As benevolence is a virtue which the supe rior observes toward his inferiors, it is largely that of a ruler to his subjects. As to the subjects themselves,—the samurai proper, —Bushido laid particular stress on what may be called the reverential virtues: namely, those which men should observe in their dealings with people above them, such as loyalty to ward their lord and master, filialty to their parents, and, in the case of the woman, obedi ence to her husband.
Of loyalty it has been said that it is the most deeply implanted virtue of the Japanese race. To be faithful in serving the master was equivalent to loving the country with which he is identified. Patriotism and loy alty therefore are hardly separable in Japanese ethics. In the feudal period, loyalty meant faithful service to a daimyo, who in his turn owed allegiance to the emperor. Percival Lowell has charged the Japanese with imper-, sonality. In one sense he is right; in another he is astray. In no other code does per-, sonality preponderate as In Bushido. One may say that an anthropomorphic element dominates the precepts of Bushido. The samurai were men of action, speculation being either an in tellectual pastime or a method of mental dis cipline, and they were interested in concrete things. They cared little for abstract princi ples which regulate the relations between lord and retainer; their concern was to serve their daimyo with all their soul and body. And yet it must be noted that in personally serving his master (a man in flesh and blood) the samurai was not required to be a slave, pander ing to every freak or fancy of a despot. If he thought his lord wrong, faithful service de manded that he should lead him into the right path. An unscrupulous flatterer who made it his trade to satisfy the self-will of his ruler gained no place ((i' the story.p If all his ad monitions and requests availed nothing he resorted to the last appeal of disembowelment.
Allied to loyalty was the virtue of filialty so often dwelt upon in the precepts of knight hood. Under the feudal regime, each samurai had to furnish a certain number of armed men according to the amount of revenue granted him by the daimyo. As each holder of a benefice, that is to say, each head of a family, was held responsible for military service, the family and not the individual was the social and political unit. Added to this fact was another, namely, the custom of ancestor wor ship. These two considerations made family
relations compact and rendered the chief of the family an important moral and social factor. If the Arab practice of polygamy is kept rip not solely by amorous sentiment but from an economic motive, neither was the feudal in tegrity of a family maintained wholly by moral regard. Whatever may be the sociological as pect of filialty, upon it and loyalty is founded the entire fabric of Japanese morals. This ex plains the important role the father plays in the economic or a feudal society. Moreover, the conservative ethics imported from China, hal lowed the traditional ancestor worship of the race and it is clear without further explanation what filial piety must mean in the moral system of Japanese feudalism. Few motives of action are stronger in the Japanese mind than the glorification of his family.
In comparison with the father, the mother was not counted a social or political unit, and this fact helped to enhance her value within the family. It is only reasonable to expect woman's share to be small in a militant so ciety, such as feudalism produces. At the same time, when a father's service is largely concerned in the welfare of his lord and of the community, the government of the house hold and the education of the children are naturally left to the mother. This has been distinctly true 'among the samurai. The as sistance rendered by woman to the general wel fare, and more particularly to her husband, was called naijo — the inner help — the service hid den from unconcerned eyes. It was a work directly known and appreciated only by the members of the family and chiefly repaid by the sons in their filial love and pious remembrance. Hence, though little note was taken of 'woman's position in public, within the family it was not much inferior to that of the pate* families. Woman's influence in Bushido was largely ex ercised through her position as mother. The education of the samurai was in its earliest stages naturally left to her. And here it is important to note that, while among the daimyo concubinage was usual and the chil dren, legitimate or illegitimate, were frequently reared by nurses, the samurai could ill afford to keep mistresses and the bringing up of their children was considered the proper work of the mothers. This explains the general superiority, both physically and intellectually, of the samurai over the daimyo.