Multiple bushido types have existed through history. The code varied due to influences such as Zen Buddhism, Shinto, Confucianism as well as changes in society and on the battlefield. [41] [1] [42] The consistent ideal is martial spirit, including athletic, military skills and valor: fearlessness toward the enemy in battle. [41] [1] Bushido is a path that the samurai of each era pursued for their entire existence. Willmott, H.P. (1984). June 1944. Poole, United Kingdom: Blandford Press. p.213. ISBN 0-7137-1446-8.

Wert, Michael (2021-02-01). Samurai: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.35, 84. ISBN 978-0-19-068510-2. OCLC 1202732830. During this era the daimyo expanded their territory by force and strategy. Battles occurred frequently in various places. The purpose was to expand one's power. The killing of the enemy in a battle led to evaluation. Bushidō expanded and formalized the earlier code of the samurai, and stressed sincerity, frugality, loyalty, mastery of martial arts, and honour to the death. Under the bushidō ideal, if a samurai failed to uphold his honor he could only regain it by performing seppuku (ritual suicide). [41] The core of bushido consists of a combination of teachings from Japan's three main philosophical traditions: 1. Buddhist precepts of serenity, stoicism, and non-attachment to life. 2. Shinto notions of fidelity and patriotism, and 3. Confucian morality. [11] People imbued with bushi katagi ( 武士気質, lit. "samurai spirit") can serenely carry out their work in the face of any adversity, and have the willpower to master themselves. [11] Taira Shigesuke, Daidōji Yūzan wrote Bushido Shoshinshu (武道初心集) (pre-1730) which provides practical and moral instructions for samurai to improve personal, social and professional standards. [4]Lord Russell became involved in investigating the sensational A6 murder in rural Bedfordshire in August 1961 and the long-running debate that followed it. Japan enjoyed two and a half centuries of relative peace during the Edo period (1600 to the mid-19th century). Japan didn't have domestic or international conflict. These peaceful times in Tokugawa society enabled bushido to be refined from a focus on valor in battle to more moral integrity. [1]

A History of Law in Japan Until 1868 by Carl Steenstrup; Brill Academic Publishers;second edition (1996) ISBN 90-04-10453-4 Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shinto were each represented by a variety of schools, and elements of all three were commonly combined in Japanese culture and customs. As the embodiment of Samurai culture, bushido is correspondingly diverse, drawing selectively on elements of all these traditions to articulate the ethos and discipline of the warrior. [72]a b c d e f Gaskin, Carol; Hawkins, Vince. Breve historia de los samuráis (Juan Antonio Cebrián, trad.). London. Nowtilus S.L., 2004. Print. ISBN 8-49763-140-4. pg. 56.