Bushido for the 21st Century

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Romlus Hillsborough

Makoto Aoyama of the Tokyo-based Bushido Kyokai (武士道協会) (http://www.bushido.or.jp/index.html) posted on his Facebook page (October 27, 2015) some very interesting ideas about self-discipline and bushido, focusing on the concept of “hikyo” (卑怯), which means something like “petty cowardice” or “meanness.” Through my research over the past thirty years, I have become very interested in and attracted to bushido, “the way of the warrior.” One of Mr. Aoyama’s lines struck me:

多くの人が『卑怯』を他の人に向けて発信しますが、『卑怯』は自分自身を律する為の基軸とし、自分自身が卑怯を行わない事が大事で、他に強要するものではないと考えます。

My translation:

Many people use the word “hikyo” about others, but I think that “hikyo” is a standard by which to judge oneself; and what is important is that a person himself does not act cowardly [in the sense of hikyo] and not that he demands the same of others.

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For more on bushido, see my Samurai Revolution, Chapter 8: A Brief Discussion on Bushido.

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Sakamoto Ryoma, Superstar

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Romlus Hillsborough

Sakamoto Ryoma, founder of Japan’s first trading company, was a swaggering swordsman who packed a Smith & Wesson, an outlaw, and leader in the “samurai revolution” at the dawn of modern Japan. And now, in the 21^st century, he’s a superstar.

Ryoma’s 180^th birthday is being celebrated this year through a series of events at his hometown of Kochi, including the annual gathering of “Ryoma fans” from around the country to be held November 14 and 15.

Ryoma’s grave is in the old cemetery at Ryozen Gokoku Shrine, in the hills of Higashiyama on the east side of Kyoto, where he was assassinated on his 32^nd birthday in 1867. The narrow, well-trodden pathway leading up to the grave is always lined with tiles inscribed with handwritten messages to Ryoma; and his grave is adorned with fresh flowers, incense, cups of sake, sweets and more handwritten notes. Each time I have visited the gravesite I’ve been struck with awe at the testimony of reverence and adoration—even love—by people of all ages come from all parts of Japan to pay their respects.

With the geopolitical and economic challenges facing Japan today, many people express their wish that a leader of Ryoma’s caliber would emerge. “Who from the past millennium of world history would be most useful in overcoming Japan’s current financial crisis?” a national newspaper once asked executives of 200 Japanese corporations. Ryoma received more mention than any other historical figure, topping such giants as Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Saigo Takamori, Oda Nobunaga and the founders of NEC and Honda.

So why does Ryoma command such respect and adoration? I think the answer lies, in part, in his charismatic personality, his love of freedom, and the ways he lived and died. Read about his life in my Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai, the only biographical novel about him in English.

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Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai, the only biographical novel about Sakamoto Ryoma in English, is available on Amazon.com.

Sakamoto Ryoma, the Foreteller

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Romlus Hillsborough

“I’ll only die when big changes finally come. . . .” 私が死日 (シヌルヒ) ハ天下大変にて生ておりてもやくにたゝず

Sakamoto Ryoma was truly a Renaissance man: outlaw-samurai, pistol-bearing swordsman, gifted writer,* freedom fighter, pioneering naval commander, founder of Japan’s first modern trading company, and leader in the “samurai revolution at the dawn of modern Japan.” And, as it turned out, he also foretold the future.

“I don’t expect that I’ll be around too long. But I’m not about to die like any average person either. I’ll only die when big changes finally come, when even if I continue to live I’ll no longer be of any use to the country. Though I was born a mere potato digger in Tosa, a nobody, I’m destined to bring about great changes in the country.”

The above is from a letter Ryoma wrote to his sister in the summer of 1863. Less than four and a half years later, in the fall of 1867, the last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, announced his decision to abdicate and restore Imperial rule based on a peace plan from the “nobody” from Tosa. The next month, on his 32^nd birthday, Ryoma was assassinated.

* [Shiba Ryotaro, the popular historical novelist who immortalized Sakamoto Ryoma in the psyche of the Japanese people, called Ryoma’s famous letter depicting the near fatal attack at the Teradaya inn, “the first piece of nonfiction literature” of the times. (Qtd. in Miyaji Saichiro. Ryoma Hyakuwa. Tokyo: Bungei Shunshu, 1997, p. 152)]

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Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai, the only biographical novel about Sakamoto Ryoma in English, is available on Amazon.com.

Recently revealed document suggests Ryoma’s rank of “kaiden” with a sword

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Romlus Hillsborough

Sakamoto Ryoma’s level of expertise with a sword has long been a topic of debate among historians, writers and so-called “Ryoma fans” throughout Japan. That he was an accomplished swordsman has never been questioned. He practiced the Hokushin-Itto style of kenjutsu at Chiba Sadakichi’s school in Edo for several years, receiving the respectable rank of mokuroku. But he famously used a pistol to defend himself during an attack by Tokugawa police at the Teradaya inn in Fushimi in early 1866. And less than two years later, he was assassinated at his hideout in Kyoto. If he was an expert swordsman, some ask, why did he use his pistol instead of his sword at the Teradaya? And why wasn’t he able to defend himself at Kyoto?

The mokuroku is the only extant certificate that Ryoma received from Chiba. But notably it was for the halberd (naginata) and not the sword. Nor was it for the rank of kaiden, awarded to a swordsman who had mastered the style. And so, some argue, Ryoma wasn’t such a skilled swordsman after all. But as reported by Yomiuri Shinbun on October 14, 2015, a recently revealed handwritten list of certificates in the Hokushin-Itto style that Ryoma had supposedly received includes certificates of heiho kaiden (“expert in the art of warfare”) for the halberd and the sword, along with a mokuroku for the sword. The scrolled certificates were reportedly kept at the Hokkaido home of a Sakamoto family descendent, which was destroyed in a fire in the early part of the 20^th century.

Meiji Restoration historian Mamoru Matsuoka takes a cautious view of the above. While the list includes the mokuroku certificate for the sword, it does not include certificates for the subsequent ranks he would have received before kaiden. And so, Mr. Matsuoka suggests on Facebook, the “kaiden” in the list must have been a mistake for “mokuroku.”

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Katsu Kaishu: The Man

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Romlus Hillsborough

“I had never felt so sorry about anything in my life.” (こんな残念な事は生まれてからまだなかったよ。) Katsu Kaishu

[Most of my posts focus on the historically significant aspects of my subjects – i.e., their place in the “samurai revolution at the dawn of modern Japan.” Here is a glimpse at the humanity of Katsu Kaishu, the “shogun’s last samurai” in my Samurai Revolution.]

Katsu Kaishu was a great lover of books. But in his poverty as a young man, “I didn’t have the money to buy books” he told an interviewer from the Kokumin Shimbun newspaper on March 19, 1898. “Between Nihonbashi and Edobashi [districts in downtown Edo], . . . was a small bookstore. . . . I used to go there often and stand in front of the store reading the books. [The proprietor], realizing that I was too poor to buy books, was always very kind to me.

“There was a merchant from Hokkaido, named Shibuta Riuemon, who also used to frequent that store. He had heard about me from [the proprietor], and, in fact, was a very admirable man. He also loved books and said that he wanted to meet me. Finally we met at the bookstore. Well, Shibuta said that since we had the same interest he hoped that we could be friends. He said that he would visit me at my home and invited me to the inn where he was staying. He wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. The inn was located near the old Eitaibashi [bridge]. We ended up spending the entire day there, just talking about things.

“He was from a merchant family in Hakodate. He had been very fond of books since he was a boy and spent all his time reading, much to the displeasure of his parents. So they forbade him to read, but he would nevertheless read on the sly. One time they found him reading and gave him a terrible scolding. As punishment they tied his hands together and shut him in a room in the upstairs of their house, so that he had nothing to eat the entire day. When evening came, his parents, thinking he had learned his lesson, went upstairs to see him. Far from learning his lesson, when they found him he was reading a picture book that lay on the floor, which he had opened with his feet. Well, his parents finally gave in and told him that he would be allowed to read as long as he did not neglect the family business. Shibuta was very happy. Whenever he had time off from the family business, he would go out and buy books to read. . . . He had some very interesting things to say. He was a refined person, and thin with a light complexion like a woman. But there was something about him that was resolute—he stood firm and was a man of character.

“Two or three days after [our first meeting], Shibuta came to my house. I was extremely poor back then. For floor covering all we had were three worn out tatami [mats]. We had used up all of the ceiling boards for firewood. But Shibuta wasn’t bothered by any of that. . . . [The two men spent the afternoon talking.] Then, as he was leaving, he took 200 ryo [nearly five times the annual stipend of the Katsu household] from his pocket. ‘This isn’t much,’ he said. ‘But use it to buy books.’

“At first I was at a loss for words and just stared at him. Shibuta told me not to worry about it. ‘If I didn’t give you this money, I’d spend it soon enough,’ he said. ‘I’d rather that you used it to buy some rare books. Then after you’ve read them, you can send them along to me.’ Then he left. He also gave me . . . [some] writing paper. ‘If you find any interesting books in Dutch, translate them on this paper,’ he said. . . . He thought that I was too poor even to buy paper. . . . [It was on this same paper that Katsu Kaishu would write his famed Keio 4 Boshin Journal. (Matsuura Rei. Katsu Kaishu. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 2010, p. 323) Regarding Keio 4 Boshin Journal, see Samurai Revolution, beginning of Chapter 26.]

“After that we continued to correspond. Shibuta was very happy for me when he learned that I would be going to Nagasaki to study [at the Bakufu’s naval academy in 1855] … I really appreciated his support and had intended to repay him someday. But regrettably Shibuta died [of tuberculosis in 1858 at age forty-one] while I was in Nagasaki. I had never felt so sorry about anything in my life.” (Hikawa Seiwa (Katsu Kaishu Zenshu 21) Tokyo: Kodansha, 1973, pp. 8-10.)

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Samurai Revolution, a comprehensive history of the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the rise of Imperial Japan, is also the only biography of Katsu Kaishu in English.