Uesugi Kenshin Philosophy

Philosophy of Uesugi Kenshin 謙信祭 has to be tracked to be understood and there are sentences, books, and stories that tell indication of how he knows, what his method of knowing is, and his knowing of what others know. For example he has a background of Buddhism that is not scientific and not logical and based on spiritual things, but he also has a background in business overseas that is western and based on port trading, so he takes influences from both. What is the business method of knowing and what is the buddhist method of knowing as well as whats a warlords method of knowing. How was his personal faith in what others told them to believe and what system did they use to dictate it as a truth as real and important. This would go through his fundamental way of thinking as Uesugi Kenshin and the context would reveal the content of knowledge of how he decided, thought, and went about his engagements.

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Buddhist method of knowing? Faith in What others tell you to believe? Some are meditation and other schools of thought. He was a military commander who was also a businessman with no works of charity and had mostly struggled in his lifetime in the Sengoku era. Even during the Sengoku period, where conflicts and betrayals abounded and the weakest survived. ``warlord of righteousness'', the ``wish'' of the people, conflicts and conflicts occur in a variety of ways. What was the nature of his expertise in reality? in the Buddhist context that reality would not be a reality of essences and connections and interactions of the interrelations between people as a group or part of a system. Then asking if that's what reality is to that person and that's how you know reality, how does that person saying a person should live and be in the world?

Much has been written about Uesugi Kenshin with his righteousness, battles, ancestry, and legacy, but sometimes understanding how his thinking worked explains parts of what lasting effects he had on Niigata. He was a monk, a philosopher, he was a warrior, and he was a warlord who felt connected to Bishamonten the god of fortune in war, authority, and dignity. He would work with people he believed had credibility and offer those who were weaker to give ideas of value based on a honor-coded space that only exists within the lands ruled by Kenshin’s clan that doesn’t exist elsewhere, so gaining merit in Echigo is different than gaining merit anywhere else as a person had to prove themself moral. Kenshin doesn’t judge his people by how strong or weak they are, but in the time of the Sengoku Jidai those of strength it was common in Japan to critically judge people by both strength and class. Kenshin would judge people by their righteousness or their ability displaying doing the right thing for a moral cause.  
 
The soul is key to everything. Comprehend the spirit, master it, and you will understand that you possess something that is beyond life and death, something that will not drown in water or burn in fire. – Uesugi Kenshin

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Purpose - The reason for which something is done, or the reason it is done in a particular way, the point of an issue to take its course. Purpose was a crucial component in Kenshin’s life or what he referred to in those times as “propaganda” was about goodness, what was true, and beauty. His statements reveal that his lifestyle revolved around obligation, contrivance, morality, and not being swayed by greed. These virtues were all established to bring comprehension to one's spirit, being able to have their own ‘purpose’ and connect to the soul. This would be when he devoted himself to study Buddhism and took the Buddhist vows with belief in the god of war Bishamonten who preferred times of peace rather than war and fights whenever necessary. This was while he was aiming for enlightenment by Justice on the Battlefield and not personal gain. 

Merit based Ambitions of Worth, To have no central authority and fulfill a variety of roles for the community would be part of self-discipline, to become a living example of their word is to gain merit, and providing opportunities to earn merit would add in becoming a person with moral character. The incoming warlords that desired Echigo under their ruling would bring about a central authority that would not allow Echigo to rule independently. Without independent rulership the process of coming to be something or of passing into a state that could create a path of one's own would not be possible, so much of Kenshin’s efforts was maintaining and raising up the power from within Echigo as a territory that was a different shape of ambition as it deals with identity, spirit, training, business, and community. He believed that the vested interest would be in individual people's character and ability, rather than wealth or social class.

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Giri and Taiji, Giri means duty as well as honor and obligation, meanwhile Taiji means great profit from a Chinese idiom. He saw a great leader as someone who bases their judgment on what the person should be from their direction and a selfish leader as someone who bases their judgment solely on their own interests. Those who follow solely their own interests make short lived small gains and those who look for community growth through one's duty make long lasting large gains. 

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Fairness in a Battle of Salt
The attitude of the era was exploiting the enemies' situation was considered right, but to respect the enemies' situation was considered outrageous. It stems from a story when Kenshin was in a hostile relationship with Takeda Shingen who was in trouble due to lack of salt, so to show what was morally right according to the divine he had sent salt to him. “I do not approve of using salt to make the enemy bow down”. He won over his enemies fairly, people would start to realize the level of respect he would have for his enemies to level the competitive edge, while extending his hand to those who needed help. Kenshin had viewed Echigo as a place of permanence and recognized Echigo as a sort of fixed identity and reflection of self. This would move from Buddhism into beliefs similar to the Western beliefs with steps that a leader should think clearly before talking, he was looking at things in terms of Western thinking of the individual and rational thinking, a business oriented warrior as people maintained respect and often times trade as well as trust, to also hold his ground to make sure losses were minimal. 

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“If you do not see righteousness, you are not courageous” -Analects of Confucius

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Separate from Territorial Ambitions
Developing Echigo without invading influences to its own traditions and only taking influence of where the area saw fit made many vassals dissatisfied with Kenshin’s approach through parts of buddhism, parts of western approaches, and pieces of sustainable business ideals. Those not satisfied with having strength focusing from within Echigo were not popular and subordinates rebelled much more often than other feudal lords for their higher ambitions of ownership of land and people. Contention between Kenshin and his Vassals was that he had no intentions of acquiring lands, winning the war for the pride of the army, and no desire to unite the world. Some historians argue that Kenshin was subjugating territory of Echigo and became a sovereign of conquest to follow it by a formal annexation in order to end their state of war to cease hostilities internally and externally. 

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Credit is in the Feet
The national conquest of warlords, the united conquest of lands, and the conquest of solely developing Echigo. Creating a consistency of meeting people time and time again increases the chances of having the opportunity to prove merit time and time again. It lowers the case of situations of meeting new people where a first time meeting up with a person could turn out bad like not getting paid or a favor not returned, so instead a person of Echigo must prove time and time again to show their true business ethics. This allows people from all sorts of backgrounds to do business with one another and the real transgression against divine law is to not be honest to each other, which causes his vassals to see that it fosters non misleading dialogue. What this does is that the system Kenshin runs through all classes means that business flexibility is high and that followers describe him as an inside empowerer displaying virtue to power and countering conquest narratives. 

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Luck is in the sky 
Kenshin believed in the teachings of Buddhism that whatever happens does so because of a cause or causes and not due to luck, chance, or what is fate. It relates to the development of the heart and the mind to connect through the spirit and then to the soul to highlight their recognition of a feeling, sense, or belief that there is something greater than greed, something more to being human than sensory experience, and greater whole. So to serve the people of Echigo was to not be wishful thinking of having enough luck or the best case scenario, but to be a human of spirit to become a human of dignity to create goodness to bring wealth as an after effect and not a goal. Kenshin did not believe in the luck coming from fortune-telling, even though many depended on luck at that time, he would always base things on what a person would focus on developing their own abilities instead of relying on luck.
 
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