Shudō

Shudō (衆道), the tradition of love bonds between a seasoned and a novice samurai was held to be "the flower of the samurai spirit" and formed the real basis of the samurai aesthetic for some of the high ranking Samurai class. Even amongst the high ranking samurai, it was in the minority. This practice is commonly believed to have originated from the beliefs in Bushido, beliefs which many speculate originally stemmed from those Buddhist Monks that initially influenced the earliest tenets of Bushido. It was analogous to the educational Greek pederasty and an honored and important practice in samurai society for part of the higher class samurai. It was one of the main ways in which the ethos and the skills of the samurai tradition were passed down from one generation to another.[citation needed]

Another name for the bonds was bidō (美道 "the beautiful way"). The devotion that two samurai would have for each other would be almost as great as that which they had for their daimyo. Indeed, according to contemporary accounts, the choice between his lover and his master could become a philosophical problem for samurai. It should be noted that bidō also was a term for a close friendship that was often not sexual, but sempai and kohai. Hagakure and other samurai manuals gave specific instructions in the way that this tradition was to be carried out and respected. There has been some debate as to whether Yamamoto Tsunetomo agreed with this or if it was the scribe that added it to favor some future readers. After the Meiji Restoration and the introduction of a more westernised lifestyle, the practice died out after being in decline since the 1400s.

Beside its proponents, the shudo tradition also had its critics, like the "Keichu Kibun Makurabunko" written in the Edo era by the pseudonymous Insaisen, who is clearly critical.