Seeing the right, ourselves should become good, seeing the wrong, we should reprove ourselves.  The Genji Monogatari, Chokonka, and Seishoki are of a class, vile, mean, comparable to the books of the sages as charcoal to ice, as the stench of decay to the perfume of flowers."[BC]

“To the samurai, first of all is righteousness; next life, then silver and gold.  These last are of value, but some put them in the place of righteousness.  But to the samurai even life is as dirt compared to righteousness.  Until the middle part of the middle ages customs were comparatively pure, though not really righteous.  Corruption has come only during this period of government by the samurai.  A maid servant in China was made ill with astonishment when she saw her mistress, soroban (abacus) in hand, arguing prices and values.  So was it once with the samurai.  They knew nothing of trade, were economical and content."[BD]

“Even in the days of my youth, young folks never mentioned the price of anything; and their faces reddened if the talk was of women.  Their joy was in talk of battles and plans for war.  And they studied how parents and lords should be obeyed, and the duty of samurai.  But nowadays the young men talk of loss and gain, of dancing girls and harlots and gross pleasures.  It is a complete change from fifty or sixty years ago....  Said Aochi to his son:  ’There is such a thing as trade.  See that you know nothing of it.  In trade the profit should always go to the other side....  To be proud of buying high-priced articles cheap is the good fortune of merchants, but should be unknown to samurai.  Let it not be even so much as mentioned....  Samurai must have a care of their words, and are not to speak of avarice, cowardice, or lust.’"[BE]

A point of considerable interest to the student of Japanese ethical ideals is the fact that the laws of Old Japan combined legal and moral maxims.  Loyalty and morality were conceived as inseparable.  Ieyasu (abdicated in 1605, and died in 1616), the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, left a body of laws to his successors as his last will, in accordance with which they should rule the land.  These laws were not made public, but were kept strictly for the guidance of the rulers.  They are known as the Testament or “Honorable Will” of Ieyasu, and consist of one hundred rules.  It will serve our purpose here to quote some of those that refer to the moral ideal.

“No one is to act simply for the gratification of his own desires, but he is to strive to do what may be opposed to his desires, i.e., to exercise self-control, in order that everyone may be ready for whatever he may be called upon by his superiors to do.”

“The aged, whether widowers or widows, and orphans, and persons without relations, every one should assist with kindness and liberality; for justice to these four is the root of good government.”

     “Respect the gods [or God], keep the heart pure, and be diligent in
     business during the whole life.”