Bushi? Where did this term come from??

irondog068 · Post by **irondog068** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 2:46 pm

I have been looking and never found the term "Bushi". I have seen Bushido and never seen it shorten to "Bushi". Is this like the Brits calling S-Boats E-Boats during WW2.

Irondog

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:10 pm

I thought Bushido was the code and a Bushi someone that follows the code

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:58 pm

Well that source of all knowledge (or not as the case may be) Wikipedia has the following in its Samurai entry:

By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi (武士), and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class. The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō.

Must admit that although I've come across it a few times I have no idea of whether it is, in reality, a contemporary term. Karl Friday uses it regularly in his book "Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan" (which is on Google Books, so perhaps a search there will help you?).

karakhanid · Post by **karakhanid** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 4:07 pm

I have been looking and never found the term "Bushi". I have seen Bushido and never seen it shorten to "Bushi".

Bushi = Warrior
Do = Path, Way.
Bushi-do= Path of the Warrior

irondog068 · Post by **irondog068** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 4:30 pm

I know what Bushido means and I know the Bushido code.
I just have not seen the term Bushi referring to troops. I will have to add that book to my library since most of my study is from 1500 on.

Irondog

grahambriggs · Post by **grahambriggs** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 5:05 pm

I'd assumed it was the Beach Boys.

If everybody had an ocean
Across the U.S.A.
Then everybody'd be surfin'
Like californ-I-A
You'd see 'em wearin' their baggies
Huarachi sandals, too
A bushi bushi blonde hairdo
Surfin' U.S.A.

timmy1 · Post by **timmy1** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 7:09 pm

I do hope you are ashamed of yourself Graham...

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 7:26 pm

irondog068 wrote:I know what Bushido means and I know the Bushido code.
I just have not seen the term Bushi referring to troops. I will have to add that book to my library since most of my study is from 1500 on.

Irondog

If you know Bushido means Warrior Path it seems strange that you cannot refernce that to Bushi as warrior.

irondog068 · Post by **irondog068** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 7:33 pm

not at all,
I have just never seen the term Bushi refer to units of Japanese troop. I have seen Samurai, Samurai with Retainers, Sohei, and Ashigaru but never have I read something like "Usengi took 2000 Bushi to attack the castle". I have read something like "Kato lead the defense with 1200 Samurai, 600 Ashigaru with 150 Sohei monks from a nearby temple.

Just seems a odd term to use in the late list

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 7:37 pm

Ah, sort of like saying Varangian legionaries

irondog068 · Post by **irondog068** » Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:02 am

Yes sort of.

expendablecinc · Post by **expendablecinc** » Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:38 am

philqw78 wrote:I thought Bushido was the code and a Bushi someone that follows the code

Yes just like Kendo - being the martial art of seduction - practiced by Barbie's worldwide

Jilu · Post by **Jilu** » Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:33 pm

Bushi.

literal translation:

men who hide in the bushes

what they do there is left to your imagination

irondog068 · Post by **irondog068** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 9:55 pm

well it makes more scenes than using as the name for the army list.

And they are medium foot so they are good in the bush