Bushido

[mystic_kendoka]

in een vroeg stadium van hun opleiding waren jonge samoerais door hun leraar geinstrueerd deze regels te kopieren vervolgens het document te dateren en ten slotte het als belofte voor het leven te ondertekenen

would you consider this statement true?
it means:

young samurai were instructed by their teacher to copy out samurai rules from a document, and sign it as a promise/oath to follow it for life

its an extract from "Budo Secrets"...
do you think this book is BS? or is this true?

[splice]

Koryubooks.com has a great article (http://www.koryubooks.com/library/kfriday2.html) by Karl Friday on Bushido that I think should be required reading.

[Neil Gendzwill]

do you think this book is BS? or is this true?
I don't know if the book as a whole is BS but I don't think that particular statement is true. Read here (http://koryu.com/library/kfriday2.html) for a more complete understanding.

[mystic_kendoka]

in my opinion, the statement is just complete load of bs... but this person i'm talking to is hotly defending it...

[John Seavitt]

this person i'm talking to is hotly defending it...

Happily, the nice thing about historical documents is that they do exist. Folks can defend whatever they like, but the usual way of supporting an argument is with evidence. They got it or they don't. Obviously, this doesn't stop folks having different views on, say, whether the moon flights were real; whether aliens stole my baby; or if the world is flat. Still, sooner or later, without the evidence, it's pretty easy to tell who the crackpots are.

John "and, uh, cartoons don't count, neh?"

[mystic_kendoka]

but shes saying, that she thinks its right, and that she isnt going to change her opinion, that extract is her only piece of proof

[mononokifool]

but shes saying, that she thinks its right, and that she isnt going to change her opinion, that extract is her only piece of proof

everyone is entitled to there opinion and if it is wronge then let them reval in there ingnorance. as far as this book i have never heard of this or read of it or have scene it but non the less ask your sensei and he might be able to help you with this. one thing i have learned from my sensei is that books do not alwase tell the truth that it is way more acurate when it comes froma direct sorce. is the author of this book japanese?

[mystic_kendoka]

no, by an author called John Stevens

[splice]

While Dr. Stevens is a prolific author, his occupation is Professor of Buddhist Studies. Dr. Karl Friday, who wrote the article we linked to above, is a Professor of Japanese History.

I don't know about you, but as far as japanese history goes, between trusting a book by a professor of buddhist studies and an article by a professor of japanese history, I'd trust the latter. I'll listen to Dr. Stevens when he talks about aikido or bhuddism, but as far as bushido, perhaps Dr. Friday knows a bit more.

[Kingofmyrrh]

The statement is so non-specific that it's conceivable there could be some truth in it. It's important to remember that Japan back then consisted of a collection of semi-independent domains. Traditions varied wildly, and in more extreme cases such as Satsuma were barely recognisable as being connected to other parts of Japan. Someone, somewhere might have done this, but there was no standard practice throughout the archipelago and so no real yes or no answer. Although it sounds like a load of rubbish to me, personally.