Question:
Is this website correct in the kanji characters of the bushido code? They seem to vary in a few places. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
http://www.theartofcalligraphy.com/seven…
Answer:
As you know these seven words represent Rectitude (義, gi), Courage (勇, yū), Benevolence (仁, jin), Respect (礼, rei), Honesty (誠, makoto), Honor (名誉, meiyo) and Loyalty (忠義, chūgi). However, there is no formal, authentic Kanjis for these words, which means none of these kanjis characters are "100% accurate," strictly speaking.
Since the original text of this book: "Bushido," was not written in Japanese, all of these characters (for the seven virtues) were no more than a translation by those who published their Japanese translations a few decades later. For instance, a translator used the single letter of 勇; another translator wrote 勇氣(or 勇気) for the translation of Courage. Both of them are correct and widely accepted. But I personally think 勇 looks better than 勇氣(or 勇気).
As to the other characters, there seem to be no problem as these two ppl above say.
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