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Bushidō is a moral code concerning samurai attitudes, behavior and lifestyle, formalized in the Edo period (1603–1868). There are multiple types of bushido which evolved significantly through history. Contemporary forms of bushido are still used in the social and economic organization of Japan. Bushido is also used as an overarching term for all the codes, practices, philosophies and principles of samurai culture. It is loosely analogous to the European concept of chivalry, but there are major differences. Ideas of the samurai code formalized earlier samurai moral values and ethical code, most commonly stressing a combination of sincerity, frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery and honour until death. The idea of a samurai code or codes was developed and refined centuries before the Edo period in the Kamakura period. Bushido proper developed between the 16th and 20th centuries, but this was debated by pundits who believed they were building on a legacy dating back to the 10th century. The term bushido itself is "rarely attested in pre-modern literature". Born from Neo-Confucianism during times of peace in the Edo period and following Confucian texts, while also being influenced by Shinto and Zen Buddhism, it balanced violence with the therapeutic ideals of wisdom and peace accepted at the time. It was developed further during the Muromachi period (1336–1573) and formally defined and applied in law by Tokugawa shogunates in the Edo period. There is no strict definition, and interpretations of the code have varied over time. Bushido has undergone many changes throughout Japanese history, and various Japanese clans interpreted it in their own way. One of the earliest known usages of bushido is in the extremely influential late 16th century text The Military Mirror of Kai, where it was used to describe unwritten rules in a complex metaphorical way that commoners could purportedly not live up to. Another early use of the written term is in the Kōyō Gunkan in 1616 by Kōsaka Masanobu.

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