The Samurai
Essay Preview: The Samurai
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Fukuzawa Yukichi of the lower samurai enjoyed lesser freedoms than did upper samurai. A samurai in Tokugawa era was part of the ruling class, split into the upper and lower classes. They had strict rules to obey but loyalty was not a crucial component of their lives as it was for the samurai in “Chushingura.”
However, the brave and loyal samurai no longer grace societys gateway. In “Chushingura,” loyalty is 47 masterless samurai laying Lord Kira Yoshinakas head before the grave of their former Lord Asano. In “The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi,” loyalty is largely a concept ignored by Yukichi, of the lower samurai class.
The “Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi” translated by Eiichi Kiyooka portrays a samurai as a “distasteful position.” When Yukichi reflects on his father who passed away, he notes with a tone of an almost condescension, “apparently he submitted to the distasteful position and the small stipend, and buried his discontent in his heart” (3). He seems to almost resent his father for showing what he perceives to be a weakness in submitting to the caste system. Yukichis bitter, scornful resentment of the feudal system overflows to those bound by it. However, he himself is bound, because he knows as well as his own father did that “it was impossible to overcome the rigid customs of the time” (3). This stirred up dissent among the lower samurai, further weakening the traditional ties of loyalty between the lords and vassals. Fukuzawa notes the people had plenty to complain about yet simply were without a way to express their discontent as if they had forgotten how to rebel against the embedded feudal system.
According to Ray A. Moores “Samurai Discontent and Social Mobility in the Late Tokugawa Period,” a large source of discontent among the samurai were: their insecurity of their status, the social discrimination they faced, their economic decline, and the lack of social mobility of the time period. These sources of discontent
were all things Fukuzawa himself expresses in retrospect of his childhood and vague memories of his father. And Moore specifically captures the heart of Fukuzawas issue. “Fukuzawa Yukichis complaint that he felt stifled by the Tokugawa system of hereditary ranks and status touches on one of the central reasons for discontent among the middle-ranking samurai. Institutional decline which deprived them of real purpose and threatened their privileged position in society was bound to arouse feelings of apprehension and dissatisfaction” (82).
Even the samurai could not change the caste system nor “the sharp division between the Upper and the Lower” (337) samurai. Yukichi understands this when he understands that his fathers wish for him to become a priest “was a result of the feudal system of that time with the rigid law of inheritance: sons of high officials following their fathers in office, sons of foot-soldiers always becoming foot-soldiers, and those of the families in between having the same lot for centuries without change. For my father, there had been no hope of rising in society whatever effort he might make. But when he looked around, he saw that for me there was one possible road to advancement Ð- the priesthood” (6). The priests were the privileged few who were outside the grasp of the feudal system to enjoy a relative freedom. As Yukichi notes, “a fishy mongers son had been known to become a Buddhist abbot” (6) and he hates the “narrow stiffness” of life.
The societys strict laws required the lower samurai to subjugate themselves to their superiors in feudal rank, leveling their faces to the ground every time before an upper samurai, addressing their superiors in honorifics, suffering regularly abusive vocabulary in return, and even being forced to speak with an adopted and forced accent distinguishable from the upper samurai class. The upper and lower samurai were in essence in different classes. Interclass marriage was unheard of and forbidden. This of course later on becomes the driving force behind the overthrow of the ruling class.
Yukichi differs in that he scorns the rules and ignores them. “I was always unconcerned with the way of society, and it was my inborn nature to act always in my own way” (11). Himself a “samurai of small means,” he recounts how he hated wearing a towel around his face when running errands or handling money. He baldly admits to running errands “in broad daylight, swinging a wine bottle in one handÐ with a boyish pride and conceit that I made light of the mock gentility of my neighbors” (11). However, his admission clues into an interesting perception: he pokes fun at his neighbors and fellow samurais “mock” gentility, which suggests their propriety is not inborn but inbred.
In Yukichis life, his colleagues shared his feeling of discontent
but unlike him were unable to express or vocalize it. Somehow, all these great warriors accepted the order of the caste system as a fact of life rather than oppose it, showing timidity of action. Yukichi, who was shunned for his blatant disrespect for the feudal system, recounts he was unafraid to use his hard-earned money in daylight and ignore implicit rules of propriety.
Perhaps this is why he further distinguished himself by studying western studies later on in his life and attended the school of Ogata, known for its unconventional students who went around naked and did something unthinkable such as pawn their swords, the life and pride of any samurai. Rejecting the formal relationships dictated by the hierarchy, Yukichi by the end prefers relationships based on love, respect and affections common among friends and family. His principles of independence and self-respect were radical and revolutionary in his small Japanese community of submissive people who didnt question the set authority of their superiors. After his education, Yukichi values science and spirit of independence above law and order. Everyone in his community but his mom disapprove of his studies, Fukuzawa notes.
Samurai are venerated in “Chushingura” in a way it is not in Yukichis life. Even the title itself, “Chushingura,” means “The Treasury of Loyal Retainers.” The book came as a pleasant surprise after a hundred years of forgotten samurai ideals Ð- a vendetta venerated for its ruthless and “resolute action” (Keene 2). The beheading of Kira and offering the head before Asanos grave is considered to be “a grand apotheosis of samurai ideals,” as Donald Keene notes in the preface. “At a time when the samurai ideals of loyalty