The living spirit of the samurai. Philosophical foundations of the samurai worldview
A warrior should never speak with uncertainty; he should think and prepare in advance. Even in everyday affairs, the depth of the soul is revealed. Yamamoto Tsunetomo, "Hagakure" Sparrows cannot understand the thoughts of an eagle. Momentary hardships throw you off balance, and the proximity of death makes any action meaningless in your eyes.
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VLADIVOSTOK STATE UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND SERVICE
FACULTY OF ORIENTAL STUDIES AND LINGUISTICS
Book by N. Tsed “The Spirit of the Samurai -
spirit of Japan"
Compiled by:
Grivanov Roman RV-00-01
Vladivostok
Introduction.
Samurai are one of the most famous and colorful characters in Japanese history. Thirteen centuries have passed since the first of them appeared and more than a hundred years have passed since the latter officially ceased to exist.
The influence of the military class, which existed for more than a thousand years, was so great in Japan that without it it is impossible to understand history. traditional culture, and any facet of today's life in modern Japan.
When we hear the word samurai, we symbolize it not only with a professional warrior who skillfully destroys any target. But we also remember the samurai code of honor of Bushido, and the ease of a person’s confrontation with death, and at the same time, the transfer of his life to it through traditional rite seppuku.
We are still amazed by the samurai's mastery of weapons, as well as their ability to fight with their bare hands. One can only be amazed at the devotion of the samurai to their overlord, their ability to move away from the whole world and be left alone with themselves. Nikolai Tsed's work is entirely dedicated to them. His book examines the history of the formation of samurai, philosophical and religious foundations their worldviews, ethics, martial arts, culture and much more. It is clear that the author knows and loves the subject of his story, he perfectly shows us Japan, its history, its traditions and customs and, of course, without which the story about all this would be incomplete - the samurai.
Who are they and where are they from?
The word "samurai" ("saburai"), derived from the Old Japanese verb "saburahi", has in the Japanese dictionary ancient language the following interpretation: “to serve a great man, a person of the upper class,” “to serve the master, to protect the master.” In Japan, a samurai was called a servant of a noble person, a servant of a feudal lord, serving his interests, protecting his estate, property and himself.
The beginning of the formation of the samurai class - the small-scale military-service nobility of Japan - can be attributed to a relatively late time - 7-12 centuries. In 645 After the victory in the struggle for power between two houses of the tribal nobility (Sumeragi and Nakotomi), a representative of the victorious coalition, the 36th Emperor of Japan, Kotoku, was enthroned. Kotoku's rise to power was Japanese history name "Taika coup". This revolution contributed to the development of the state and the establishment of a feudal mode of production. As a result of the reforms, all land ceased to be the property of the rural community; it was declared imperial property and given to the peasants for temporary use. The allotment peasantry turned into an estate of feudal society, which began to be called “remin”.
Along with the allotments of peasants, there were allotments of masters, but they differed significantly from peasant lands in size, depending on the title or position of the owner.
The owners of the plots sought to completely transfer the land to private use. Brutal exploitation, heavy taxation, numerous duties and the desire of large landowners to seize peasant plots to expand their estates caused discontent among the peasantry, which often turned into open resistance. One of the forms of peasant protest was escape from their lands. The fugitives began to be called "ronin". Many of them were grouped into robber gangs, which, on the one hand, were engaged in robbery, on the other, they went to serve in private estates, and became servants at large Buddhist temples.
The need of estate owners for ronin, which they use as military force to suppress peasant uprisings, fight against detachments of fugitive peasants and neighboring feudal lords who sought to take for themselves best lands, - on the other hand, led to the creation of a new class of early feudal society, divorced from the economy - the class of samurai or warriors (bushi).
("1") Since the 10th century, centrifugal tendencies, separatism of individual provinces, and political fragmentation, generated by the strengthening of feudal lords on the periphery, have increasingly developed in Japan. As large feudal estates grew and became stronger, small landowners who failed to increase their own could not resist the arbitrariness of the local administration; their lands faced the threat of being absorbed by large land magnates. They were also in danger from peasant detachments. That is, they were forced to place themselves under the protection and patronage of large feudal lords.
These phenomena were also important for the development and strengthening of feudal samurai squads, since every small landowner who enjoyed the protection of his overlord was obliged to him military service. These warriors gradually turned from “palace samurai” into a new type of samurai - armed servants who received allowance from their master for faithful service.
Other no less important reason During the formation of the warrior class, there was an ongoing struggle in the northeast of the country with the Ainu, the descendants of the ancient population of the Japanese islands, since ancient times. Fortresses were created on the borders, and wealthy peasants skilled in archery and horse riding were recruited into special detachments. The border also attracted fugitive peasants fleeing feudal oppression. Over time, the government began to encourage the resettlement of fugitive peasants to the north. The settlers, who received weapons from the authorities, fought with the Ainu for more than effective fight rather than military government expeditions.
The armament of the settlers significantly contributed to the emergence of the samurai stratum in the northern regions of the island of Honshu. Also a big role in in this case had the presence cultural relations between the settlers and the Ainu.
In progress constant wars With the aborigines, the northeastern feudal lords created their own samurai squads.
Thus, the emerging warrior class of Japan was formed as a specific group of society, which was influenced to a certain extent by both military and peaceful contacts with the warlike Ainu tribes.
The unification of the disparate samurai squads of Minamoto Yorichiomo (the war of the Taira and Minamoto clans 1180 - 85) laid the foundation for the formation of the future shogunate as the embodiment of samurai.
Philosophical foundations samurai worldview.
The military class of Japan would not have been the same without Zen Buddhism, Shintoism, the teachings of Confucius, all of these religious and philosophical systems had a great influence on the Japanese. In his book, N. Tsed talks about the emergence of each of these teachings and their arrival in Japan.
Zen.
At the beginning of the second millennium, the teachings of one of the most influential and subsequently popular branches of Buddhism, Zen, began to spread in Japan. Translated from Japanese, “Zen” means “immersion in silent contemplation,” mastery of external and spiritual forces to achieve “enlightenment.” The adoption of Zen by the warrior class was natural. Before the establishment of the shogunate system, warriors practiced the worship of Amida Buddha. The idea of Amidism was extremely simple. Its essence was the constant repetition of the name Amida. For any person to be “salved” (for “future birth”) it was enough just to repeat this prayer endlessly. However, with the transformation of samurai into a political force during the Kamakura period and the beginning of its development as an estate of feudal society, a simple appeal to the Amida Buddha, which did not develop anything in the warrior except lack of will and passivity, became insufficient. The samurai had to persistently cultivate the will, focus on self-control and composure.
It was at this time that Zen preachers appeared on the scene, who proved that constant work on oneself, the ability to isolate the essence of any problem and concentrate on it, no matter what to go towards the goal, are of great practical importance not only in monastic, but also in secular life. life. From this time on, Zen Buddhism became the spiritual basis of the warrior class. One of the main reasons that attracted samurai to the teachings of Zen was its simplicity. The samurai had absolutely no need to burden his mind with the study of religious literature.
Zen Buddhism impressed the samurai by developing in them self-control, composure, and will - qualities so necessary for a professional warrior.
Combined and connected with self-discipline was another quality instilled in Zen warriors - unquestioning obedience to the lord and commander.
The importance of Zen in military and sports training of samurai was also very great. A vital role in fencing, archery, unarmed wrestling, swimming, etc., the Japanese assigned it not to physical, but spiritual state person. The mental balance and self-control developed by Zen were prevalent here.
The main method (the path to knowledge of the truth) in teaching the Zen system was meditation - contemplation in a sitting position, in a completely calm position with crossed legs, without any thoughts. In the XIV-XVI centuries. Zen reached its peak and became the most influential Buddhist sect supported by the shogunal government. At that time, Zen Buddhism had a significant impact on the development of all areas of Japanese culture. It goes without saying that this culture was first adopted by the ruling class itself. medieval Japan, including the samurai class, which enjoyed cultural values created in the country. However, in connection with the development of Zen, samuraiism somewhat changed its views on life and death, culture and its perception.
Nevertheless, the classical idealistic principles of Zen increasingly diverged from the worldview developed by the samurai on the basis of the Zen “arts.” Development of science and related military equipment, metallurgy, mining, etc. expanded the range of interests of the samurai. New weapons and military art showed that the will alone for battle is not enough; knowledge based on books, logical thinking, which cannot be considered as a product of contemplation according to the Zen system, and education sufficient for one’s time and class are needed. All this to some extent changed the dogmas of Zen in accordance with the spirit of the era. After the end of the period of internecine wars, the contradictions between Zen and the training of a warrior according to the Zen system became even more noticeable. Samurai who stopped participating in hostilities received more time for education in general. Many bushi, due to various circumstances, left their profession and became teachers, artists, and poets.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of samurai were heirs to the ideas of Zenshu, there were also representatives of the warrior class who followed the teachings of other sects of Buddhism. First of all, this must be said about the Nichiren sect, which arose in the middle of the 13th century. and preached the position of the inevitable transformation after a certain period of all beings and things into Buddha, since he is contained in everything, be it a person , animal or any inanimate object. Many samurai, being supporters of the dogmas of the Nichiren sect, were its members, but the majority of Nichiren adherents were still “free” samurai - ronin, peasantry and other “lower” strata of society.
Shinto (Way of the Gods).
An important place in the religious worldview of the samurai was occupied by the ancient cult of Shinto, which peacefully coexisted with Buddhism. The main feature of this Japanese religion was the veneration of the forces of nature, local deities, and ancestors. The Japanese considered the sacred sword - a symbol of samurai and the soul of the Japanese warrior - as one of the three main Shinto shrines.
("2") Shinto required samurai to obligately honor deceased ancestors and worship the souls of warriors, military leaders, deified heroes and emperors killed in battle.
Samurai believed in divine predestination and made their will completely dependent on the will of the gods.
Shinto, being the original religion of the Japanese, however, was rarely present in its pure form in religious life samurai
Buddhism was a more developed (at the same time world) religion than simple and archaic Shintoism. Therefore he was immediately accepted ruling circles countries. Nevertheless, the Shinto clergy did not want to give up their beliefs and relied on the people who continued to practice the traditional religion. This forced the Buddhist clergy and rulers ancient japan to follow the path of cooperation between two religions, which over time led practically to the syncretism of Shintoism and Buddhism.
The fusion of Shinto and Buddhism was reflected in the spiritual life of samurai. Often, before military campaigns or a decisive battle, Japanese warriors simultaneously worshiped the spirits of Shinto and the deities of Buddhism. As a result of such coexistence, many Shinto gods began to be endowed with the characteristics of Buddhist bodhisattvas, while the pantheon of Buddhism was replenished with Shinto deities accepted into it.
Confucius (Venerable Teacher Kun).
The motto of the teachings of Confucius is the concept of the Great Way: “Man is able to make the Way great, but it is not the way that makes a person great.” Confucius identifies the path with truth, which is not only the goal, but also everything that leads to it.
The entire philosophy of Confucius is permeated by one, bright expressed idea– the desire to establish order and tranquility in the human world. One of the key roles in the implementation of this idea was assigned to the noble husband. This is a person who, having freedom of choice, consciously chooses to move forward and meet fate, although he could refuse the tests.
From the dogmas of Confucianism, samurai learned the principles of reverence for elders, respect for the lord and loyalty to him. But loyalty to the master could be expressed not only in constant service to him, readiness to fall for him at any moment. The vassal also showed his loyalty by following his master along the path of death, expressed in “following suicide,” which became a common form of duty by the 14th century.
Confucius gave the samurai the regulatory and behavioral basis on which all the ethical and moral activities of the military class were built. With the assimilation of the ideas of Confucius, the formation of samurai, according to the author, was completed.
Thus, the religious worldview of the samurai was composed of the dogmas of Buddhism and Confucianism, brought to Japan from China, and elements of the beliefs and customs of the local, national religion - Shinto, which came into close contact with them. Over time, the elements of these three religions intertwined and formed, as it were, a single whole. Other major religions and religious movements had a less significant influence on the warrior class.
Martial arts.
Samurai have always been famous as skilled warriors. This is not surprising; at the beginning, during the period of fragmentation, almost the entire life of a samurai was a war. Then, in the XVI - XVII centuries the situation has changed. With the advent of stability, various schools of martial arts flourished, this was due to the fact that the samurai was obliged to be able to fight - it was part of life. The book describes several fighting styles that are widespread in Japan.
Kendo is the art of sword fighting.
Jujutsu is the art of fighting without weapons. It was based on ancient methods of fighting in armor and was gradually modified and improved.
Judo is a martial art created by Jigoro Kano in the 19th century. Based on Taoist principles of improving body and spirit.
Karatedo literally means “the way of the empty hand.” A martial art that came from China to Okinawa and subsequently to Japan. Initially, it was a way of fighting an armed and armored enemy with the help of hands or “non-military” objects: sticks, sickles, tridents.
Aikido is a technique of throwing and grabbing aimed at stopping an attack. Originally it was a secret martial art. It became widespread only in the twentieth century.
Samurai culture.
The valor of a samurai was considered not only combat skill, but also the ability to appreciate beauty: to compose poetry, paint pictures, and be a skilled calligrapher. Of course, not all of them were great artists or poets; it is simply amazing to realize that people who lived during the period of incessant wars, people who were ready to sacrifice their lives at any moment, found time to create beautiful paintings and poetic works. Nikolai Tsed talks about many of them.
("3") Poetry.
Poetry was an integral part of the life of a samurai. It is difficult to find a biography or legend that does not use poetic lines. Possession of versification in the style of renga or haiku was considered no less a merit than the ability to wield a sword.
At the very beginning of the 10th century. The emperor ordered work to begin on compiling a new poetic anthology. This work was led by the famous poet Ki no Tsurayuki and brought to completion. “Kokin(waka)shu”, or “Kokinshu” (“Collection of old and new songs”), also consists of twenty scrolls, but includes only 1100 verses, thematically divided into seasonal cycles, songs of love, songs of separation, songs of wanderings, etc. . d. This anthology, despite different level her samples, became another contribution to the classical baggage of Japanese medieval literature. Among its authors, “six immortal poets” have already been identified. The most famous of them are Ariwara no Narihira and the poetess Ono no Komachi. “Kokinshu” became firmly established in the lives of educated Heians. Knowledge of her poems was indispensable for any courtier. A person’s personal merits or demerits were judged depending on how well he understood Kokinshu (Chinese poetry and Manyoshu too) and composed poetry himself.
The tanka became the most popular poetic form. Precise, capacious images, metaphors, the skill of elegant allusion, special key and seasonal words made it possible to express admiration for the natural world, love experiences, and philosophical reflections on the frailty of life in a laconic form... After “Kokinshu” several more anthologies were compiled; Thangka art experienced both ups and downs in its artistic level.
By the 15th century the custom developed of composing poems together, three of them, as if passing each other a poetic baton (renga) of tercets and couplets. Famous poet the classical renga was Sogi (1421–1502). Renga, dividing the tank into two parts, gave life to a new, even more short form- haiku, i.e. tercet (the terms “haikai” and “haiku” are equivalent).
The flourishing of haiku poetry is associated with the name of another great poet - Matsuo Basho(1644–1694). His poems are amazing: simple and sophisticated, sincere and wise, kind and sensitive.
Japanese poetry is inextricably linked with painting and the art of calligraphy.
Painting and calligraphy.
The art of calligraphy, in which the psychophysical aspects of the creative process are so important, associated with the spiritual and physical preparedness of the artist, with the requirement of maximum concentration, spontaneity of execution, has been greatly influenced by the aesthetics and practice of Zen Buddhism.
Calligraphy in Zen is both a means of meditation and a path of knowledge, a kind of teaching aid, and the spiritual testament of the master, in each case it is an example of the highest sincerity and dedication, harmonious expression and artlessness. It is no coincidence that the term “bokuseki” (“ink trace”), as calligraphy was called in Japan, has been used since the 15th century. used primarily in relation to the Zen movement.
The perception of calligraphy requires a certain level of intellectual and spiritual culture, because you need to not only understand what is written, it is extremely important to see and feel how it is written.
Although samurai were not professional artists, some of them created beautiful paintings and engravings. An example of this is Miyamota Musashi, an outstanding swordsman whose monochrome paintings evoke genuine admiration. And this warrior was also excellent at mastering the art of the tea ceremony.
Tea ceremony.
It is noteworthy that the tea ceremony, as one of the greatest phenomena of Japanese culture, was formed in a difficult, troubled time for the country, when internecine wars, feuds between feudal clans, and bloody battles made life unbearable. The tea ceremony, created by the great masters, with its aesthetics and philosophy, inseparable from Zen Buddhism, sought to counter this hopelessness with the worship of Beauty. This is, obviously, one of the reasons for the vitality of the tea ceremony, which in all its main features has been preserved to this day, although it has undergone changes in different historical periods.
In the XV-XVI centuries. The tea ceremony turned into a kind of ritual and philosophical mini-performance, in which every detail, object, order of things had its own special, unique meaning.
Over time, the ritual of the tea ceremony was canonized, and the sequence of actions and behavior became predetermined. Having already entered the simple wooden gates, the guests were immersed in a special world, leaving behind everything worldly and obeying only the laws of action. They walked through the tea garden in silent concentration. As is customary in all Japanese houses, upon entering the tea pavilion, guests took off their shoes and left them at the doorstep. Bowing low, they entered and sat down in silence, intently admiring the scroll in the tokonoma and the refined naturalness of the flower arrangement. The “host” of the tea ceremony paid great attention to the selection of flowers, as well as to the scroll. special meaning. It was believed that, like everything in the tea ceremony, the bouquet should be composed according to the principle of unity of contrasts, for example, a pine branch - a symbol of perseverance and eternity - was adjacent to a delicate and fragile camellia. Very often it was one wild flower or one branch.
After some time had passed, during which the guests could examine and evaluate the items in the tokonoma, the “host” of the tea ceremony (chajin) appeared. He bowed low to the guests and sat down opposite them, near the fireplace, above which a pot of water was already hanging. In front of the “owner” lay all the necessary items of tea utensils: a box of green tea, a cup and a wooden spoon. Each of these objects, carrying an important aesthetic and philosophical meaning, was often a real work of art. The history of these objects, as well as the associations they evoked, were of great importance.
The “owner” slowly poured green tea into a cup, then poured boiling water over it. Then, with clear, concentrated movements, he beat this mass with a bamboo whisk until the powder was completely dissolved and a light green matte foam appeared. The guests silently watched the sacrament taking place, listening to the rhythmic tapping of the whisk on the edges of the cup. Then the “owner,” with a bow, handed the cup to the main, most honored guest. He slowly, in small sips, sipped the tea - a green, bitter-tart mass that melted in the mouth - and, leisurely wiping the edges, returned the cup to the “owner”. Having passed around the circle, it again ended up with the “owner”, but then it was again passed from hand to hand, so that everyone could now carefully examine it, feel its rough surface and the warmth of the clay with their hands. The guests began to talk. Here it was impossible to talk about everyday affairs and problems, here they only talked about the beauty of a scroll in a tokonoma, about the grace of a pine branch in a bouquet, about the natural majesty of a tea cup.
The tea ceremony and garden taught us to see beauty in the ordinary and simple, to see beauty in the small, to realize high value everything that is given in this life. All this was necessary for the samurai - to get away from the bustle and dangers for a while. Simply put, the tea ceremony provided such a necessary thing for everyone as psychological relief.
Samurai ethics.
("4") B moral code samurai of the feudal era great importance Revenge was given as a form of moral satisfaction to the sense of justice. Loyalty to the overlord required indispensable revenge for insulting the master.
The principle of modesty was developed as a result of the subordinate position of ordinary soldiers, the inability for them to raise their heads before their master. The concept of “politeness”, which implied patience, absence of envy and evil, was also close to modesty.
Along with the above basic principles, samurai ethics included a number of secondary ones that were inextricably linked with the main ones and determined the actions and behavior of samurai. The ability to control oneself and manage one's feelings was introduced to great perfection by the samurai.
A sense of honor and self-esteem were instilled in samurai children from childhood. Honor and glory were valued more valuable than life, therefore, when one of these concepts was at stake, the samurai, without hesitation, gave his life for it.
For a samurai, lying was tantamount to cowardice. The samurai's word carried weight without any written obligations, which, in his opinion, were degrading.
All this is reflected in the philosophy of Bushido.
Bushido (Way of War)
One of the consequences of the formation of the warrior class was the formation of a specific worldview of the military nobility - bushido - the unwritten code of conduct of the samurai in feudal society, which was a set of rules and norms for the “true”, “ideal” warrior.
Bushido dealt with the attitude of samurai towards social community, to people of one class or another, to the state. Being merged with eastern philosophy Bushido had the character of practical moral teaching. Samurai considered it a method of improving mental and physical hygiene. Bushido morally comprehended the philosophical world teaching as a whole and was called upon to teach the samurai " right life"in feudal Japanese society. It combined the theory of being and the study of the human psyche, resolved issues related to the concept of the essence of the individual, his role in the world around him, the meaning of life, good and evil, moral values and moral ideal.
A warrior brought up in the spirit of Bushido had to be clearly aware of his moral duty, in particular his personal responsibilities towards the overlord, he had to evaluate his actions and deeds himself, and morally condemn himself in the event of wrong actions, violation of one's duties and obligations.
Bushido, as a way of regulating the behavior of a warrior, did not rely directly on any special institutions that enforced compliance with moral standards. It was based on the power of conviction, public opinion, example, education, traditions and the strength of the moral authority of individuals, noted in medieval history Japan.
So, bushido is a special morality developed by the class of warriors who were part of the ruling class of Japan, which was a system of views, norms and assessments concerning the behavior of samurai, ways of educating samurai youth, creating and strengthening certain moral qualities and relationships.
Bushido developed in warriors a love of weapons, which was supposed to instill in the samurai a sense of self-respect and at the same time responsibility, since samurai ethics considered the indiscriminate use of the sword to be dishonorable and prescribed its use only when necessary.
The philosophy of Bushido was expressed in the books “Hgakure” (Hidden in the Leaves) and “Budoshoshinshu” (Words to Those Entering the Path of War), which were written by hereditary samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659 - 1719) and Daidoji Yuzan (1636 - 1730).
Here are quotes from these books:
- I realized that the Way of the Samurai is this death.
- There is nothing beyond this moment.
- It is not so important to know how to defeat others, it is important to know how to defeat yourself.
- A samurai may lose his life, but never his honor.
Another important concept for the samurai was ritual suicide - hara-kiri.
("5") Harakiri (Seppuku).
Inextricably linked and closely adjacent to bushido, as part of morality, is the rite of hara-kiri, which appeared among the warrior class during the formation and development of feudalism in Japan. Samurai or other representatives of the upper strata of Japanese society committed suicide (by the hara-kiri method) in the event of an insult to their honor, committing an unworthy act (disgracing the name of a warrior in accordance with the norms of Bushido), in the event of the death of their overlord, or when the ritual was finally formed - by sentence trial as punishment for a crime committed.
Harakiri was the privilege of the samurai, who were proud of the fact that they could freely manage their lives, emphasizing fortitude, self-control, and contempt for death by performing the ritual.
Literally translated, hara-kiri means “cutting the stomach.” However, the word hara-kiri also has a hidden meaning. If we consider the compound binomial “harakiri” - the concept “hara”, we can see that in Japanese it corresponds to the words “stomach”, “soul”, “intentions”, “secret thoughts” with the same spelling of the hieroglyph.
According to the philosophy of Buddhism, in particular the teachings of the Zen sect, it is not the heart, but the abdominal cavity that is considered the main, central point of a person’s life and thus the seat of life.
Thus, the Japanese consider the stomach as an internal source of emotional existence, and opening it through hara-kiri means, as it were, the discovery of one’s innermost and true intentions and serves as proof of the purity of thoughts and aspirations.
However, hara-kiri did not suddenly appear in Japan. Speaking about it as a phenomenon that developed and came to its logical conclusion on Japanese soil, one cannot fail to take into account that some other peoples of East Asia and Siberia previously encountered ritual actions that were similar and somewhat vaguely reminiscent in essence of Japanese seppuku. Stagewise, they can be attributed to an earlier time than hara-kiri itself. This suggests that the ritual of cutting the belly early period history of peoples Far East was more widespread and was borrowed by the ancient Japanese, who had ethnocultural contacts with representatives of these peoples. It's about about the ritual of opening the abdomen among the Ainu, the aborigines of the Japanese islands, which consisted of cutting into the abdominal cavity and was closely reminiscent of Japanese hara-kiri.
So, it can be assumed that ideas and rituals associated with the human abdominal cavity were characteristic of many peoples of Asia and were generally similar. However, these performances and rituals reached their final completion only on Japanese soil, turning into the solemn action of opening the abdomen - the hara-kiri ritual.
Starting from the Heian era (IX-XII centuries), seppuku already became the custom of bushi, in which they committed suicide, dying from their own sword. Nevertheless, the ritual was not yet a mass phenomenon. Suicide by hara-kiri became widespread among samurai only at the end of the 12th century, during the struggle for power of two powerful clans - the Taira and the Minamoto. Since that time, the number of cases of hara-kiri has been constantly increasing; samurai committed seppuku for themselves, most often not wanting to surrender or in the event of the death of their master.
Following the death of the master, harakiri received the name “tsuifuku”.
During the period of internecine wars, hara-kiri became widespread among the samurai class. Opening the abdomen begins to dominate other methods of suicide.
Another reason for seppuku was the desire to prevent the threat of punishment from the feudal lord or the shogun's government for any act unworthy of the samurai's honor, an oversight or failure to carry out an order. In this case, harakiri was committed at one's own discretion or by the decision of relatives.
Harakiri was also performed as a sign of passive protest against any blatant injustice to preserve the honor of the samurai (for example, when it is impossible to commit blood feud), in the form of a sacrifice in the name of an idea, or when deprived of the opportunity to use his professional skills as a warrior as part of the feudal lord's squad (in case of loss of vassalage ).
In general, hara-kiri was a universal way out of any difficult situation in which samurai found themselves.
Samurai began to learn harakiri (as well as the use of weapons) from childhood. Experienced mentors in special schools explained to young men how to begin and complete seppuku, while maintaining their own dignity and demonstrating the ability to control themselves to the fullest extent. last moment life. However, despite his Zen education and self-control, a samurai could subconsciously lose control of his actions due to terrible pain and die ugly: with an expression of suffering, falling backward, screaming, etc., thereby disgracing his name. In this regard, the kaishakunin institution was introduced, the essence of which was to help an assistant to someone convicted of hara-kiri. The duty of the first was to stop the torment of the samurai, who had opened his stomach, by separating the head from the body.
Conclusion.
N. Tsed's book is a great example scientific work. It is simple and in clear language such a complex and multifaceted phenomenon as samurai is described. But it is described not dryly and indifferently, but with sincere feeling, passion and liveliness, which are sometimes so lacking in such works.
The spirit of the samurai “bright as a mirror and sharp as a sword” is what Tsed tried to comprehend in his work, not just to comprehend, but to tell us. To tell about centuries-old history samurai and their role in the formation of Japanese culture. He writes about people who “being wars combined poets, artists, philosophers,” who were able to “transform battle into art,” about people who are inextricably associated with Japan.
Although samurai were not professional artists, some of them created beautiful paintings and engravings. An example of this is Miyamota Musashi, an outstanding swordsman whose monochrome paintings evoke genuine admiration. And this warrior was also excellent at mastering the art of the tea ceremony.
It is noteworthy that the tea ceremony, as one of the greatest phenomena of Japanese culture, was formed in a difficult, troubled time for the country, when internecine wars, feuds between feudal clans, and bloody battles made life unbearable. The tea ceremony, created by the great masters, with its aesthetics and philosophy, inseparable from Zen Buddhism, sought to counter this hopelessness with the worship of Beauty. This is, obviously, one of the reasons for the vitality of the tea ceremony, which in all its main features has been preserved to this day, although it has undergone changes in different historical periods.
In the XV-XVI centuries. The tea ceremony turned into a kind of ritual and philosophical mini-performance, in which every detail, object, order of things had its own special, unique meaning.
Over time, the ritual of the tea ceremony was canonized, and the sequence of actions and behavior became predetermined. Having already entered the simple wooden gates, the guests were immersed in a special world, leaving behind everything worldly and obeying only the laws of action. They walked through the tea garden in silent concentration. As is customary in all Japanese houses, upon entering the tea pavilion, guests took off their shoes and left them at the doorstep. Bowing low, they entered and sat down in silence, intently admiring the scroll in the tokonoma and the refined naturalness of the flower arrangement. The “host” of the tea ceremony paid special attention to the selection of flowers, as well as the scroll. It was believed that, like everything in the tea ceremony, the bouquet should be composed according to the principle of unity of contrasts, for example, a pine branch - a symbol of perseverance and eternity - was adjacent to a delicate and fragile camellia. Very often it was one wild flower or one branch.
After some time had passed, during which the guests could examine and evaluate the items in the tokonoma, the “host” of the tea ceremony (chajin) appeared. He bowed low to the guests and sat down opposite them, near the fireplace, above which a pot of water was already hanging. In front of the “owner” lay all the necessary items of tea utensils: a box of green tea, a cup and a wooden spoon. Each of these objects, carrying an important aesthetic and philosophical meaning, was often a real work of art. The history of these objects, as well as the associations they evoked, were of great importance.
The “owner” slowly poured green tea into a cup, then poured boiling water over it. Then, with clear, concentrated movements, he beat this mass with a bamboo whisk until the powder was completely dissolved and a light green matte foam appeared. The guests silently watched the sacrament taking place, listening to the rhythmic tapping of the whisk on the edges of the cup. Then the “owner,” with a bow, handed the cup to the main, most honored guest. He slowly, in small sips, sipped the tea - a green, bitter-tart mass that melted in the mouth - and, leisurely wiping the edges, returned the cup to the “owner”. Having passed around the circle, it again ended up with the “owner”, but then it was again passed from hand to hand, so that everyone could now carefully examine it, feel its rough surface and the warmth of the clay with their hands. The guests began to talk. Here it was impossible to talk about everyday affairs and problems, here they only talked about the beauty of a scroll in a tokonoma, about the grace of a pine branch in a bouquet, about the natural majesty of a tea cup.
The tea ceremony and garden taught us to see beauty in the ordinary and simple, to see beauty in the small, to realize the high value of everything that is given in this life. All this was necessary for the samurai - to get away from the bustle and dangers for a while. Simply put, the tea ceremony provided such a necessary thing for everyone as psychological relief.
In the moral code of the samurai of the feudal era, great importance was attached to revenge as a form of moral satisfaction of the sense of justice. Loyalty to the overlord required indispensable revenge for insulting the master.
The principle of modesty was developed as a result of the subordinate position of ordinary soldiers, the inability for them to raise their heads before their master. The concept of “politeness” was also close to modesty, implying patience, the absence of envy and evil.
Along with the above basic principles, samurai ethics included a number of secondary ones that were inextricably linked with the main ones and determined the actions and behavior of samurai. The ability to control oneself and manage one's feelings was introduced to great perfection by the samurai.
A sense of honor and self-esteem were instilled in samurai children from childhood. Honor and glory were valued more than life, therefore, when one of these concepts was at stake, the samurai, without hesitation, gave his life for it.
For a samurai, lying was tantamount to cowardice. The samurai's word carried weight without any written obligations, which, in his opinion, were degrading.
All this is reflected in the philosophy of Bushido.
One of the consequences of the formation of the warrior class was the formation of a specific worldview of the military nobility - bushido - the unwritten code of conduct of the samurai in feudal society, which was a set of rules and norms for the “true”, “ideal” warrior.
Bushido concerned the attitude of samurai to the social community, to people of one class or another, to the state. Being merged with Eastern philosophy, bushido had the character of practical moral teaching. Samurai considered it a method of improving mental and physical hygiene. Bushido morally comprehended the philosophical worldview as a whole and was intended to teach the samurai “correct life” in feudal Japanese society. It combined the theory of being and the study of the human psyche, and resolved issues related to the concept of the essence of the individual, his role in the world around him, the meaning of life, good and evil, moral values and the moral ideal.
A warrior brought up in the spirit of bushido had to be clearly aware of his moral duty, in particular his personal duties towards the overlord, he had to evaluate his actions and deeds himself, morally condemn himself in case of wrong actions, violation of his duties and duty.
Bushido, as a way of regulating the behavior of a warrior, did not rely directly on any special institutions that enforced compliance with moral standards. It was based on the power of persuasion, public opinion, example, education, tradition and the strength of the moral authority of individuals noted in the medieval history of Japan.
So, bushido is a special morality developed by the class of warriors who were part of the ruling class of Japan, which was a system of views, norms and assessments regarding the behavior of samurai, ways of educating samurai youth, creating and strengthening certain moral qualities and relationships.
Bushido developed in warriors a love of weapons, which was supposed to instill in the samurai a sense of self-respect and at the same time responsibility, since samurai ethics considered the indiscriminate use of the sword to be dishonorable and prescribed its use only when necessary.
The philosophy of Bushido was expressed in the books “Hgakure” (Hidden in the Leaves) and “Budoshoshinshu” (Words to Those Entering the Path of War), which were written by hereditary samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659 - 1719) and Daidoji Yuzan (1636 - 1730).
Here are quotes from these books:
I realized that the Way of the Samurai is this death.
There is nothing beyond this moment.
It is not so important to know how to defeat others, it is important to know how to defeat yourself.
A samurai may lose his life, but never his honor.
Another important concept for the samurai was ritual suicide - hara-kiri.
Inextricably linked and closely adjacent to bushido, as part of morality, is the rite of hara-kiri, which appeared among the warrior class during the formation and development of feudalism in Japan. Samurai or other representatives of the upper strata of Japanese society committed suicide (by the hara-kiri method) in the event of an insult to their honor, committing an unworthy act (disgracing the name of a warrior in accordance with the norms of Bushido), in the event of the death of their overlord, or when the ritual was finally formed - by sentence trial as punishment for a crime committed.
Harakiri was the privilege of the samurai, who were proud of the fact that they could freely manage their lives, emphasizing fortitude, self-control, and contempt for death by performing the ritual.
Literally translated, hara-kiri means “cutting the stomach.” However, the word hara-kiri also has a hidden meaning. If we consider the compound binomial “harakiri” - the concept “hara”, we can see that in Japanese it corresponds to the words “stomach”, “soul”, “intentions”, “secret thoughts” with the same spelling of the hieroglyph.
According to the philosophy of Buddhism, in particular the teachings of the Zen sect, it is not the heart, but the abdominal cavity that is considered the main, central point of a person’s life and thus the seat of life.
Thus, the Japanese consider the stomach as an internal source of emotional existence, and opening it through hara-kiri means, as it were, the discovery of one’s innermost and true intentions and serves as proof of the purity of thoughts and aspirations.
However, hara-kiri did not suddenly appear in Japan. Speaking about it as a phenomenon that developed and came to its logical conclusion on Japanese soil, one cannot fail to take into account that some other peoples of East Asia and Siberia previously encountered ritual actions that were similar and somewhat vaguely reminiscent in essence of Japanese seppuku. Stagewise, they can be attributed to an earlier time than hara-kiri itself. This suggests that the ritual of cutting the belly was more widespread in the early history of the peoples of the Far East and was borrowed by the ancient Japanese, who had ethnocultural contacts with representatives of these peoples. We are talking about the ritual of opening the abdomen among the Ainu, the aborigines of the Japanese islands, which consisted of cutting into the abdominal cavity and was closely reminiscent of Japanese hara-kiri.
Ancient Japanese warriors were called bushi - armed men. History dates their appearance to the 7th-8th centuries. The “dark” centuries reigned in Europe at that time; the barbarian kingdoms that arose from the ruins of the Roman Empire were cracking under the blows of the Arab cavalry. The word “samurai” began to be used in military circles around the 10th century and is translated as to serve. At the same time, tactics were formed that existed almost unchanged until the 16th century and were expressed in the desire of warriors for single battles. For his service, the master had to feed the samurai, provide him with a house, and sometimes land. Similar processes took place in the West, where by the 11th century the vassal-fief system was established; knights also sought to reduce battles to single duels and, like their Far Eastern colleagues, were distinguished by their contempt for commoners.
European chivalry and samurai reached their heyday during the period of feudal wars, which ran like a red thread through the Middle Ages. At first glance, we see similar trends and directions in the development of military classes and, it would seem, a common mentality. However, there is a significant difference. It lies in the attitude towards death and the perception of the world as a whole.
The knight, like the samurai, was ready to die without fear on the battlefield, for the Christian worldview gave him hope for a future life in the Kingdom of Heaven. In the era Crusades many believed that if they died in battle with the Muslims, they would certainly go to heaven, which was promised to them in 1095 by Pope Urban II, who inspired European soldiers to fight for the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher. To some extent, the Christian missionaries themselves are to blame here, establishing the Savior among the Germanic tribes, for whom war was a natural state and talk about love and forgiveness made no sense. Therefore, Christ was preached as the God of victory, which, of course, contributed to the baptism of the Germans.
The knights were not afraid of death, but they did not strive for it either, and this is their significant difference from the samurai. Moreover, in the era feudal fragmentation and internecine wars in the West and Japan is developing fundamentally different attitude to captivity. For a knight, he was not something reprehensible. And the opponents were not eager to kill each other, but rather to capture each other for subsequent ransom. A captured knight, as a rule, was with his conqueror in the position of an honored guest. In the Land of the Rising Sun, everything was different. Wars were fought to destroy the enemy; captivity was considered an indelible shame. 
The meaning of life is death
For the Japanese warrior, death was not an anti-value. The samurai was not only not afraid to die, he strived for death.
Something similar is found in Christianity, if we turn to the words of the Apostle Paul: “For me, life is Christ and death is gain.” However, in this case the similarity is external. The Apostle sees his Fatherland in heaven, realizing that here on earth he is only a wanderer. Nevertheless Orthodox authors They have never written about the need for suicide; on the contrary, the Church condemns voluntary death. Let us add that the mental attitudes of the warriors, and later of the nobles, children of boyars and Cossacks, also built on the Christian system of values, were distinguished by the willingness of our soldiers to die for the faith and the Fatherland, but excluded the desire for suicide. Even when a Russian warrior went to certain death, as a rule, this was expressed in the desire to fulfill the gospel commandment: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” The desire for self-destruction is also alien to Islam: from the position of faith of the medieval Muslim warrior, his brave death in the war with the infidels guarantees heavenly abodes, but this tradition does not know the ritual parting with life. For a samurai, death was not just a value. Japanese warrior culture created an entire aesthetic of death that is completely alien to Western mentality. The samurai had to give up his life gracefully, going through a sophisticated procedure of ritual suicide - seppuku. 
What was the reason for such a desire for self-destruction? There are several reasons. The key to understanding the mental attitudes of the samurai is given by the term “bushi”, meaning not just a warrior, but a man of sword and learning. From childhood, a samurai not only learned to use weapons, but also received a decent education by medieval standards. This distinguished the Japanese warrior from the European knights of the early Middle Ages.
The samurai mentality was largely formed under the influence of Zen Buddhism, which is based on the so-called four noble truths, the first of which states: “Existence is suffering.” To overcome suffering, you must kill its source in yourself - desires. A person who manages to achieve this becomes a Buddha - enlightened and achieves nirvana.
In a sense, Buddhism, from the European point of view, calls for non-existence, and existence itself is an illusion, as a result of which in this religious system there is no bridge between time and eternity. Such ideological attitudes, adopted by the samurai, made their earthly life and the values associated with it meaningless: since life is an illusion, therefore, death is not a tragedy.
Now about Shintoism. This purely national religion of the Japanese is translated as “the way of the gods.” It is based on the cult of ancestors, and in it not only the veneration of the dead, but also the formation in the warrior’s mind of ideas about the integrity and unity of being, which also essentially leads to the denial of death and dulls the fear of it. The Japanese themselves, and the samurai first of all, believe that their emperor is a descendant of the goddess Amaterasu. Hence the feeling of superiority over other peoples of Indochina and one of the components (along with a powerful economic incentive) of the desire during the Second World War to unite this region under its rule. The religious doctrine of Shintoism is based on the belief in kami - divine beings, permeating the universe. After death, a samurai also becomes a kami. Strictly speaking, the Japanese warrior believed that he did not die, but simply changed his form of existence.
How could a samurai maintain absolute calm at the moment of seppuku - a very painful form of death? Here Zen came to the aid of the warrior, meditation practice which allowed him to renounce himself and thereby get rid of the fear of death. With a full understanding of what a person is doing.
Another reason that influenced the worldview of samurai is their devotion to their family. The Western knight, like the Russian warrior, thanks to Christianity perceived himself as a unique person and, based on this, realized the unique value own life, given by God, which can be sacrificed only as a last resort, for example, defending the Fatherland or fighting for the faith. In Japanese military tradition unknown feats were performed for a beautiful lady or for the sake of personal glory. The main behavioral dominants of a samurai are devotion to the family and master. The latter is a consequence of the penetration of Confucianism into Japanese culture, the influence of which, however, is incomparable with Buddhism and Shintoism.
In addition, one must take into account the long civil war that shook the country from 1467 to 1568, when death became a kind of prosaic reality, an integral part of the life of a samurai. For comparison: the bloody War of the Roses in England lasted 32 years.
Plus specific geographical features The Land of the Rising Sun: its island position, which ensured relative inaccessibility to foreigners, its mountainous landscape with regions virtually isolated from each other preserved the worldview of the samurai and made them not particularly susceptible to external influence. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the spiritual integrity and immutability of the Japanese mentality.
There is no translation for the samurai family
Today's Japanese respect traditions at the level external characters, but do they carry the mentality of the warriors of the past? I think so. In the 5th century, the great Christian thinker St. Augustine said: there is no past, present and future, there is the present of the past, the present of the present, the present of the future. Alas, in Russia we have a different perception of time, we have long ago severed the connection with existence, missed an invisible thread from the past and therefore easily blew up churches, and now we tell jokes about recently departed leaders, we rewrite them every half century own story. For us, the past is “they”, not “us”.
The Land of the Rising Sun suffered many shocks: in 1867, the power of the shogunate collapsed, the Meiji restoration began, as a result of which the privileges of the samurai were destroyed. Japan embarked on the path of rapid military-economic development and external Europeanization, similar to what Russia experienced in the first quarter of the 18th century. It would seem that the samurai faced the same fate as our nobility after Peter’s reforms. After all, it was then that two Russias appeared: a small and cozy world of noble estates, in which they spoke French better than Russian, and the vast kingdom of peasants hostile to it.
However historical fate The Land of the Rising Sun turned out differently. Deprived of class privileges, and in large numbers having experienced poverty and humiliation, the samurai not only survived, but also brought their spirit to the military-technical power of the country. The fact is that Japanese society turned out to be close to their worldview, based on the common for the entire population religious tradition. Note that the collapse of empires (three Christian - Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German and one Muslim - Ottoman) as a result of the First World War was also a consequence of religious indifference and reluctance to die for previous ideals.
In 1945, Japan found itself in a more difficult military-economic and political situation than the named countries. However, there were no signs of revolution in the Land of the Rising Sun, and faith in the emperor remained unshakable, despite the fact that the Yankees forced Hirohito to publicly deny his divine origin. It is significant that the Americans practically failed to take prisoners. The Japanese preferred death to captivity; there was one prisoner for every 120 killed (for the Americans it was 1 to 3). A striking manifestation of the samurai spirit were kamikazes, among whom not all were descendants of the warrior class. For rationally thinking Americans, the actions of these pilots came as a shock; it was not for nothing that they commissioned their greatest anthropologist, Ruth Benedict, to write a book dedicated to the mentality of the Japanese, and already in 1946 her profound book, written in as soon as possible work "Chrysanthemum and Sword". 
An interesting detail: in the imperial army there was no tradition of rewarding the best during their lifetime, and this was considered in the order of things. Such an attitude is impossible to imagine in any European or American army. Perhaps the mental attitudes of the Japanese, inherited from the era of the samurai, are gradually fading into oblivion in the current postmodern era, when the world comes to a single denominator in culture, when not so much state borders are erased, but the national and religious characteristics of peoples? Hardly. There is reason to believe that samurai spirit Live today. Not at the level of external symbols and surroundings, as in the West or in Russia, but precisely as an integral part of the mentality and dominant behavior. The vast majority of the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun still profess Shintoism, a value system that determined the way of thinking of samurai many centuries ago. Let us also recall that since the 90s, Japanese military personnel have participated in peacekeeping operations - in Angola, Rwanda, Mozambique, the Golan Heights, East Timor, and occupied Iraq in 2004 as American allies, that is, they have real combat experience.
Igor Khodakov, candidate of historical sciences 
