I picked up this book to learn more about the country I began living in 6 years ago. I was surprised to learn, instead, more about my own past and culture. Nitobe Inazo was a philosopher, a traveler, a debater, and a Christian Quaker. One would hardly imagine with those titles attributed to him that he would also become one of the most renown writers on the subject of the Traditional Japanese Samurai Code of Ethics.
A humbling reminder, that the concepts of Right and Wrong, are not only still able to be translated across cultures, but that many of us who were raised to think we came from the only culture who truly understood such concepts, have been gravely misled.
The 7 Codes of the Samurai Ethic, as illustrated in rich detail in this book, are:
Righteousness
Courage
Benevolence
Politeness
Truthfulness
Honor
Loyalty