is a
Japanese value roughly corresponding to "
duty
A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...
", "
obligation
An obligation is a course of action that someone is required to take, whether legal or moral. Obligations are constraints; they limit freedom. People who are under obligations may choose to freely act under obligations. Obligation exists when the ...
", or even "burden of obligation" in English. It is defined as "to serve one's superiors with a self-sacrificing devotion" by
Namiko Abe. It is also associated with the complex Japanese values that involve loyalty, gratitude, and moral debt. This value is so integral to Japanese culture that the conflict between ''giri'' and ''
ninjō
in Japanese, is human feeling that complements and opposes the value of '' giri'', or social obligation, within the Japanese worldview. Broadly speaking, ''ninjō'' is said to be the human feeling that inescapably springs up with social obliga ...
'', or "human feeling", is said to have been the primary topic of Japanese drama since earlier periods in history.
Concept
''Giri'' is defined as social obligation and is best explained in the way it goes in direct conflict with ''
ninjō
in Japanese, is human feeling that complements and opposes the value of '' giri'', or social obligation, within the Japanese worldview. Broadly speaking, ''ninjō'' is said to be the human feeling that inescapably springs up with social obliga ...
.'' According to Doi Takeo, giri can be classified with those forms and actions that locates the self in relation to society whereas ''ninjō'' falls within the category of the inner and intimate realm of the self. Scholars refer to the dynamics of the ''giri''-''ninjō'' relationship as a dichotomy that reflects the human dilemma of needing to belong to the realm of the outside (''soto'') and of the inside (''uchi'').
Giri relationship also have an emotive quality. Fulfilling one's obligation does not merely entail the consideration of interest or profit anticipated since giri is also based on feelings of affection.
This is seen in the perpetual nature of giri relationships.
Aspects
![Giri-choco](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Giri-choco.jpg)
Giri may be seen in many different aspects of modern Japanese behavior. An example is Japanese gift-giving. It is marked by an unwritten but no less real perceived balance of "giri" in which unusually large gifts must be reciprocated. "" is a specific term referring to the obligation of close colleagues or associates to provide
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...
or
White Day
White Day is celebrated annually on March 14, one month after Valentine's Day, when people give reciprocal gifts to those who gave them gifts received on Valentine's Day. It began in Japan in 1978; since then, its observance has spread to seve ...
chocolates to each other even if they feel no romantic feelings (although Valentine's Day is a Western tradition that was imported to Japan only relatively recently, and White Day is a holiday invented in 1978 by the National Confectionery Industry Association to sell twice as many confections each year).
There is also the case of Japanese corporations, which has one of the lowest rates of laying off or firing employees of any industrialized nation, and employees reciprocate that loyalty through their personal habits. Whereas in the West, engineers from different companies might be friends, this is far rarer in Japan. Employees' sense of obligation may be so strong that they consume only the beer and other products produced by
their conglomerate's affiliates.
Part time
Part Time (stylized as PARTIME) was an American pop band that was fronted by California-based musician David Loca (also credited as David Speck). Loca produced and wrote virtually all of the band's output, with most of their studio recordings c ...
workers, however, are not so particular.
Japanese abroad often complain about the poor service to be found in non-Japanese countries. While some modern Westerners might prize individuality and the right of a serviceperson to be an assertive social equal with opinions, Japanese generally value carrying out one's work obligations () to the best of one's ability, including what might seem to those from less formal social environments like excessive, mawkish, or even hypocritical or contrived formality and servility.
Some social historians believe the pervasiveness of the concept in Japanese culture is a reflection of the static feudal order that defined Japanese society for centuries. "Giri books", or village registers that included all the unpaid obligations of one family or individual to another, were a cultural phenomenon that could exist only in a static agricultural culture, as opposed to a migrant or hunter/gatherer tradition.
In popular culture
* In the film ''
The Yakuza
''The Yakuza'' is a 1974 neo-noir crime drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura and Brian Keith. The screenplay by Paul Schrader and Robert Towne is from a story by Schrader's brother, Leonard Schrader.
...
'' (
1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
), the concept of giri is a major factor in the story. The character Tanaka Ken (
Takakura Ken) owes Harry Kilmer (
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
) a "debt that can never be repaid" for saving the life of his 'sister' (actually Tanaka Ken's wife) and her young daughter during the post-war occupation of Japan. In the film, he describes giri to a Westerner as "the burden hardest to bear".
* In ''
The Transformers''
animated series
An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...
episode "
The Burden Hardest to Bear
This is a list containing the episodes of '' The Transformers'', an animated television series depicting a war among the Autobots and Decepticons who could transform into vehicles, other objects and animals. Written and recorded in America, the ...
", the
Autobot
The Autobots are the main protagonists in the fictional Continuity (fiction), continuities of the Transformers (fiction), Transformers multimedia franchise, and are depicted in a collection of various toys, cartoons, films, graphic novels, and p ...
Kup uses the concept of giri to describe the burden of leadership facing
Rodimus Prime
''The Transformers'' is an American animated television series that originally aired from September 17, 1984, to November 11, 1987, in syndication
based upon Hasbro's ''Transformers'' toy line. The first television series in the ''Transformer ...
. Much of the episode is set in Japan, and deals with Rodimus Prime's reluctance to be a leader, only to eventually come to grips with his responsibility.
* In
William Gibson's semi-dystopian
Sprawl trilogy
The Sprawl trilogy (also known as the Neuromancer, Cyberspace, or Matrix trilogy) is William Gibson's first set of novels, composed of ''Neuromancer'' (1984), ''Count Zero'' (1986), and ''Mona Lisa Overdrive'' (1988).
The novels are all set in t ...
, Eastern themes, including giri, often play a role. Loyalty to one's company, or in this case international corporate mega-entities, is taken to the extreme to include surgically implanted monitoring devices and employees living almost exclusively within the regimented confines of the company. It is also seen at an individual level, the term mentioned several times in the novel ''
Mona Lisa Overdrive
''Mona Lisa Overdrive'' is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson, published in 1988. It is the final novel of the cyberpunk Sprawl trilogy, following ''Neuromancer'' and ''Count Zero'', taking place eight years after ...
''. Most notable is the exchange between the console cowboy "Tick" and the
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...
authority Yanaka.
See also
*
Cross to Bear Cross to Bear may refer to:
* "Cross to Bear", a song by Barry Gibb from his 2016 album '' In the Now''
* '' A Cross to Bear'', a 2012 American film directed by Tandria Potts
* ''My Cross to Bear
''My Cross to Bear'' is an autobiographic memoir ...
*
Philotimo ''Philotimo'' (also spelled ''filotimo''; el, φιλότιμο) is a Greek noun that has the literal translation of "love of honor". However, ''philotimo'' is claimed to be impossible to translate sufficiently as it describes a complex array of vir ...
, analogous concept in Greek culture
References
External links
On-Giri; What is it? An article by Paul Starling, Kyoshi-Shihan first published Australasian Fighting Arts Magazine Nov 1980
*Giri, Moral Obligation
About.com
{{Japanese social terms
Japanese values
Concepts in ethics
Virtue