Here is another quote from a scroll written by Natori Masazumi in the 17th century. You can find it on page 21 in “The Book of Samurai 1 – Fundamental Samurai Teachings“ by Antony Cummins and Yoshie Minami.
Inujini yosha no koto – Considering a dogs death
“If someone depends only upon luck then it is as if they are a monk who has failed to reach enlightenment. Such a person will be careless in what he does and will die a dogs death. He is called a kenkyonin – a flustered person. Even in times of peace this is the highest disgrace for a man(bushi). You should avoid a dogs death and take care to die in the correct place. The correct place is protecting your family (in service of loyalty and justice).”
The expression “your family” includes your extended family and the social construct you live in up to the “tribe”. There will be a difference after inclusion of approximately 150 people, since the human mind can not form tight bonds with a larger number and will start to build sub-groups. I will have a different post with thoughts on what that means for soldiers serving “their country”.
A „dogs death“ means a death that could have been avoided if the person had exercised more care (sickness, accident, needless fighting). After a certain age a man will be more useful for the family/tribe as a teacher/leader. This means that sacrificing yourself to protect your people will need to be reevaluated, since leaders can be more useful for the safety of the tribes members than their sacrifice when looking at the big picture.
Leave a reply