Klingons, Jedi, and Gunslingers:

The Influence of Bushido in Western Media

We picture warriors, standing proudly in a bloody battle field. The glint of a sword catches our eye as the honorable warrior flicks the blood from his blade and sheaths it. He stands solemnly in an open field, the wind whispering softly, rustling the warrior’s topknot and robes. Trees and rice bend and bow in unison. The warrior is standing for what is right, preserving justice. These images come easily to Americans. For decades we have held the idea of the noble Samurai warrior in our mind’s eye, picturing their glorious battles, their inner struggles, and their noble deeds. Such images almost have no need for description. They come to us at the mere mention of the Samurai warrior, because for years we have seen them in action in film. We have heard the myths and legends of their ideologies and nobility, from Japanese media. However, these images are not limited to old Samurai movies and anime. Samurai ethics permeate our society not only through Japanese media, but through Western media as well, especially with regard to the ideation of a fearless warrior facing death eagerly.

Contrary to popular belief, the Samurai did not have a glamorous genesis. These humble warriors began as hired labor for nobility. The early Samurai were not men of honor and nobility, but mercenaries, hired and paid to protect their lords. Men with skill with the sword or bow set out to find work, and thus a new class was born. (McClain, 7-10) The nobles used these mercenaries to protect themselves from usurpation by other families, and soon the Samurai were a warrior class with the duty to protect their family. Soon the state was utilizing the skills of these warriors to enforce the laws of the peasants, and over a period of approximately three centuries, the role of the Samurai evolved from a position based on hiring to one of duty. (Collcutt, 5)

Likewise, the evolution of the Samurai from mercenaries to nobility is largely credited to the incorporation of Zen Buddhism into the Bushido. Zen Buddhism gives life to courage in the Samurai ethic. “When you are at the parting of the ways, do not hesitate to choose the way to death. No special reason for this except that your mind is thus made up and ready to see to the business. . . .We all prefer life to death, and our planning and reasoning will be naturally for life. If then you miss the object and are alive, you really are a coward. . . .When your determination to die at any moment is thoroughly established, you attain perfect mastery of Bushido, your life will be faultless, and your duties will be fully discharged.” (Suzuki, 73) This concept of dying before admitting cowardice is in some ways the ideal ethic for the hero. The phrase “I will do this or die trying” is something most people cannot hope to live up to, therefore placing this ethic as something noble and above what most can hope to attain raises the Samurai to an almost mythic status.

This ideal ethic is fascinating to the typical modern person. In a time of selfishness and interest in personal gain, this moral code is an enigma. It is no small wonder why Americans are fascinated by this unique culture. Japanese feudal society, so outwardly similar to the time of feudal Europe, but so essentially different is a curiosity for some, an obsession for others. Samurai are an ideal, portrayed in movies and animation for years, both in Japanese cinema, and American. Countless Samurai films have been translated or subtitled in English for Western audiences including Throne of Blood, Harakiri, Yojimbo, Seven Samurai and countless others. Likewise, to the American subcultures dedicated to Japanese animation, Samurai anime such as Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai 7, and Samurai Champloo are staples to the fans’ collections. Though there is a great deal in interest in Samurai in its pure forms (Japanese cinema and anime), the influence of Samurai culture is also apparent in modern Western media.

Asian media has often attracted Western viewers, so it is no surprise that these images have been adopted in some ways into Western media. There are the obvious transpositions of Samurai into American media, such as the film The Last Samurai, but further influence can be noted in popular media, namely the popular franchises of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. All three contain warrior peoples obviously based on the Samurai, and the latter was openly borrowed from Kurasawa’s Seven Samurai.

Star Trek, the wildly popular science fiction series written by Gene Roddenberry, is not something we would generally associate with Samurai. Set in space, on a star ship, with multiple races operating within what is supposedly a utopian society, just about the last image conjured would be one of feudal Japan. To the uneducated (i.e. non-Trekkie) eye, this is yet another science fiction series, but to those who understand the intricacies, there is a wealth of Samurai related material. The Klingon race, probably the best known, most jested part of the series, is a society based wholly on battle, ritual, and honor. In the Klingon society, family and the honor therein comes above all. Children are raised up to learn the art of battle with traditional weapons, to submit to authority and follow their leaders into death. The Klingon people follow strict rituals for birth, mating, living, fighting, and even death.

Possibly the most important example of the similarities of Samurai and Klingon is in the death ritual. Death is not considered to be an end, but an inevitability that one not only accepts with grace, but eagerly awaits. One of the most famous lines by the series’ resident Klingon character, Worf, suggests the eagerness felt by the Klingon society at the prospect of death. When death seems almost certain, Worf proudly declares: “Perhaps today is a good day to die!” (Star Trek: First Contact) As we have learned from Suzuki’s article on Zen and Samurai, death is something to be prepared for in any situation.

Likewise, the Jedi of George Lucas’ Star Wars films were a contemplative group charged with peace keeping. By harnessing the power of the force, the Jedi are able to battle nobly and protect the people of the galaxy. “Jedi are selfless, they think outwards. They think of others before themselves.” (Star Wars: Episode III) The Jedi society is based on a hierarchy, including apprentices, full Jedi, and Master Jedi, as well as a Council. This sort of hierarchy can be interpreted as related to the Samurai system of Samurai, Daimyo, and Shogun. The Jedi light saber is another important aspect of the Jedi life. This light sword is a weapon only to be used by those warriors. The Jedi live by a specific code of ethics that can be related to the Zen beliefs of the Samurai. In the Samurai code of ethics, it is said: “There is no death; there is only the force.” (Star Wars) Once again, the absence of a fear of death is yet another strong link to the Samurai ethic of Bushido. The implications of such blatant borrowing are profound, implying that Bushido has played an important role in the development of popular Western media in developing our view of heros.

Similarly, the world of the Gunslingers in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series is yet another obvious demonstration of Samurai culture and ethics. Gunslingers were protectors in the land of Gilead, a lush and prosperous land. Young Gunslingers-to-be are trained by older Gunslingers, and if they pass the tests of strength, strategy, and honor, they are gifted with the guns of their fathers, described as guns with “big, Sandalwood grips” that are referred to as “the guns of our fathers.” (Wizard and Glass) They live by a code of ethics that closely dictates their actions. In Wolves of the Calla, Roland, the father-figure of the small group of Gunslingers (the last Gunslingers), accepts the charge to protect Calla Byrn Sturgis not because of offers of payment, but out of obligation to duty to help those weaker. Throughout the books there are further references about dying rather than giving up, protecting the weak, and always following the code of the Gunslingers, even though Gilead was long gone. These concepts are clearly, and admittedly, inspired by Samurai ethics, and are undeniably recognizable as foreign, yet integrated concepts.

In the same way that Bushido and societal ideals were borrowed from Japanese culture, there was more direct influence in other ways. The film The Magnificent Seven was based directly on The Seven Samurai. Residents of a small town at the end of their rope contact hired guns to protect them from ruthless bandits. One of the most notable, and unexpected, borrowings in literature comes from the Dark Tower series.

In the fifth book of the Dark Tower series, Wolves of the Calla, a group of travelers called Gunslingers are approached by the residents of a small rural town called Calla Byrn Sturgis. Instead of stealing rice or food, the Wolves or bandits steal children: twins, to be precise. The Wolves take one of every set of the many twins in the Calla and return them “roont” or ruined. The four Gunslingers are joined by three women from the town, the Daughters of Oriza, to help fight the Wolves in a showdown in the rice fields. Stephen King openly credits The Seven Samurai for his inspiration for the book, saying: “Yet it should be pointed out that at least two sources for some of this material aren’t American at all. . . .Akira Kurosawa was, of course, Japanese. Would these books have been written without the cinematic legacy of Kurosawa, Leone, Peckinpah, Howard Hawks, and John Sturgis? Probably not without Leone. But without the others, I would argue there would be no Leone.” (Wolves of the Calla, 711) King admits that his story was inspired directly from what Kurasawa hoped would be a highly historically accurate film portraying Samurai Culture. Over and over we see this borrowing of Japanese ideas in Western media.

Again, we picture the Samurai, the strong warrior. We picture what would have historically been: the traditional garb, the topknot and swords, and the honor of the warrior. However, because of these warriors, we can also picture a proud Klingon or a skilled shooter, the Gunslingers, or Jedi Knights, icons all familiar to us not as references directly to Samurai, but as honorable warriors following specific ethics, giving up their livelihoods, and even lives, to protect others. It is expected that Japanese media would make its way into American culture. More surprising is how the culture and media have influenced our own media, our own creativity and ideas, into something new, but reliably and undeniably based in Bushido and the way of the Warrior.

Citations:

Collcutt, Martin (1996). The "Emergence of the Samurai" and The Military History of Early in Japan in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 56, No. 1., 151-164.

King, Stephen (2003). The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. Scribner.

King, Stephen (2003). The Dark Tower V: The Wolves of the Calla. Scribner.

McClain, J. (2002). The Tokugawa Polity. Japan: A Modern History. New York, WW

Norton.

Suzuki, D. T. (1973). Selections. Zen and Japanese Culture. New York, Princeton/Bollingen.

Star Trek: First Contact (2005). Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart

Star Wars: Episode III (2005). George Lucas, Ewan McGregor

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