Shogun: Honor Without Love

 

Shogun has reached the halfway period, at now five episodes out of ten. The series continues to be captivating, but it was Episode 5: Broken to the Fist that highlights the differences between Feudal Japanese culture and Christian European culture. John Blackthorne, the Marooned English Pilot and now Hamato under Lord Yoshii Toranaga hangs a pheasant up to preserve the meat, remove the water from the meat and increase the flavor. His Japanese servants find this repellent, a people who live on Sushi and fast cooked meals, and one old man who Blackthrone comes to like takes it down but because The English Pilot was believed to have given an order not to take it down, commits ritual suicide (seppeku). Blackthrone is shocked and broken hearted at this, “he died for a damn bird, what a waste.” Mariko tries to convince him that this was a good death, but Blackthorne finally protests and tells her how all these polite bows, manners, honor, and death cult is a prison, that they do not value life, nor do they live their lives as individuals but as slaves to the memory of others or the living tyranny of their customs. This brings me to what The Samurai can be summed up as: honor without love, and manners at the expense of man; that is following traditions and customs to the point they are more valuable than an old man’s life, and Blackthrone like I would have chaffed under being told all the time, “that is not appropriate,” any time he tries to give a gift, do an act of kindness, comfort someone, show compassion, and even try to honor someone they mock him for his lack of decorum and spit on his gifts with words. Even when Blackthorne after an earthquake leaps into fray to save Lord Toranaga, Mariko and Toranaga are worried about losing swords, and do not properly thank The Englishman, I know that the Samurai believed their swords to be their soul, but Blackthrone is constantly chastised and chided for not understanding their culture, and these Japanese natives forget he is their guest / prisoner, and has his own customs and beliefs; and rather than forbear his mistakes and see his heart is in right place, they mistreat him. 

John Blackthrone finally breaks from trying to be polite, since its futile when everyone tells you that you are doing it wrong, ironic since the Spanish, Portuguese, and Jesuits are never expected to live up to the impossible standards of the Japanese Feudal System. In a touching scene in the aftermath of the earthquake, Blackthorne raises a black stone in the Zen garden that the old man who killed himself over taking down the pheasant had put up. Blackthrone shows a care and love for this old man who wastefully destroyed  himself in this culture of death. You see the distinction as the Japanese in this era are like the Russian eggs with another person in another person, always hiding their true thoughts and emotions (The Eightfold Fence), playing life like chess and valuing customs over compassion for people. It is John Blackthorne, a Protestant who acts like Christ, he loves his enemy, literally in passion with Mariko, by saving Lord Toranaga, and even showing restraint to Mariko’s abusive husband who survives in a suprising reveal in the episode, and is upset he lived and didn’t die glorious in battle. You see the strain of the insane death culture of the Samurai breaking people, a chivalry to the extreme that values death in battle and seppeku over learning from failures to become a better warrior and strategist; although the higher up lords seem to get to away with shirking these demands like Toranaga who refuses to commit Seppeku over betraying the Council of Regents; you start to wonder if the death cult of honor is to control the lower castes, while the upper nobility gets exemptions and can be hypocrites and do as they please; Toranaga often circumvents the demands of their Samurai Code due to his senior station, while youths, including Tornaga’s son are chastised for not being strict in the wisdoms of their honor-death culture. Toranaga even looks frustrated when Blackthrone saves his life, expelling dirt from his throat from being buried alive by the earthquake; we see the collision of two worlds, the Christian that values life and follows, “The Way, The Truth, and the Life,” (John 14:6) and the Pagan Samurai that values death and honor in bows, titles, esteems, and gestures that belong in plays & musicals not real life. The enchantment of Feudal Japan is llifted by episode five, as we see how daft the people are. Mariko tells Blackthorne “ that he values freedom above all else,” and she calls that his prison, but in truth you can see she and the mad world of the rising Shogun is the prision, as everyone lives in fear of offending or losing their honor, youths ready to throw themselves on swords for mistakes. What a waste as Blackthorne so eloquently puts it. It is not difficult to see why Japan has been hard to reach for Christ, for thousands of years they worshipped death, and perfection, when Christianity teaches we are to have an abundant life, “I came to give you an abundant life,” (John 10:10) and Jesus conquered Death, “What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” (Hebrews 2:9-11, 14-15). Christ and his apostles also tell us perfectionism is a waste, we are all sinners who fail, and it is by Christ’s grace and mercy we are saved, not by our own efforts, “The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But some of you do not believe me” (John 6:63-65 NLT). This is hard for the Japanese to swallow then and now due to perfectionism; for even now people in Japan who fail at their work re shunned and prefer to commit seppeku to being treated as if they do not exist by peers when they make a work related mistake. The doctrine of Total Depravity, that we are tainted by sin from our ancestors, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”  (Romans 5:13), that even saved by faith in Jesus we still are sinning, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”, (Romans 7:15-24), and that we still go to the Lord and repent and are forgiven, “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin— But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world— if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:2, and 1 John 1:9) is a stark contrast to Bushido and perfectionism of the Samurai Death Cult. A Samurai in shame slays himself, a Christian takes their shame, and asks for God to forgive it and He will because He paid the price on cross for all sin and knows, “the spirit is willing, but the (sinful) flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:43). The Christian attitude is, “Even if good people fall seven times, they will get back up. But when trouble strikes the wicked, that's the end of them,” (Proverbs 24:16 CEV) and “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven..” (Matthew 18:20-21). Jesus said, “be merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful,” (Luke 6:36) and “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7) but there is no mercy in the Shogun’s world, only honor that crushes without love, for love is only found in God, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. For God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him,” (1 John 4:16) and “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son Jesus and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Jesus lays an example for people like Blackthrone to serve and sacrifice to save others, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” (John 15:13), whie Toranaga and Mariko are about sacrifcing themselves if they fail, and serving a harsh code of honor and life that is little better than death. 

Honor without love is a harsh taskmaster. If you have not love and impose a chivalry that demands morals and manners without compassion, and mercy, you have something that is worse than savagry, a system that crushes people with demands, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger,” (Matthew 23:4), rather than the light yoke of Jesus, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). 

With all its beauty, the kimonos, flags, arched roof houses, and gardens, Japan in Feudal Era was a giant Alcatraz, with people enslaved to one another over a death cult and fealty to lords, even the memory of dead ones.  The romanticizing of The Samurai and Feudal Japan has always been stripped by this series, even in Richard Chamberlain version. You get to see a stark contrast between  a Christian culture that values life with a Pagan one that values death. And when you see how strict and lacking in mercy over manners and behavior the Japanese of those times were, you can understand why they preferred death, life being a misery of never being good enough; a perfectionism to destroy the human spirit. Thanks Be to our Lord God that we do not have to be perfect, but Jesus was perfect for us!, “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained..” (Hebrews 7:26), “But with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:19). Amen.