established following World War I, and he served for seven years in Nitobe (second from the left) arbitrating a territorial issue at a conference of the League of Nations this position, working to further the cause of world peace by promoting mutual understanding. After finishing VI existence, to humble ourselves, learn his service at the League of Nations, from each other and support each other. Nitobe returned to Japan in 1927 and Although Bushido sought to explain There is an especially urgent need for became Advisory Editor of the Osaka the spirit that fed the development of this sort of attitude when it comes to Mainichi Shimbun in 1929. In this moral values in traditional Japan, it did religion and ideology. Nitobe’s way of capacity he contributed frequent arti- more than just peer back into the past. thinking offers us a way out of the cles to the English Osaka Mainichi, I believe the book contains at least dilemma of our modern times. appealing to people in both Japan and three arguments that have deep rele- Second, Nitobe argued that “no mat- abroad for peace. At the same time, he vance to 21st-century Japan and, ter how different any two cultures may also served as chairman of the Institute indeed, to the entire world. appear to be on the surface, they are of Pacific Relations. He used this posi- First, the book argues that “the spiri- still cultures created by human beings, tion to work for mutual understanding tual values of every nation on earth are and as such have deep similarities.” among the peoples of the Pacific rooted in that nation’s traditional cul- When a Japanese person hands a gift to region. He died on Oct. 15, 1933, after ture.” Modern Western civilization is someone, he/she derides the gift as a attending its fifth conference in Banff, not the world’s only civilization. junky little trinket, while an American Canada. In the Nitobe Memorial Western Christianity is not the world’s gift giver will gush about how nice the Garden on the campus of the University only teaching about truth. The history gift is. On the surface, these behaviors of British Columbia in Vancouver, a of every single nation on earth repre- seem poles apart, but in both cases the brief description of his life is inscribed sents one page in the history of gift giver is showing his/her esteem for on a copper tablet affixed to a four- mankind, and is of irreplaceable value. the other person. This book focuses on meter-high stone lantern. These things Nitobe believed 100 years Japanese bushido and Western chival- ago, when Western civilization had ry, but the same things could be said Apostle of Goodwill among Nations arrived at its full flowering. Nitobe’s regarding any aspect of any other pair ideas remain a forceful argument in of cultures. The same basic human favor of a certain type of attitude that spirit is shared by all of mankind, and we should maintain in today’s world, this shared spirit is the foundation of where globalization is proceeding peace. Sato Masahiro is an Emeritus apace and different nations and ethnic And third, Nitobe argues that “the Professor at Osaka City University. groups live in constant contact with heart of the Japanese people will never He specializes in Philosophy, especially the writings of Kant, and each other, for Bushido calls upon us to change, no matter how things may the works of Nitobe Inazo. recognize the value of each nation’s seem to change on the surface.” Nitobe

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