Virtues

Yu (Courage)

Bushido Virtues

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Yu (Courage)." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/virtues/yu-courage.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Yu (Courage). Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/virtues/yu-courage

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-yu-courage,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Yu (Courage)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/virtues/yu-courage},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The second of Inazo Nitobe's seven bushido virtues: courage exercised in a right cause, distinguished throughout Nitobe's account from mere recklessness or physical daring, which he treats as base rather than virtuous once detached from Gi, rectitude. True valor, in this reading, is doing what is right without regard for one's own safety. How far this specific formulation reflects genuine Edo-period or earlier samurai teaching, against how far it reflects Nitobe's own turn of the century synthesis for an international readership, is debated among historians of Japan.

Facts

Origins

Place of Origin

Japan; codified in Nitobe's English language text, written while he lived in the United States. 1

Origin of the Name

Japanese yu, courage or valor, the second of the seven virtues Inazo Nitobe names and defines in Bushido: The Soul of Japan, written in English in 1900. 1

Attributed Author / Compiler

Named and defined by Inazo Nitobe in Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1900), who distinguishes courage sharply from reckless daring and subordinates it to Gi, rectitude, as the standard of a right cause. 1

Language

Japanese 1

Status

Status Within the Tradition

Standard teaching, not formally defined 1

Doctrinal Status Detail

The second of Nitobe's seven bushido virtues, alongside Gi, Jin, Rei, Makoto, Meiyo and Chugi; Nitobe holds courage without rectitude is not truly virtue, citing the Confucian teaching that to see what is right and not to do it is want of courage. 1

Attestation

Meaning in the Attesting Source

Courage exercised in a right cause, valor subordinated to and measured by rectitude rather than fearlessness or recklessness alone. 1

Disputed

Origin Period

Nitobe's codified seven-virtue scheme dates to his 1900 book; whether it reflects a continuous samurai ethic reaching back through Edo-period house codes and texts such as the Hagakure, or is substantially Nitobe's own Meiji-era synthesis for a Western readership, is a genuinely contested question among historians of Japan. 2

Cross-Tradition Connections