THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR
lence.[1] Whatever a man does should be done with his heart. Therefore for the soldier military amusements alone are suitable. The penalty for violating this provision is death by suicide.
7. Learning should be encouraged. Military books must be read. The spirit of loyalty and filial piety must be educated before all things. Poem-composing pastimes are not to be engaged in by samurai. To be addicted to such amusements is to resemble a woman. A man born a samurai should live and die sword in hand. Unless he be thus trained in time of peace, he will be useless in the hour of stress. To be brave and warlike must be his invariable condition.
Whosoever finds these rules too severe shall be relieved from service. Should investigation show that any one is so unfortunate as to lack manly qualities, he shall be singled out and dismissed forthwith. The imperative character of these instructions must not be doubted.The obviously paramount purpose of these regulations was to draw a sharp line of demarkation between the samurai and the courtiers living in Kyōtō. The dancing, the couplet-composing, the sumptuous living, and the fine costumes of officials frequenting the Imperial capital were strictly interdicted by the feudatories, and the veto in Kiyomasa's code was couched in language that must have sounded particularly offensive in the ears of the ancient nobility of Kyōtō. Frugality, fealty, and filial piety—these may be called the fundamental virtues of the bushi. Owing to the circumstances out of which his
- ↑ See Appendix, note 33.
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