ST Jedi = Samurai?

I can't quite say I agree with your interpretation of Hagakure. The violence is in the context of war and strife. "Attachment" is also not exactly the best word, much more so loyalty. The samurai were not even supposed to be attached to their own lives, they were supposed to live as if already dead.

But yes, as mentioned the samurai are only one partial reflection of the jedi, there were other beliefs mixed in there too.

 

Gimu is the ultimate expression of attachment, not in the form of affection, but in the form of personal loyalty. It means your whole life, your whole self, belongs to somebody else. That is against the Jedi Code.

The Hagakure glorifies violence outside warfare. It praises damyos who got their sons used to bloodshed by making them kill animals while they were little boys, then moving to prisioners when they were in their early teens. It encourages samurai to unsheath their swords and kill anybody for the slightest offense, and then killing themselves to avoid the shame of being captured and punished. It literally says "when in doubt, always commit suicide".
In one of the examples two samurai accidently clash their sheathed swords while walking; one demands reparation, and the other tries to defuse the situation apologizing and claiming that it was an accident; the first samurai, realizing that he isn't going to get a fight but that it would be shameful to strike a friendly peer who has humbly apologized, kills himself, because he can't bear the thought of people thinking that he let an insult pass unpunished.
That is completely opposite to the Jedi Code.

At the end of the day, the only similarities are of style. You could probably check the rules of the Jedi Order one by one, and they would be all the opposite to the bushido, save the part about humbly listening to your Jedi Masters, and the bit about not seeking worldly riches.

That said, George Lucas probably didn't know a thing about the Bushido, and he may have thought that samurai really were kinda like his Jedi, who knows.

 

I am not able to immediately recall the passages you are talking about, but two things: 1) Your summary is clearly missing important cultural nuances and 2) Yes, from what I recall there were certainly some passages in Hagakure that seem problematic from a Western moralistic perspective, but there is a great deal of other moral guidelines in the book that you can see adapted by the Jedi - and not just in serving your master. The entire philosophy of a dedicated, single focus and unrelenting determination, not just in battle but in the way of life, I think are two of the closest similarities.

I also don't remember exactly "when in doubt, always commit suicide," but something similar (in a way), where he talks about a samurai always being ready to surrender his life, and if there is a choice, to always choose death or "rush toward death" or something of the sort. That is quite different from the meaning you are suggesting, however, and is not so much a literal directive as it is a poetical, exaggerated call for courage in the face of death. I mean I can understand how the translated wording can be problematic if taken too literally, but it certainly was not supposed to suggest carelessly throwing away your life for nothing. Tsunetomo certainly would not have lived into his 60s if that was his actual philosophy.

Also as you noted, Hagakure is simply one famous samurai's understanding of bushido, it certainly can't be used as an "official" representation of the entire philosophy.

 

It was the passage about a young samurai killing another because of some offense, and then, not sure about what was the right thing to do next, going to his father's home and asking for advice. His father praises his behaviour, and then tells him to commit seppuku, literally saying "when in doubt, always commit seppuku".

I might have missed some cultural nuances, and I may be focusing on the most negative bits now, but the point is, the Bushido (or at least that version) and the Jedi Code are completely different to each other.

 

Keep in mind that what we call "Bushido" was essentially invented in the late 19th century by a Japanese Christian by the name of Nitobe Inazo. Inazo was enamoured of Chivalry and wrote a highly romanticised history of the samurai in which he created a code he called "Bushido". No such singular code ever existed.

In any case, the Jedi seem to be based on Shaolin Monks, and even dress like them.

 

Shaolin Monks dress quite differently from Samurai and they often shave their heads. The Jedi costumes are definitely more Samurai Japanese in style with the many layers etc. Heck, Obi = belt (but you know that.) Now as far as adopting some practices from the Shaolin Monks (yes, I think so.)

Well the Jedi were samurai, yes. And the Kurosawa point has been well established by those who know their AK films.

I don't think I've seen a ronin yet in the SW films, but I could be wrong.

I'll just add there's a difference between homage and copying (frankly, I'm not sure what Quentin Tarantino does any more. And I still prefer the films he's aping over his own works), Lucas starting out copying Hidden Fortress, but ultimately made the first Star Wars more of his own thing. What Abrams did was a lot of mirroring and tweaking from the old EU and whatever else TFA was.

 

The word "Bushido" existed before that. But there wasn't a single "Bushido manual" to follow. Every clan had their own "house rules" that were orally transmitted, and from the XVI century onwards some scholars started to write manuals: The Tokugawa had the Bukhe-sho-hatto written in 1615 by Suden, a zen monk; Daideti Yuzan, a ronin who taught military strategy and who served the Asano, the Matsudaira of Aizu, the Matsudaira of Fukui and others wrote the Budo-shin-shu in 1686, and Yamamoto Tsunetomo wrote the Hagakure in 1716, inspired by the teachings of an old samurai, Tashiro Tsuramoto.

The book I have read is the Hagakure. It seems that it's based on the orally transmitted "house rules" of the Nabeshima clan.

As I said, the Jedi are based on the style and the image of the samurai, not in their beliefs and honor code. The Jedi are basically a mix of the Shaolin monks from Wuxia and Kung Fu movies and the modern, romantizised vision of Arthurian knights, dressed as samurai.

 

I actually think the Sith are closer to the Samurai from time of Oda Nobunaga. The emphasis on power and asserting your strength, and sparring no one, even women and children (a la Death Star) is how Samurai and they’re daiymo were before the Civil Wars ended. The Civil War Japan period of 130yrs is very Sith like. The Jedi are more akin to 250yrs of peace Samurai that came after Shogun Ieyesu who ended the civil wars, and from then on Samurai with no wars to fight developed codes of honor, philosophy, and self perfection.

-Source, Age of Samurai, Netflix

 

I always thought of the Jedi as being closer to the Sohei or even Ninja, especially after they are defeated and go into hiding.