denounced as weakness, and, as such, highly dishonorable. As a matter of
fact, the idea of honesty is so intimately blended, and its Latin and
its German etymology so identified with



HONOR,

that it is high time I should pause a few moments for the consideration
of this feature of the Precepts of Knighthood.

The sense of honor, implying a vivid consciousness of personal dignity
and worth, could not fail to characterize the samurai, born and bred to
value the duties and privileges of their profession. Though the word
ordinarily given now-a-days as the translation of Honor was not used
freely, yet the idea was conveyed by such terms as _na_ (name)
_men-moku_ (countenance), _guai-bun_ (outside hearing), reminding us
respectively of the biblical use of "name," of the evolution of the term
"personality" from the Greek mask, and of "fame." A good name--one's
reputation, the immortal part of one's self, what remains being
bestial--assumed as a matter of course, any infringement upon its
integrity was felt as shame, and the sense of shame (_Ren-chi-shin_) was
one of the earliest to be cherished in juvenile education. "You will be
laughed at," "It will disgrace you," "Are you not ashamed?" were the
last appeal to correct behavior on the part of a youthful delinquent.
Such a recourse to his honor touched the most sensitive spot in the
child's heart, as though it had been nursed on honor while it was in its
mother's womb; for most truly is honor a prenatal influence, being
closely bound up with strong family consciousness. "In losing the
solidarity of families," says Balzac, "society has lost the fundamental