ABSTRACT
The concept of chivalry, or the idea of a kind of attitude and behaviour suitable for a member of the warrior nobility in Japan, was given the name of Bushido, ‘The Way of the Warrior’. The term itself was coined during the early Tokugawa Bakufu, and is usually ascribed to one of the leading Neo-Confucian jushu, Yamaga Soko. Although the basic concepts of Bushido seem to have been fully developed by the time of the Gempei War, (1180–85) there were certainly modifications and changes throughout the seven centuries of bushi rule. In the latter part of the Heian period the Amidist schools of Buddhism were the most popular, also with the bushi, and it was only after the establishment of the Kamakura Bakufu that Zen Buddhism was introduced. The best illustration of Bushido in theory and practice is provided by the Ako affair, which took place at the beginning of the second century of Tokugawa rule, between 1701 and 1703.
