On Inazō Nitobe's "Bushido: The Soul of Japan"
New Books in East Asian Studies
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The Way of the Warrior
During the time when the somara really did run japan, there was no set of precepts that correspond to a way of the warrior. The actual behavior of japanese somari when they did engage in battle, was often far below the lofty standard that nitobe portrays. This is not how to be the greatest killing machine. This is a culture of ethical warrior. And writings about the way of the Warrior were often almost kind of like elegies for a bygone way of life.
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