Nitobe Inazō
Japanese agronomist, diplomat and writer (1862 to 1933); one of the Under-Secretaries General of the League of Nations from its founding in 1920; author of Bushido: The Soul of Japan.
Nitobe Inazō did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsIt is with ecclesiastical methods and with the forms which obscure the teachings of Christ, and not with the teachings themselves, that I have little sympathy. I believe in the religion taught by Him and handed down to us in the New Testament, as well as in the law written in the heart.
↗Bushido, the Soul of Japan (tenth revised edition, 1905)gutenberg.org 1st of 7 in this piece
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Our reading
Chivalry is as native to Japan as the cherry blossom and is still a living moral force there
Their wordsChivalry is a flower no less indigenous to the soil of Japan than its emblem, the cherry blossom; nor is it a dried-up specimen of an antique virtue preserved in the herbarium of our history. It is still a living object of power and beauty among us; and if it assumes no tangible shape or form, it not the less scents the moral atmosphere, and makes us aware that we are still under its potent spell.
↗Bushido, the Soul of Japan (tenth revised edition, 1905)gutenberg.org 2nd of 7 in this piece
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Their wordsUnder the régime of feudalism, which could easily be perverted into militarism, it was to Benevolence that we owed our deliverance from despotism of the worst kind.
↗Bushido, the Soul of Japan (tenth revised edition, 1905)gutenberg.org 3rd of 7 in this piece
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Their wordsLet it be far from me to uphold despotism of any sort; but it is a mistake to identify feudalism with it.
↗Bushido, the Soul of Japan (tenth revised edition, 1905)gutenberg.org 4th of 7 in this piece
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Their wordsPoliteness is a poor virtue, if it is actuated only by a fear of offending good taste, whereas it should be the outward manifestation of a sympathetic regard for the feelings of others.
↗Bushido, the Soul of Japan (tenth revised edition, 1905)gutenberg.org 5th of 7 in this piece
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Our reading
Discipline in self-control can go too far, repressing the soul and distorting pliant natures
Their wordsDiscipline in self-control can easily go too far. It can well repress the genial current of the soul. It can force pliant natures into distortions and monstrosities.
↗Bushido, the Soul of Japan (tenth revised edition, 1905)gutenberg.org 6th of 7 in this piece
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Their wordsBushido as an independent code of ethics may vanish, but its power will not perish from the earth; its schools of martial prowess or civic honor may be demolished, but its light and its glory will long survive their ruins.
↗Bushido, the Soul of Japan (tenth revised edition, 1905)gutenberg.org 7th of 7 in this piece
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