““In historical reality, bushido was not a codified set of beliefs, despite Inazo Nitobe’s well-intentioned effort to interpret his own nation’s social background for a Western audience through such a proxy. 2 In fact, the concept could not have existed during the heyday of the samurai, the Warring States Period (roughly 1467–1573 ce), because archipelago-wide, multigenerational warfare was the direct result of a total lack of federated identity. There simply was no Japan and, therefore, no Japanese identity for the samurai to guard.””
