French medieval armor XVᵗʰ - XVIᵗʰ centuries (miniature)

For centuries, the figures of the Western knight and the Japanese samurai have been erected as symbols of honor and moral rectitude, embodying supposedly unshakeable ethical codes. However, a careful historical rereading of this idealized image needs to be qualified.
On the one hand, while samurai observed standards of conduct related to war and loyalty, the concept of bushidō (literally "the way of the warrior") was not truly codified until the Edo period (1603-1868). It was above all through the work " Bushidō, the Soul of Japan " (1899), written by Nitobe Inazō, that bushidō acquired a universal scope, although this version was largely influenced by Western Christian and Victorian values.
On the other hand, the medieval code of chivalry was less a lived reality than an ideological construct promoted by the Church and royalty. It aimed to frame and moralize the often brutal behavior of a warrior nobility, in order to reinforce social hierarchy and religious authority.
These two ideals, samurai and chivalry, are therefore more a matter of political and moral mythology than strict historical truth.