The Bushido Code Is a Lie (And It’s in Your Dojo)
- Dave Lowry
- 38 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Imagine a political leader going to Duluth to tell Minnesotans this: “You are the descendants of Vikings. You have the blood of warriors in you. Your ancestors were feared over much of the known world. It’s only reasonable that you are invincible, that you control the lands your ancestors ruled, that you have the rewards they enjoyed, that no other people can match you for courage and daring.”
It’s hard to imagine any Minnesotan believing such nonsense. But suppose in addition to being political figures, the people spreading this message were powerful — very powerful — military leaders.
And suppose that people who disagreed with those leaders were made extremely uncomfortable.
And suppose this message was spread constantly in the media, in schools, in popular music and in churches in Minnesota.
Yes, it's still hard to imagine something like this. You have to remember, though, that Japan in the early 20th century was, like the rest of the world, a far different place than it is today. Japan was less than 50 years from feudalism. It was just emerging on the world scene and flexing its muscles. And it was deeply angry at what it perceived as numerous slights from the Western world.
What Japan needed was a way to stir up its people, to engage them in a dream of conquest and expansion, one fueled by the burning coals of their own righteousness and “specialness.”