Abstract
In 1600, after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, victory at the Battle of Sekigahara confirmed Tokugawa Ieyasu as the new lord of the realm. The Tokugawa state, so imbued with respect for “military prowess”, necessarily gave birth to intellectual discourse or thought surrounding the culture of the military man, the samurai, often taking the form of heigaku, the study of military affairs, or, more figuratively, the way of the warrior. This chapter seeks to delineate the intellectual history of heigaku (the study of military affairs); in addition, it will inquire into the logic of bushido (the way of the warrior) that governed the ethics of individual members of the samurai class. The Warring States period, before Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu succeeded in unifying the country, was an age of rampant warfare, pillaging, and plundering. In order to maintain peace through military force, the Tokugawa state boasted of its military prowess and majesty.