Custom essays on Samurai’s Values

“The Tale of Genji” is one of the greatest works in Japanese and world literature. It was written by Murasaki Shikibu at the end of the 10th century and tells about samurai and his values.
The word “samurai” is derived from the ancient verb “Samurai” that means “to serve”. Thus, the Samurai is a “soldier”, “servant”. The term “Samurai” which in our time is used to call all soldiers in a row, appeared in the tenth century (Endō, 121).
Also, in some definitions, samurai is the Japanese knight. The word “samurai” is derived from the verb “Samurau” which literally means: to serve to a superior person. Samurai was not just a knight; he was like bodyguards of the daimyo, and at the same time, the servant in everyday life. The most honorary position was as a keeper of the master’s sword, but there were positions such as an umbrella keeper or morning water servant.
Bushido is the unwritten code of samurai’s behavior in society, which is a set of rules and norms of “true”, “ideal” warrior. Bushido, originally was interpreted as “the way of horse and bow”, later started to mean “the way of the samurai, the warrior.” Furthermore, the word “do” is translated also as “debt”, “morality”, thus, bushido is samurai’s ethics, moral and ethical code.
Samurai has a big amount of values, but the main are: loyalty to his master; manners, courage, bravery, honesty, chastity and clarity of thought, the recognition of military affairs the only occupation worthy of samurai, death, suicide in cases when the “honor” of samurai is disgraced, the prohibition to lie, the prohibition to touch the money, and contempt for trade and money.
Personal heroism of a samurai, the thirst for heroism and glory should not be goals themselves. All of these are subordinated to the ideology of the higher purpose, such as the idea of loyalty, which covers entire contents of public and private morality of a warrior. The principle of loyalty is seen in the devoted service to the overlord. The loyalty to his lord makes Samurai to refuse from his personal interests. However, the fidelity of samurai doesn’t mean the sacrifice of his conscience. The samurai’s code of values doesn’t teach him to renounce his beliefs even for the overlord, so when the lord demands actions that are inconsistent with the convictions of the samurai, he tries to convince the overlord not to commit the action, which is defaming the name of a noble man.
Speaking about loyalty, I should mention that Samurai should not only be a good son for his parents, but a good servant for his overlord. He shouldn’t leave the master, even if the number of his vassals decline from a hundred to ten and from ten to one. At the war, the faithful samurai is ready to go without fear on enemy’s arrows and spears, sacrificing the life if needed. Fidelity, justice and courage are the three natural virtues of samurai.
Everything that was described above shows the main value of samurai, which is loyalty. In the story “The Twilight Beauty” we also see this feature of samurai whose name is Genji. He is loyal to women whom he loves. He treats women with love, care and respect. Even when Genji meets the woman he is interested in, he wants to talk to her, but she prefers to hide her face and not to say a word to him; he understands and respects her decision, so he just smiles and thinks “…if she was in hiding she must have her reasons”, and he refrains from pressing her.
One more example of loyalty, respect and noble manners from “The Twilight Beauty” is that when Genji asks the name of the woman, she doesn’t say it, but just answers: “But, you see, I am only a driver’s daughter”. And he is not angry or unsatisfied, upset with such an answer; he feels sorry for asking her, and he says: “All right, I suppose the fault is mine”. Samurais are always noble and loyal (Puette, 11).
In addition to loyalty and a sense of duty one of the key requirements of bushido is personal bravery, courage, embedded in flesh and blood of a samurai. It is the result of physical training, mental balance and calm understanding of death.
In addition samurai also should have such qualities as: favor, charity, pity, generosity, sympathy for the people. Charity of a samurai is not just a blind impulse; it is in a certain connection with justice, which means the preservation or destruction of life. The basis of charity, grace is compassion, because “the merciful man is the most attentive to those who suffer and are in misery.” The war etiquette demanded not to shed the blood of the weaker the defeated enemy. Accordingly, bushido announced compassion for the weak, helpless, humiliated special virtue samurai (Turnbull, 45).
One of the values is simplicity. As it is said, the falcon does not pick up the abandoned grain, even while dying of hunger. So the samurai, wielding a toothpick, must show that he is well-fed, even if he ate nothing. Samurai should be moderate in eating and avoid promiscuity. In everyday life, he should respect the rule of “the trunk and branches”. Parents is a tree trunk, the children are its branches.
The man, possessing only brute force is not worth to be called Samurai. Samurai should study science; use leisure time for exercise in poetry and comprehension of the tea ceremony.
The “The Twilight Beauty” shows the life of the noble samurai Genji, a son of the Japanese emperor, also known as Hikaru Genji. His speeches are full of poems and passion. He tries to live a simple life and when he goes to the meeting with the woman he loves, he “makes a show of dressing modestly in a hunting cloak, of changing his costume…” There is nothing said about money in the story, because money is not important for samurai, it is not a value. Also the story shows how romantic samurai Genji. When he is thinking about the woman, he “assured her over and over that he would love her even longer than the Okinaga River would flow”. The description of nature and places in the story is also full of simplicity. Describing the garden, it is written: “the near garden was shrubbery lacked any charm, the wider expanse resembled an autumn moor, and the lake was choked with water weeds.”
Thanks to Bushido samurai perfected his inner world. He is perfectly able to control himself and keep calm in the most unlikely situations. Samurai shouldn’t disgrace himself or his beloved, because the honor and glory are more valued than life. This quality is also depicted in the story “The Twilight Beauty”. Genji tried to do his best in order none got to know about his relationship with the woman. He kept it as a secret even after her death. The loss of that honor usually ended in death for the samurai (Puette, 36).
One of the most important values of samurai is death. The code of samurai tells that the true courage is to live, when it is right t live and to die when it is lawfully to die.
Samurai should be prepared to die; he should go to death with a clear mind. He should think over every word and always ask himself, if it is true that he is going to say. In everyday affairs he should remember about the death and to keep this word in his heart. If at a war samurai lose the fight and he would lay down his head, tell his name and die with a smile, without humiliating haste. Samurai must always keep in mind that he must die. It is his main thing.
The story “The Twilight Beauty” doesn’t tell about the death of samurai, but it shows the death of the woman whom Genji loved and how he suffered after it. The woman died while Genji was with her, so he tried his best in order not to let her die, tried to save her. We see a respectful attitude of samurai to the death.
So “The Twilight Beauty” is one of the greatest works of Japanese literature; it gives and idea of samurai’s life and traditions of that time. The life of samurai is based on honor, love, care, generosity, service, courage, sacrifice and a highly developed culture.

Work Cited

Endō, Shūsaku. Gessel, Van C. The Samurai. 1997. p. 121.
Puette, William J. Guide to the Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. Rutland, (1983).
Turnbull, Stephen R. Samurai: the world of the warrior. 2003. p. 45.