1. Bushido
Bushido refers to the ethics that come from the bushi, or samurai (41). During the Heian period in Japan samurai were the highest of the four classes, that also includes, the farmers, artisans, and tradesman. These four classes where all under the power of a lord, which owned the land and even more them. The samurai's purpose was to serve and protect their lords land and resources and fight for their lord. The samurai were found to be so loyal and unselfish that they would fight to the death for one's lord and even take their own lives before being captured by enemies. All of the courage, loyalty, unselfishness, honor and much more of the samurai fits into the term bushio, which is referred to as the samurai spirit.
Bushido, the honorable ways of the samurai was introduced in the sixth century by a Buddhist by the name of Zen (42). This sect, Zen taught the samurai many things but one thing in particular seemed to have the largest and most beneficial effect. That was the state of no-mind that he taught them. No-mind is mindset that does not become startled by anything, focused on one task at a time, and is worry free (42). The point of no-mind is dismiss distractions and focus clearly on the tasks ahead. The text uses a great example and refers to it as mushin (no-mind), "When mushin or munen is attained, the mind moves from one object to another, flowing like a stream of water, filling every possible corner. For this reason the mind fulfills every function required of it (42-43)." The samurai's strict and orderly behaviors also come from Confucianism, which establish many ethical rules and guidelines for society.
In short, the samurai were more than willing to die because it was found to be very honorable to there lords. Also the death of a samurai usually followed with the family receiving more property or something else of value. This even more gave samurai reason to die, that is to serve their family. Samurai would often attempt to be the first in line during battle while shouting their names. Also they believed that the soul was in the abdominal region so when they would commit seppuku (suicide) their soul would be released.
The strangeness, i'm sure, to most Americans of choosing to takes one life continued throughout Japanese history and lead to kamikaze. It's strange that in America suicide is a disgraceful action while in Japan it may be honorable. Though it's probably much less honorable today in Japanese culture, the Japanese still look at the taking of one's own life completely different from that of Americans.
2. Giri
Giri was formed in ancient Japanese times and was greatly influence by the samurai and Confucianism. Originating in the rice field, the Japanese began to help one another with each others work. By helping another, one expected help in return. Hints one of the meanings of giri is to return something in equal value. As time progressed this meaning change to, "returning something for goodwill (96)." Today in Japan giri is simply used to insure the wa of society or in other words promote harmony. It's also looked at as a required action or "social duty" (98). Now, the most common form of giri is gift giving which accrues during the holidays. One example that has become somewhat new in the Japanese culture is chocolate giving during Valentines day. The women send chocolates to the men in two different forms. The first being a crapy cheep box of chocolates (giri choko) to men they don't have much liking for (to insure wa), and the second is a nicer box of chocolates (honmei choko) which are given to men they really like (98). With similar purpose to that as aimai, the absolute most important reason for the existence of giri is to support, insure, and uphold harmony in the Japanese culture.
3. ie system
In shortest explanation the ie system is the family system. This means that it is the historical family line. In the past the ie system was much more respected and followed while now the leash has been loosened and the common theme of the ie has faded accordingly.
Ie is a family system that focuses on honoring the family line. This includes honoring the died ancestors in the ie. From the ideals of Zen, dead ancestors were found to be of the spirit and in a perfect state and it is necessary to honor them with a alter if one wants to have a blessed family. If ancestors were not honored they thought they would be cursed (120). Also, the most important thing in the ie system was to continue that ie by having males to carry on the name. Strangely enough some samurai, if unable to have boys or if those boys died, would adopt a boy from another family. This was found to be okay since it would continue ie. During these early times of ie women had few rights and were found to be nearly child machines. Also males were most important in the ie and were ranked with their ages. Meaning the oldest male had most authority. This also meant that men would have to get approval before marriage. Not directly sure why eldest males had most authority, but it may have been due to their closeness to death, as the Buddhist belief was that spiritually life was pure perfection and "spiritual enlightenment" (120).
Today the ie system is still practiced today but seems to be drifting away from it's original roots. some for the good and some for the bad. One example is that women now have equal rights to males. This means that men no longer own their wives and if comes a divorce the finical aspects are divided equal rather then to the males side alone. One negative change would have to be that younger generations are freeing themselves from the historical ie by not always keeping the families ie name. In short there have been a few changes to the ie system in the past decades but for the most part the ie ideals are still present today.
4. Oimai
In Japan there are two types of marriage. one being love marriages and the other being arranged marriages (165). The most common is arranged marriage. Today in the busyness of the japanese lives, dating is unpractical and time consuming. That's were oimai comes in. Oimai is a meeting of a male and female and possible parents that is arranged by an in-between person. The in-between usually disperses information of the individuals and a picture to the other family. After this a meeting is formed called oimai (166). This then progresses to possibly more meetings a then engagement. the male side of the family will usually sends three months worth of wages to the women's family. Then a few months later a wedding is held.
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