Uesugi Kenshin Quotes
Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death.
Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese Samurai Warlord & Ruler of Echigo Province, Quoted in Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki; Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
His documentation of Bushido—the way of the warrior—has influenced Japanese culture and behavior even into modern times. This statement in large part explained the behavior of Japanese troops in WWII. Surrender was considered cowardice and therefore fighting to the death was required of all Japanese. This particular work was studied by American experts on Japan and the assumption that this was the Japanese cultural imperative for soldier and civilian alike, was one of the major factors leading Truman and America to use the Atomic bomb in WWII for they did not anticipate any Japanese surrender otherwise and an invasion of the Japanese mainland would have killed more Japanese and many Americans as well. Even after the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the Japanese would not surrender and it took the Emperor to finally contradict the Japanese culture as stated in Yamamoto Tsunetomo’s writing. See also {586232}.
It was then customary to return with the head of a killed Samurai which would be made up as if in life so the dead man could be recognized. That way, the victor received more recognition with the importance of the Samurai who he defeated.
An example of this was the landing in the beaches of Normandy in WWII. Once on the beaches the allied troops had to win or die. Some of the most heroic fighting in American and English military history occurred on those beaches. Another was the Spanish Explorer Hernando Cortez who after landing in the New World, had his ships burned so that he and his soldiers had to conquer or they would die.
Sometimes paraphrased as “the coward dies a thousand deaths, but the brave man dies but once.”
Ataturk was a young major at the time commanding troops of a weak and corrupt Ottoman regime. However a combined English and French (the strongest military powers in Europe) invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula threatened to capture the Turkish capital, Constantinople. Ataturk alone rallied the Turkish defenders and fought the invaders to a standoff in long drawn out battle with huge casualties on both sides. Ataturk became a national hero. Although Ataturk thereafter was very reluctant to use military force or endanger troops, the thing he always thought worth the supreme sacrifice (including his own) was the independence and sovereignty of the nation. See {584502} for his continuing belief in this type of sacrifice.
Uesugi Kenshin was a daimyō who was born as Nagao Kagetora of the Nagao clan, and after adoption into the Uesugi clan, ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period of Japan. He was one of the most powerful daimyōs of the Sengoku period. Known as the "Dragon of Echigo", while chiefly remembered for his prowess on the battlefield, Kenshin is also regarded as an extremely skillful administrator who fostered the growth of local industries and trade and his rule saw a marked rise in the standard of living of Echigo.
