faced the fate, for revenge, for honor and loyalty. Shogun Tsunayoshi, the ruler of Japan in Genroku era, has passed Life Preservation Laws that make it illegal to
kill any living thing. Even, killing a dog was punishable by death. He did not want to kill the 47 samurai because he felt they were brave men who were following a
code, but his laws force him to sentence them to death honorably by doing seppuku
. Nowadays, in the modern era, their legend continues in drama, film, annual historical event, and even Japanese human principle one by one in their
real life. By considering of the statement above, “Loyalty, self-control and honor of
Bushido through the characteristics of Oishi Kuranosuke
in John Allyn’s The Forty Seven Ronin Story
” topic is chosen. The writer decided that how the characteristics of ideal samurai reflect Bushido code is worth to be discussed.
B. Problem Formulation
The writer considered that the clarity and the detail of analysis are important. Therefore, in conducting this analysis, there are two questions that can
be formulated. They are: 1.
How is Oishi Kuranosuke as the main character described? 2.
How are loyalty, self-control, and honor of Bushido seen through the characteristics of Oishi Kuranosuke?
C. Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to answer both questions stated in the problem formulation. Primarily, the writer will analyze the characterization of Oishi
Kuranosuke as the main character. Finally, the writer will analyze loyalty, self- control, and honor of Bushido through the characteristics of Oishi Kuranosuke.
This step is done to answer how are loyalty, self-control, and honor seen through the characteristics of Oishi Kuranosuke.
D. Definition of Terms
There are some terms used in relation to the topic of this thesis. It is important to understand the terms because the terms are essentially related to the
problem discussed. They are:
1. Character
Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction book states that the term character is used in two ways. Firstly, a character designates the individual present
in the story and, secondly, a character may refer to the description of attitudes, interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles of the individuals Stanton,
1965:17.
2. Loyalty
The term of loyalty for the samurai as Japanese military retainers is a strong feeling of a major ethical concept in Japanese culture, which has been
influenced both by Confucianism and feudal social structure to serve the lord till
the last drop of blood. The loyalty to the lord is the priority and that becomes inheritance and conscience of familial education in the capacity as the personal
retainer of military class. As Nitobe stated in The Soul of Japan, when a subject differed from his master, the loyal path for him to pursue was to use every
available means to persuade him of his error, as Kent did to King Lear. Failing in this, let the master deal with him as he wills. In cases of this kind, it was quite a
usual course for the samurai to make the last appeal to the intelligence and conscience of his lord by demonstrating the sincerity of his words with the
shedding of his own blood 1969:21.
3. Self-Control
Self-control is the characteristic of samurai that represents the genial current of the soul. It is very important because without a proper understanding, it
can cause the nature of samurai into distortion and monstrosities. Samurai is not allowed to show his feeling and emotion. Nitobe said that he shows no sign of joy
or anger. It related to the principle of a strong character of military figure, it was considered manly for a samurai to betray his emotion on his face 1969:25.
4. Honor
Honor is the principle which is given to the samurai, to take care of his or her own good name or reputation, since he is still in the mother’s womb. They
will never let someone’s name be scolded with or without purpose. Nitobe emphasized that honor and glory or meiyo is related to a personality and a good
name – one reputation, the immortal part of one’s self, and what remains being
bestial. It will become a big shame if someone cannot defend his or herself honor and glory 1969:220.
5. Bushido
The meaning of Bushido itself is: Bu refers to martial arts; Shi is warrior; Do
means the way. It was an ethical code and way of life for samurai, a high class of military nobility in the Japanese Feudal system. Bushido means literally
Military Knight Ways, the ways which fighting nobles should observe in their daily life as well as in
their vocation; in a word, the “Precepts of Knighthood,” the noblesse oblige of the warrior class 1969:4.
9
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter consists of four parts. They discuss all theories and studies as the basis on analyzing the novel. They are: previous studies, theory, the historical
background, and theoretical framework. Theoretical review gives the theory of character and characterizations; review of Japanese socio-cultural historical
background about the governmental in feudal era, the social class, and the explanation of Bushido code to guide the concept of samurai and ronin. The previous
studies present some opinions about some principles in Bushido code from several studies. Theoretical framework explains the reason of using some theories to analyze
the novel in this study. The last is concerning with the sources used in this study.
A. Review of Related Studies
Bushido is a normative system of ethical thought, a code of behavior that was
the first universal among the samurai and then in fact became the soul of Japanese citizen. The existence of samurai and
Bushido’s loyalty and honor sometimes became the controversial topic to be discussed. In the related studies, the writer tries to deliver
two different opinion related to the study. First opinion came from the journal of G. Cameron Hurst III entitled Death,
Honor, and Loyalty: The Bushido Ideal in Philosophy East and West said that:
