𝚁𝙾𝙽𝙸𝙽

bless this post.

I wanna add to this because the OP is so totally on point, and I want to clarify. This idea is not some vague notion that is not spoken of. It is named ‘giri’ and as quoted by Wikipedia to be         ‘a Japanese value roughly corresponding to “duty”, “obligation”, or even “burden of obligation” in English. It is defined as “to serve one’s superiors with a self-sacrificing devotion” by Namiko Abe.’ Basically, ‘giri’ is somewhere as integral as ‘life’s purpose’ and as everyday as ‘responsibility’. It is a social value that is bestowed upon you and becomes you. If you choose to live outside of it, you lose your honor, and losing your honor means that you fall out of society. Entirely. You become a no one, bereft of dignity and a place. No family, no friends. Completely cast out. Giri’s opposite counterpart is ninjou, which is human nature. IT is the feeling that drives you to act against your giri, for example to love outside of your social hierarchy, to follow your dreams, to rebel. The push and pull of giri and ninjou is a (exceedingly) common source of drama in Japanese literature. Genji decided to shed his giri and dishonored himself and the family. To restore the honor to the family, it is Hanzo’s giri to kill him. But more importantly, by exercising his giri Hanzo is also restoring Genji’s honor by not letting him escape his own giri. This is important. Hanzo acts on the elder’s decision not only as to right a social imbalance that has been created by his brother, but also in an act to save him, be it within a really skewed social justification. Obviously, in the end, Hanzo’s ninjou gets the best of him, and he chooses a cast-out life than to live with his act, regardless of how honorable it was. Tl;dr: Unless you truly understand the social situation that the Shimadas come from, you can’t truly understand their personalities either.

like  this  post  if  you’re  down  to  plot.