Psychological Aspects of Training in Japanese Warriors

The paper focuses on psychological aspects in the training of Japanese warriors (bushi) at martial arts academies and in samurai families. To prevent and overcome the negative consequences of stressful situations, the martial arts academies developed special training methods that involved various psychophysical practices, ideological instruction, cultivation of specific attitudes to life and death, different individual psychopractices. Basing on the source analysis, the author attempts to highlight the main features and key principles of the psychological training of the warriors; reviews the influence of religions on such training and the evolution of its methods — from shamanic practices to practices of working with consciousness; and, finally, analyses the specifics of ideological propaganda, the meaning of psychological attitudes and the practical applications of the "Bushido code".

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