Pillars Of Moral Character - Television Tropes & Idioms

Duty is heavier than a mountain; death is lighter than a feather.
— Traditional Japanese proverb quoted to death by Rand al'Thor

The traditional moral character of both Japanese society and Japanese individuals is built upon four key elements, which can best be compared to the Western concept of Virtues: On, Gimu, Giri and Ninjo. All four of these orbit and touch upon the Japanese concept of Honor, which combines elements of reputation, self-respect and personal moral/ethical code.

Understanding these concepts can often help clarify the motivations and drives of anime characters, and can sometimes explain the differences between what we and the Japanese consider funny, tragic and/or dramatic.

On: The best translation for this term would be "Reciprocity". On is a virtue that requires the individual to acknowledge and repay debts he owes, including debts of honor. A source of I Owe You My Life situations.
Gimu: Can be interpreted as "Piety". If one owes a debt (including a debt of honor) but cannot repay it, Gimu encourages the debtor to show allegience to the debt-holder in lieu of true payment.
Giri: "Duty". Much more complicated than the Western concept of duty, Giri requires the individual to execute and balance his obligations as the highest function of an honorable life.
Ninjo: Usually translated as "Compassion". Ninjo requires empathy with others, and recognizes that all people are one, beneath the surface differences that karma imposes.

This has occasionally been commented on by authors surprised by their series' popularity outside native countries where these attitudes may not be universal. Manga author Rumiko Takahashi admitted surprise that her stories were so popular in the west, as non-Japanese people not indoctrinated with the idea of the Pillars Of Moral Character wouldn't find them as funny.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

The applicability of this trope to Ranma One Half is a matter of heavy, heavy personal opinion. There are two major "honor knots" present in the series, however, none of the characters are portrayed as anything more then remotely honorable; all of them are self-centered, insincere and frequently hypocrites (in other words, very fallible humans), and both messes are played for all the comedy they can. For example, Ranma has half-heartedly tried to expose Ryoga to Akane on multiple occasions, usually as a way to torment his rival, but has also tried to protect his secret from Akane when it looks like she might actually figure out what's going on. This could be looked at as Ranma being torn between his obligation to keep the promise he made (even if Ryoga doesn't know about it, Ranma does, and there's nothing that gives him an "out" from the fact he wasn't addressing Ryoga verbally or otherwise when he decided he should keep Ryoga's curse a secret) and his obligation to reveal to Akane how Ryoga is taking advantage of her... or it can be seen as Ranma simply not thinking what Ryoga's doing is that bad or otherwise justified while enjoying a questionably legitimate excuse to go messing with Ryoga's head and beating him up.
- Firstly, the Love Dodecahedron is more then just a matter of attraction for the Betty And Veronica and Cheryl Blossom. Akane Tendo and Ukyo Kuonji both have an Arranged Marriage to Ranma Saotome, and in Ukyo Kuonji's case she also has a Childhood Marriage Promise from Ranma and Genma stole her dowry after agreeing to the arrangement. Shampoo's bond to Ranma may only be an Accidental Marriage, but her people take it seriously enough that she was cursed just for coming back without him the first time.
- Secondly, is the P-chan situation. Ryoga chased Ranma to Jusenkyo because he was four days late for the duel that he arranged. When he got there, Ranma knocked Ryoga into the Spring of Drowned Piglet whilst in a blind rage over having received his own Nyanniichuan curse. After Ryoga tracked Ranma back to Japan, attacking Ranma from surprise several times, Ranma realised that Ryoga had been cursed and, while not initially aware of his direct involvement in the matter, and mistaking a dog for Ryoga's cursed form instead of the piglet currently being held by Akane, made a promise to himself to keep Ryoga's secret. Ryoga then, however, began using it to masquerade as Akane's pet in order to receive affection from her, due to having developed a crush on her after she unknowingly protected him from Ranma... though he would learn that Akane's affection can sometimes be as painful as Ranma's cruelty.
Much of the main plot of Monster happens the way it does because Tenma tends to view his act of saving Johan in terms of giri — he is chasing Johan to put right that which he did wrong, and is not interested in taking time off to prove his innocence until his obligation is fulfilled. The longer Johan remains alive, the more innocent people will die on account of it. On the same side, Tenma also holds the virtue of Ninjo as a core of his philosophy and will take a detour if it means saving innocents. On the counter-side one might say that Johan is acting out of a twisted sense of On.
- However, it is emphasized that Tenma acts out of his innate goodness and not cultural compulsions. He is also thought to be rather strange for a Japanese man.
Giri is also a driving force behind Byakuya Kuchiki's character in Bleach. As a very high class nobleman, he's required to follow a very strict duty code, which he has broken twice by marrying a commoner woman for love and by adopting his dead wife's little sister, as he promised to his dying wife. So, by breaking another code rule in the Soul Society arc by stopping Rukia's execution, Byakuya would disgrace himself and the Kuchiki clan horribly... but if he does not break rules, his sister-in-law and pretty much the only living person he truly cares for would be executed, meaning he'd also break the promise made to his beloved dead wife and end completely alone for the rest of times. In few words, he's damned if he doesn't and damned if he does.
- This is why there's a theory that he threw his fight against Ichigo. That way, his imprisoned sister is rescued without him breaking the laws. You also have to consider that, when he got married and later adopted Rukia into the family, he still was not the head of the family: that was his grandfather, Ginrei.
- The cultural concepts of the Moral Pillars in Japanese culture also make one scene in an earlier episode seem odd to western viewers. Rukia tries to convince Ichigo to take over her duties as a Shinigami just as he'd taken her powers earlier by bringing him to see the ghost of a young boy being attacked by a Hollow, telling him he must either agree to protect All spirits while she's out of commission or let this little boy and all other spirits be devoured. Ichigo then rejects Rukia's proposal and rescues the ghost-boy anyway. To a Japanese audience Rukia is making an appeal to Gimu(since he is unable to simply give-back Rukia's power he is thus obligated to offer service to repay his debt to her) to gain Ichigo's cooperation but Ichigo rejects that in favor of doing so out of compassion for the spirits involved, making him look like a poster-boy for Chaotic Good Anti-heros; to a Western audience who might assume Rukia was appealing to Ichigo's compassion from the start his arguing the point after the fact just makes him look stubborn.
Vagabond has Miyamoto Musashi effectively owing his life to Yoshioka Denshichirou who told him to stay alive and train until they can duel again the next year, since their first fight is interrupted by a fire in the dojo. Musashi does just this and ends up cutting him down. Nevertheless, even when the remaining heir to the Yoshioka plots his death by having all of their seventy remaining members attack him, before the fight he thanks them silently for his being "raised in the bosom of the Yoshioka" (as in that year given to him by Denshichirou he greatly improved), then he kills them all.
Pillars of moral character are a surprisingly relevant story element in Black Lagoon, especially showcased in the Yakuza arc where the Yakuza act on these pillars while Balalaika very clearly has none.
In the subtitled track for Full Metal Alchemist, Edward Elric comes off as unusually cold and Alphonse whiney and inept; this is because the primary motivating factors for Edward to restore his brother (and incidentally himself as well) are Giri (Obligation due to duty to his family) and On (Obligation due to the results of his screw-up). Making Edward seem distant emphasizes the weight of honor-debt he carries, while making Alphonse sound less sympathetic makes Edward's character all the more tragic. The dub goes above and beyond the call of Woolseyism to subtly change not just lines but also emotional tone to transform Edward's motivations from Duty into Brotherly Love.
- It was brotherly love all the way in the manga.
- If that's so, then the Latin American Dub is also top-quality Woolseyism. Ed sometimes sounds harsh, but you can tell he loves his brother dearly and would do anything to restore him. Al sounds exactly like what he is, a little kid in awe of his big brother.

Film

In The Yakuza (1975), the character of Tanaka Ken owes a debt of honor to Harry Kilmer for saving the lives of his family after the war; he describes giri as "the burden hardest to bear."
- This same phrasing would be used as the title of a Transformers (original series) episode built around the notion of leadership as an obligation to one's followers as well as one received from them, which Kup describes in terms of giri.

Real Life