Di writing ini aku ngambil topik tentang giri dari cerita Chusingura.
Loyalty Based on Chûshingura Story and Islamic
Values
Kanadehon Chûshingura
(The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), popularly known as Chûshingura, is a Japanese puppet play (bunraku [文楽]
or ningyō jōruri [人形浄瑠璃] ) written by Takeda
Izumo II, Miyoshi Shôraku, and Namiki Sôsuke in 1748 . The story is mainly
about loyalty and revenge
story, based upon events that occurred at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
At Edo Castle, Asano Naganori, the lord of Ako (now part of Hyogo Prefecture), drew
his sword against Kira Yoshinaka, the shogun's chief of protocol. The shogun
immediately ordered Asano to commit suicide and omitted Asano's domain. Because
of that, about 300 retainers suddenly
found themselves out of a job. But, this incident did not mean the end of their
loyalty to Asano. In December of the following year, 47 of the masterless
samurai, led by Oishi Kuranosuke, avenged the death of their lord by slaying
Kira. The men then gave themselves up to the shogunate, and a few weeks later
were ordered to commit suicide. This story then was adapted into bunraku which Ko no Moronô represents
Kira Yoshinaka, Enya Hangan Takasada represents Asano Naganori and Oboshi
Yuranosuke represents Oishi Kuranosuke.
What
makes this story really popular is
that Japanese audiences
admire the characteristic of giri
that is shown by the retainers to their masters.
Giri, or
loyalty, is the
principal ethic of bushido (the way of the warrior). According to Ruth Benedict in her book “The
Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture”, giri has many meanings : forcing someone
to take revenge and to commit suicide in order to purify his name, killing
himself, his family, and his life for the sake of honor, self-control, self-esteem,
loyal and willing to die for the sake of his master.” The idea of Chûshingura focuses on the last meaning,
loyalty to the master even the master already died. “Griffis was quiet right in
stating that whereas in China Confucian ethics made obedience to parents the
primary human duty, in Japan precedence was given to loyalty…,” (Nitobe,83).
Concept of giri was also introduced
by Yamaga Soko in some of his books dealing with "the warrior’s
creed" (bukyō) and "the way
of the gentleman" (shidō).
According to review by Columbia University’s scholar, Yamaga Soko emphasizes
that devotion to duty as the most important aspect of a samurai’s life and
believed that the samurai class should assume moral leadership in society.
Here,
the writer picks up three names among all characters which are appeared in Chûshingura to be evaluated. They are
Kakogawa Honzo Yukikuni, Wakanosuke’s chief retainer ; Hayano Kampei, Enya’s
retainer; and Oboshi Yuranosuke, Enya’s chief retainer.
Firstly,
let us evaluate Kakogawa Honzo Yukikuni who
is Wakanosuke’s chief retainer. Wakanosuke told Honzo that he
wanted to kill Moronô and asked Honzo not to do anything to stop his plan.
Honzo just said that he really supported Wakanosuke’s idea. However, as soon as
Wakanosuke departs, Honzô disobeys his master and rushes to Moronô’s mansion to
arrange for an apology from Moronô. He bribed Moronô in order to avoid any
incidents which might occur later on such as the enforced suicide of
Wakasanosuke and the confiscation of all his assets. In the writer’s point of view, Honzo
is not a loyal samurai because his action, bribing someone, does not reflect
moral values that samurai should have. Samurai has many honorable values which are held in his
daily life and bribing is not one of
them. Actually Honzo’s purpose is good because he just wanted to protect his
master. But if he is really loyal to his master, he would respect Wakanosuke’s
decision, obey his master’s words, and take the consequences of his master’s
action. Is not bribing the same as lying to his master?
How
about Hayano Kampei, one of Enya’s retainer? At first he wished to kill himself
by way of apology for neglecting
his duty to dally with Okaru begged
him to go her home together and Kampei finally agreed because he was really
ashamed for not being able to protect his master. In fact, we often see this
kind of behavior in daily life for instance some Japanese prime ministers resigned
before his tenure runs out because he felt
he was incompetent to do the duty as a good prime minister and may be this is one of values held by Japanese people demonstrate their responsibility. But, the writer thinks this
action is not the right way to show loyalty. If Kampei was really loyal then at
least he would choose to stay beside his master even after he did wrong. Even though
in the end he was happy because
he
managed
to have his name included among along with the other retainers involved in the
vendetta before he died, it would be
better if since beginning he could pay his mistake by supporting Enya Hangan and
not even once leaving him.
The
last character here is Oboshi Yuranosuke, Enya’s chief retainer, which is the
leader of the vendetta. This character demonstrate the real meaning of giri or loyalty. Because since
beginning, he maintained his master’s
dying wish to be avenged on Moronô and he tried by all means such as gathering
other retainers and arranging strategy in order to complete that mission. He
even left his wife and his son in order to be concentrate in his duty. His choice waiting for almost two years and
spending time in the pleasure quarters before killing Ko no Moronô is a smart
way to disguise the actual mission. He just prepared well the whole plans so
that in the day everything went perfectly. It was a pride for him after killing Moronô
and placing the head of Moronô at the Enya’s grave even he knew that he had to
commit seppuku after doing all of these.
The
ethic of giri or loyalty can be found
also in Islamic values. Walaa’
(loyalty, allegiance) is amongst the key concepts of the Islamic aqeedah which
every Muslim must understand and hold close to their hearts. In essence it
means the loyalty to Allah, to His Messenger and to the believers. As samurai’s
loyalty to his master, His Messenger,Prophet Muhammad, also have many
companions who are very faithful, loyal, and sincere to him. For instance is
the story below which shows how loyal His companion to Him. One day the holy Prophet
was saying His prayers in the Kaba. Abu Jahl and some other chiefs of Makkah
were sitting in the courtyard of the Kaba. “I must finish with Muhammad today,”
said Abu Jahl. So saying, he took a long piece of cloth. He put it around the
holy Prophet’s neck then twisted it hard. Abu Bakr, one of His companion,
happened to see this from a distance. He at once ran to the help of the Prophet.
Thereupon Abu Jahl and the other enemies of Islam beat Abu Bakr very badly. He
did not regain his sense for several hours. And when he did come to himself,
the first question he asked was, “Is the Prophet well?” Abu Bakr did not care
about his own suffering. He was glad that he was able to save the Prophet’s
life.
From
the story above, we know that the companion is really loyal to Prophet
Muhammad. He even did not ignore his condition because no matter how he should
protect the Prophet and he was willing to die for Him. Even after Prophet
Muhammad died, His companions still held His words and continued spreading His
message. So actually, giri and walaa’ share quite similar value, that is loyal to your master.
This loyalty remains forever even the master already died and it could be
demonstrated in various ways in form of protecting the master or maintaning and
applying the master’s values throughout his life. The main difference between
these two ethics probably is that in walaa’,
there is no revenge or suicide to purify either your name or your master’s name.
References:
Benedict,Ruth.1967. The Chrysanthemum And the Sword:
Patterns of Japanese Culture.Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt.
Nitobe,
Inazo. 2007. Bushido:The Soul of Japan. Minneapolis: Filiquarian
Publishing LLC.
No comments:
Post a Comment