Jingi Is Part of the “Confucian” Teaching
Religion is part of anthropology — that is, philosophy — so the way of thinking differs by ethnicity and environment.
Major religions by world region, roughly:
Europe, America, the Middle East, and Russia: Judaism, Christianity, Islam
India: Hinduism
East Asia: Confucianism, Buddhism
Each teaches “a good way to live,” so my advice is to hear them all out and then get behind the one whose ideas you like most.
Religion is essentially a lifelong “fan devotion” to a philosophy.
Personally, I’m a devotee of the “ONE PIECE religion.”
Jingi is a teaching of Confucianism, which is popular in China and East Asia.
Jin · Gi · Rei · Chi · Shin (The Five Virtues)
Confucius, considered one of the “Four Sages” alongside Buddha, Jesus, and Socrates, founded Confucianism.
The “Five Virtues (Wuchang)” that Confucius taught include Jin (仁) and Gi (義).
Jin (仁) — Benevolence
Compassion for others.
Confucius regarded Jin as the supreme virtue — not something remote from daily life, yet not easily achieved.
In the Analects, it is explained in various ways.
In one passage, it is described as “to love others”; in answer to Yan Hui’s question, Confucius said “Overcome yourself and return to ritual propriety — that is Jin.”
The former refers to outward action toward others; the latter points to the inner cultivation of oneself.
A concrete precept well-known to many: “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire” (The Analects, Yan Yuan — the Golden Rule).
In short, Jin means cherishing compassion for all people and restraining selfish desires to observe propriety.
Gi (義) — Righteousness
To do what must be done without being swayed by self-interest or greed. Justice and moral duty.
In Chinese thought, it is always contrasted with the concept of “profit.”
Rei (礼) — Ritual Propriety
The expression of Jin in concrete action.
Originally it referred to taboos and traditional customs and institutions in religious ceremony.
Later it came to mean what should be observed within hierarchical relationships.
Among Confucians, Xunzi, who took the position of the Theory of Evil Nature, placed special emphasis on Rei.
Chi (智) — Wisdom
One who has thorough knowledge of moral principles.
A person rich in knowledge.
Shin (信) — Faithfulness
Deep loyalty in friendship; never going back on one’s word; speaking the truth; keeping promises; being sincere.
Mencius‘s Four Sprouts theory gave the four virtues Jin–Gi–Rei–Chi; the Former Han Confucian Dong Zhongshu added Shin on the basis of the Five Elements theory.
Jingi Scene by Scene in ONE PIECE
Now that we have a rough feel for what each word in “Jin, Gi, Rei, Chi, Shin” means, let’s look at the scenes in ONE PIECE where the word jingi is actually used.
Think of it as a case study for deepening your understanding of jingi.
Listen Up: “Pirate Jingi”
Franky, seeing that Usopp had left the crew after a duel with Luffy over the Going Merry (which had reached its limits as a ship), invited him: “If you’ve got nowhere to go, come stay with me.”
But Usopp turned him down:
“I don’t want to be some scrapyard hand — even if I quit the crew, I’m still a pirate!!”
The song Franky composed at that moment was “Pirate Jingi.”
In other words, jingi here means the resolve to live true to one’s way of life as a pirate.
Of the Five Virtues, it corresponds most closely to Gi
→ to do what must be done without being swayed by self-interest.
Jingi = The Code
Even on a pirate ship — a gathering of outlaws and misfits who can’t follow society’s laws — there are minimum rules of the pirate code that must be observed. For example:
- Desertion or concealment is punishable by death
- Gambling aboard ship is forbidden
- No women allowed on board because it causes fighting
Most rules are designed to prevent betrayal and conflict; those who break them face marooning or execution.
That’s why Blackbeard’s act of killing a crewmate after a dispute was the gravest betrayal — a serious crime.
So when Whitebeard says “lacking jingi,” it means “breaking the pirate’s code.”
We can translate: jingi = the code.
Jingi as “Justice”
Translated into English, jingi becomes Justice — and Justice translated back into Japanese becomes seigi (正義).
In other words, English has no word that accurately captures jingi. It’s that ambiguous, and its interpretation differs by person.
So Sengoku’s use of “jingi” is best rendered as the English “Justice.”
Honoring Jingi on the Path of Humanity
Jinbei, who received a sworn cup of sake from Big Mom and became her subordinate, needs to first return that cup and leave her crew before he can join Luffy’s.
If he accepts Luffy’s invitation without doing this, he would effectively become a spy within the Big Mom Pirates.
In the yakuza world, even if you’ve once become parent and child or brothers by exchanging cups, you can dissolve the relationship if both parties agree.
However, being asked to return the cup is a humiliation for the one asked, so it’s usually followed by attempts on the departing member’s life.
So in this case, “honoring jingi” means “risking one’s life to do what is proper.”
“The path of humanity” seems to refer to “the rules of the pirate world.”
Jingi in the World of Evil
Come to think of it, at that point the Germa Kingdom was still a World Government member state that hadn’t yet had its right to attend the Reverie revoked.
In other words, they were civilians (katagi).
Yet Judge — mistakenly thinking himself on equal footing with Big Mom — waltzed into the territory of a great pirate with all his kingdom’s assets: land, castles, laboratories, soldiers, subjects.
Pirates only keep promises when the other party is also a pirate.
Against civilians, they simply loot to their heart’s content.
So the evil-wannabe civilian king and Big Mom were not fellow inhabitants of the “world of evil” — they were pirate and civilian, i.e., looter and victim.
Naturally, there is no jingi between these two.
The “jingi” Judge invoked here means something like a promise, a rule, or a code.
A Woman’s Jingi
Chiffon leaves Bege’s side and heads off to bake the cake — in order to repay the kindness of her twin sister Lola.
Her words at that moment:
“”Thank you for saving Lola” — words are easy!! It’s precisely in a benefactor’s moment of crisis!! that the truth of what you say is tested, isn’t it!!”
In other words: acting to help a benefactor regardless of personal danger.
This too fits the Gi of “Jin, Gi, Rei, Chi, Shin” — “to do what must be done without being swayed by self-interest.”
The Jingi of Sweet Red Bean Soup
Big Mom — who showed no jingi to civilian Judge — did honor jingi when pirate Jinbei returned his sworn cup.
Yet there’s the scene of that same Big Mom shouting jingi while hitting Page One with Conqueror’s Haki. Which is pretty unreasonable.
Here’s the breakdown:
- Big Mom loses her memory immediately after arriving in Wano Country
- Tsuru in Okobore Town gives the amnesiac Big Mom some sweet red bean soup
- Big Mom regains her memory and forms an alliance with Kaido’s Beasts Pirates
- Big Mom learns that Kaido’s subordinate (Holdem) burned down Okobore Town
- Big Mom shouts “Jingi!!” while attacking a nearby subordinate of Kaido
In other words, what Big Mom means by “jingi” is:
“Sure, this was before our alliance, and maybe nobody in the Beast Pirates even knew — but you killed the person who showed me kindness when I was helpless, you bastard!!”
From Page One’s perspective: “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, it wasn’t even me. What am I supposed to do about this…”
Just when things were starting to make sense, this scene makes jingi confusing all over again.
Kiru Jingi — Performing the Introduction
When kiru (切る, “cut”) follows jingi, it describes the formal self-introduction ritual between yakuza members meeting for the first time.
It goes something like this ↓
“Skip the formal greetings” or “When you ask someone’s name, introduce yourself first” — these common expressions are likely remnants of this custom.
Is Oda a Confucianism Fan?
So — jingi was originally a Confucian word.
But the reason Oda uses “jingi” so often is probably the influence of yakuza films, not because he’s a Confucian believer.
He does have Luffy say negative things about the Confucian idea of venerating ancestors like gods ↓
And just because he uses many names from the Bible doesn’t mean he’s a Christian or Jewish believer either ↓
He seems to particularly dislike the way the medieval Catholic Church operated.
The flag of the organization antagonizing the protagonist is designed to look like a Christian cross.
※ A highly recommended manga depicting medieval religion vs. astronomers ↓
They were apparently executing astronomers one after another because admitting heliocentrism would make the geocentrism they had been teaching a lie.
It’s very reminiscent of the Ohara scholars vs. the World Government.
What Is “God” to Begin With?
“God” is a very convenient excuse-word.
If you don’t understand a phenomenon, just blame it on “God.”
How and when were the stars in the universe created?
→ God made them.
How was the Earth made?
→ God made it.
How were humans born?
→ God made them.
Until recently, there was no way to verify whether any of this was true.
But science and technology have advanced so dramatically that we might actually be able to pin down “the origin of humanity” — we’re that close now.
And with that, let’s wrap things up for today.
Battles Without Honor and Humanity — Available on Amazon Prime Video