The story of the samurai who ruled Japanese society for 700 years.

From the Middle Ages to the modern era, Japanese history has been a history of swords.
Politics was conducted by warriors, and their spirit soon became the spirit that represented Japan.
Therefore, to understand present-day Japan, it is necessary to understand the spirit of the samurai who ruled them for a long time.


This book contains stories of warriors who were active from the ancient times (the rise of the warriors), which can be considered the first half of the 700-year samurai regime, to the Onin War that occurred just before the Warring States period, written in an easy-to-understand manner.
Through this book, I hope you will learn about the warrior spirit that runs deep within the Japanese people.

For a warrior, loyalty was the most important virtue and the most important duty to be followed.
However, the path of loyalty that a warrior had to walk was somewhat different from the loyalty to the king that was considered the duty of ordinary people.
Loyalty to the king was, so to speak, an absolute duty that had to be observed, but the loyalty of the warriors was relatively.
Later on, this also became absolute, but at first it was undoubtedly relative.
In other words, because the lord protected his subordinates well and showed them excessive kindness, the subordinates were moved by the kindness and developed a sense of loyalty that was willing to sacrifice themselves.
World-renowned generals like Yoriyoshi and Yoshiie were able to gain many warriors who pledged their devotion to them because they cared for their subordinates and cared for them as if they were their own. This power was what brought them to fame.


In short, the existence of the warrior society and warriors was maintained by two things: the love of the master and the loyalty of the subordinates.
As soon as the concept of "Mu-mun" and "Mu-ga" began, such special concepts emerged.


Yoritomo never undertook anything he was not naturally confident he could succeed at.
It was this cautious nature that allowed him to ascend to the position of shogun and gain the political power to rule Japan in a way that had never existed before.


However, the bad thing about Yoritomo was that he was very suspicious.
He took the slanders of Kajiwara and others lightly and killed many loyal vassals, including brothers Yoshitsune and Noriyori.
So when he died, there was no one left to help Genji.
Because of this, the Genji lineage was cut off before even three generations had passed, putting them in an awkward situation.
Therefore, it would be fair to say that it was Yoritomo who destroyed the Genji.


I once asked, “What should we do to please the people and govern the country well?”
Fujitsuna,

“I don’t have such a brilliant idea, but if I may just share my own thoughts, I believe that this world will be well-governed when the minds of those who rule above and the people below are in harmony with each other.
However, if there are any officials who are not righteous among those who are in power and those who are in power, then sometimes the righteous are called wrong, and sometimes the innocent fall into sin, and so on. This causes many bad things to happen.
In such cases, those without thought think, "This is because those above are not good," while those with thought think, "This world cannot be changed."
“If there are such officials, the world will become chaotic.”

The reason why the Hojo clan did not perish for a long time was because, above all, they loved the people.
Secondly, it is because he practiced frugality.
Thirdly, it is because he used good official seals.
Fourthly, because the trial was conducted fairly.
Fifthly, it was because he cared for the samurai.
Regardless of the era, if you have this kind of mindset, you can carry out great politics.

--- From the text