Yamamoto Tsunetomo

nihongo|Yamamoto Tsunetomo|山本常朝|, also read "Yamamoto Jōchō" (June 11 1659 - November 30, 1719) was a samurai of the Saga Domain in Hizen Province under his lord Nabeshima Mitsushige. For thirty years Yamamoto devoted his life to the service of his lord and clan. When Nabeshima died in 1700, Yamamoto did not choose to follow his master in death in "junshi" because the master had expressed a dislike of the practice in his life. Instead, Yamamoto followed his lord's wishes and refrained from "junshi". After some disagreements with Nabeshima's successor, Yamamoto renounced the world and retired to a hermitage in the mountains. Late in life (between 1709 and 1716), he narrated many of his thoughts to a fellow samurai, Tsuramoto Tashiro. A lot of these aphorisms were about his lord's father and grandfather Naoshige and about the failing ways of the samurai caste. These commentaries were later turned into the "Hagakure (Hidden behind the Leaves)".

The "Hagakure" was not widely known during the years following Tsunetomo's death, but by the 1930s it had become one of the most famous representatives of "bushido" taught in Japan.

Tsunetomo believed that becoming one with death in one's thoughts, even in life, was the highest attainment of purity and focus. He felt that a resolution to die gives rise to a higher state of life, infused with beauty and grace beyond the reach of those concerned with self-preservation. He similarly believed in immediate action, and in the "Hagakure" criticized the carefully planned Akō vendetta of the Forty-seven Ronin (a major event in his lifetime) for its delayed response.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo is also known as "Yamamoto Jōchō", the name he took after retiring and becoming a monk.

Famous quotes

"I have found that the Way of the samurai is death. This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death." -- used as a military slogan during the early twentieth century to encourage soldiers to throw themselves into battle.

"There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue." -Hagakure

"It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this." -Hagakure

"The way of the warrior is found in death." -Hagakure

Tsunetomo's personal version of the Four Vows of a samurai, which he advocated reciting every morning:

As Shown In Hagakure
#Never be outdone in the Way of the Samurai.
#To be of good use to the master.
#To be filial toward my parents.
#To manifest great compassion, and to act for the sake of Man.

External references

* de Bary, et al, ed. "Sources of Japanese Tradition", 2d Ed.

External links

* [http://www.hyoho.com/Hagakure1.html "Hagakure Kikigaki : Orated Aphorisms of Yamamoto Jocho"]
* [http://www.hagakure.go.ro/ "Hagakure!" (Selected topics from "Hagakure")]
* [http://www.friesian.com/divebomb.htm "Zen and the Art of Divebombing, or The Dark Side of the Tao"] by [http://www.friesian.com/ross/ Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D.]