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To those of you who don't get Shojo Beat (magazine) there was a little thing i found pretty interesting and you may as well. pleeeeeease read it- i'm going to spend a while typing this by hand-- no way of copying and pasting T_T
"Enemy soldiers surround your castle. Your own men, bruised and battered, are vastly outnumbered and don't stand a chance. Do you- a.) pinch youself (this must be a dream, right?) b.) surrender, or c.) fight to the bloody (and boy, you can bet it'll be bloody) finish?
if you chose option c, you're either crazy or very much in tune with the japanese code of bushido- or maybe both. Bushido translates as "way of the warrior", and is roughly equivalent to the western concept of chivalry. For centuries, it guided the actions of japan's samurai warriors- and some argue that it continues to influence the country even today.
although bushido wasn't codified until te 17th century- after japan entered the peaceful edo period- it existed for hundreds of years before that. it drew on the principles of buddhism, shintoism, and confucianism, ephasizing qualities like loyalty to one's lord, frugality, and restraint. so far, so predictable, but one of the bushido's core tenets is a little harder to swallow: a samurai must at all times be ready and willing to die.
at the end of his life, respected samurai yamamoto tsunetomo (1659-1719) created the hagakure, one of the main texts of bushido, which opens with these words: "the way of the samurai is found in death." indeed, it was widely believed that a warrior could only perform his duty properly if he overcame the fear of dying. this ties in with another important aspect of bushido: honor. for samurai, it was shameful to surrender or run away during a battle, because dying for one's lord was the highest honor imaginable. they also regarded the notorious act of seppuku, or ritual suicide, as an honorable way to die; they often used it to avoid capture, or to atone for shameful acts."
WARRIOR QUIZ:
1. DO/DON'T put your lord's interests first, no matter what.
2. DO/DON'T have a hobby.
3. DO/DON'T turn your back on the enemy during battle.
4. DO/DON'T pretend that you're dumber than you are.
5. DO/DON'T speak up.
6. DO/DON'T carry makeup with you.
i'll give you a minute.....
AAAND...
ANSWERS:
1. DO. being a samurai requires total loyalty.
2. DON'T. warriors don't have time to read manga.
3. DON'T. it's better to die than to hightail it to the hills.
4. DO. no one likes a know-it-all.
5. DON'T. you'll learn more if you listen.
6. DO. it'll come in handy if you need to freshen up after a rough night.
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