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Bushido, Part 16 summary

Part 16 of 17 · 9 min to read the part

In Is Bushido Still Alive?, the narrator argues that Bushido remains a powerful, often unconscious influence on Japan’s modernization, public virtues, and personal conduct, while also contributing to national faults. He challenges missionary claims about national renewal and argues that Christianity needs to address inherited moral ideas rather than dismiss them.

What happens

  1. The narrator rejects the idea that Bushido’s virtues belong exclusively to one people while defending its continuing strength.
  2. He credits samurai ethics, especially honor, with driving Japan’s political transformation and selective adoption of Western methods.
  3. He connects Bushido with politeness, courage, loyalty, and patriotism, but also with philosophical neglect and excessive sensitivity.
  4. The ambitious, poor student embodies surviving warrior values, including their strengths and weaknesses.
  5. Appeals to loyalty and honorable conduct reform a Christian and end a college strike.
  6. The narrator criticizes missionaries who ignore Japanese history and argues for Christianity expressed through familiar moral ideas.

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In this part

EmersonTheme: Ethical inheritance

Quick check

What does the narrator identify as Japan’s strongest motive for transformation?

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