武士道 bushidō Way of the Warrior

武士道 is the way a samurai must keep: his conduct, and the honor that stands or falls with it. 道 is a way in the sense of 茶道 and 書道: the practice and conduct that belong to a calling. Read that way, the word asks something of the person who chooses it.

武士道 is composed of the kanji 武 (read bu) meaning "martial, military, warrior, arms", 士 (read shi) meaning "samurai; gentleman" and 道 (read dō) meaning "the way; teachings".

The word is first known from the 甲陽軍鑑, the military chronicle of the Takeda house, known in a manuscript copy with a colophon of 1621 and first printed in 1656; the sense of a national code of ethics, which English renders as chivalry, was given to it in the 1880s and 1890s.

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