Giri (Japanese)

Duty as one of the Japanese values

Giri ([[wikt:義理) is a Japanese value roughly corresponding to "duty", "obligation", or even "burden of obligation" in English. defines it as "to serve one's superiors with a self sacrificing devotion". It is among the complex Japanese values that involve loyalty, gratitude, and moral debt. The conflict between giri and ninjō, or "human feeling", has historically been a primary topic of Japanese drama.

Giri is a social obligation, best explained by how it conflicts with ninjō. , giri is among those forms and actions that locates the self in relation to society, whereas ninjō concerns the inner and intimate realm of the self. The giri ninjō dichotomy reflects the human dilemma of needing to belong to the realm of the outside (soto) and of the inside (uchi). Giri relationships have an emotive quality. Fulfilling one's obligation does not merely entail the consideration of interest or profit anticipated; rather giri is also based on feelings of affection. Giri relationships are perpetual, not transactional.

In the film The Yakuza (1975), giri is a major element in the story. The character Tanaka Ken (Takakura Ken) owes Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum) 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 episode "The Burden Hardest to Bear", the Autobot Kup uses the concept of giri to describe the burden of leadership facing Rodimus Prime. 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, 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. Most notable is the exchange between the console cowboy "Tick" and the Yakuza authority Yanaka. In The Chuck's World book saga, giri is a central theme. The concept of duty and obligation is fundamental to all of the main characters and is central to the bonds that tie them into a family. The TV series Giri/Haji explores the duty that the protagonist bears, and the burden of repaying it on behalf of his brother.