Excerpt from The Way of the Samurai (Shīdo)

Excerpt from The Way of the Samurai

By: Yamaga Sokō

"…For generation after generation, men have taken their livelihood from tilling the soil, or devised and manufactured tools, or produced profit from mutual trade, so that peoples’ needs were satisfied. Thus the occupations of farmer, artisan, and merchant necessarily grew up as complementary to one another. But the samurai eats food without growing it, uses utensils without manufacturing them, and profits without buying or selling.  What is the justification for this?  When I reflect today on my pursuit in life, [I realize that] I was born into a family whose ancestors for generations have been warriors and whose pursuit is service at court.  The samurai is one who does not cultivate, does not manufacture, and does not engage in trade, but it cannot be that he has no function at all as a samurai.  He who satisfies his needs without performing any function at all would more properly be called an idler.  Therefore one must devote all one’s mind to the detailed examination of one’s calling."


**Yamaga Sokō (1622‐1685) was a Confucian philosopher and expert in military techniques and strategy. He was particularly concerned with the fate of Japan's warrior elite in an era of extended peace: after the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637‐1638, Tokugawa Japan would enjoy more than two centuries without any large‐scale wars or uprisings. In his mid‐sixteenth‐century work The Way of the Samurai (Shidō), Sokō outlined a role for samurai in Japanese society that combined moral cultivation and civil responsibility with military preparedness.**