The Three Qualities Essential to Bushido are Loyalty, Integrity and Courage

“The three qualities essential to Bushido are loyalty, integrity and courage.”

– Daidoji Yuzan

According to Daidoji Yuzan (1639-1730), who wrote the Budoshoshinshu: The Warrior’s Primer, when the three virtues of loyalty, integrity and courage were perfectly combined in one person, that person was a samurai of the highest quality. These are powerful principles and are extremely important to living with the Warrior’s Edge.

Yuzan also said, “It is easy to link these three in one breath, but a weighty matter to understand them in one’s heart and then put them into practice.” This is just as important today. It is even easier to give lip service to such ideas and character traits in our modern fast paced world, but without actually understanding in one’s heart and putting these traits into practice, one won’t really have the edge in life that the Warrior’s Edge is all about.  We have an edge because we do what others don’t. Yuzan also said about these qualities and those who understand them and put them into practice, “Thus, it has been said since ancient times that it is rare to find a samurai of the highest quality even among a hundred or a thousand warriors.”

Those who really want an edge in life, the Warrior’s Edge, will not only read the words on a picture and nod and say yes, but will actually contemplate the ideas and think about how they can manifest these character traits in their everyday lives. It is through this deeper understanding and putting them into practice that the power of living with these becomes clear. As Yuzan ended most of his chapters, these words are for the consideration of those who would be warriors.

Read more from the Budoshoshinshu: The Warrior’s Primer: