Bushido's Influence on World WarII

Background

Since Japan was an island it was very easy for them to isolate themselves from the rest of the world, which is how they wanted it. They built a society based on sword fighting, a system unique to the world. Throughout the 12th and 19th centuries they had a feudal system with four different classes. The highest was the Samurai Class. This class made up about ten percent of the population, and had enormous power. In this class, Samurai warriors would answer to Daimyo lords for which they would work for. They would also live in the castle of their Daimyo. Each Daimyo had an area of land they would control and their own army of Samurai. The Daimyo lords were few and would only answer to the Shogun.

The Second class were the farmers and peasants. Farmers were an honored class because they grew the food everyone depended on, but they lived under heavy taxes. And at one point in the feudal society, farmers couldn't eat any food that they grew. They had to give it all to the Daimyo, and wait for him to give some back to them as charity.

The Third class were the Artisans who made clothes, cooking tools, samurai swords, and other necessary goods.

The Fourth and lowest class of the system were merchants. Merchants were looked down upon as lesser beings or parasites. They had to live in a separate section of each city and they couldn't even to talk to the higher classes except for business.

Japan's class system is something the outside world could never understand. In Europe the merchants were often in higher positions on the society ladder, and farmers were often to lowest class. Even in the United States farmers were people who had to struggle to get by. Something that is understandable in Japan's class system is how warriors were one of the people atop the social ladder. In Europe's middle age feudal system Knights, similar to Japan's Samurai, were at the top of society too. But where the two societies once again differ, is that Japan's class system was in place for far longer and changed the way Japan's people not only lived but thought.

Japan's Samurai class developed a very rigid code of conduct called Bushido. Bushido is the way of the warrior and how a warrior lives his life. In this code there were several virtues of the Samurai: justice, bravery, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, loyalty, wisdom, filial piety, and honor. By this code, if a Samurai warrior failed to uphold his honor he could gain it back by performing seppuku, or ritual suicide. When Japan reformed its government and the military became a significant factor, bushido seeped into the lives of regular Japanese citizens.

When bushido spread like this, to influence the thinking of common Japanese society, it became a very intense and strong idea. And because Japan was closed off to the outside world, the Japanese didn't question their beliefs. They wholeheartedly obeyed the bushido code and their emperor, who was like a god to them. This sort of thinking existed there for a long time, but the outside world did not know the depth of it.

Analysis

When the United States invaded Japan's outer ring, U.S. soldiers were not educated in Japanese culture and were surprised when the Japanese attacked so ferociously. The United States was not expecting such strong and determined warriors from Japan. The Japanese fought to their death and would not give up. To Japan's people becoming a prisoner of war was the ultimate dishonor and betrayal of their emperor and moral code.

The United States fought the Japanese in WWII in a way that they did not want to. The U.S. fought the Japanese in a way that was slaughter.

The Japanese showed such commitment to their cause that the United States has never before witnessed. The Japanese launched several Kamikaze attacks, which were suicide attacks in which Japanese soldiers charged U.S. army lines and were shot down.

Bushido also kept the Japanese from adopting better more effective ways of combat and strategy. Their strategies of fighting to the death, and launching kamikaze attacks cost them a high price for upholding their values. At the battle of Iwo Jima the Japanese chose to fight even though they knew they would lose. Their general told them to kill ten U.S. soldiers before they themselves die or else they are dishonorable. If the Japanese took on different strategies they would have saved many lives of their own.