The WISDOM OF HAGAKURE

by Stacey B. Day MD

The first presentation in the English language of the Hagakure (Spirit of Bushido) as Wisdom Literature. Bushido is the moral code of the samurai of Feudal Japan. As warriors (samurai) belonged to the highest of the four social classes of the day - bushi, farmers, artisans and merchants. The most significant teachings coming down to us now exist in the form of codes. There were three principal codes - Gorin Sho (Five Rings Precepts) of Miyamoto Musashi; the Budo Shoshin Sho (Rudiments of the Precepts of Samurai) by Yuzan Daidoji, and the Hagakure by Yamamoto Jocho of present day Saga, known during the Warring Ages Period as Hizen.