Yamato-damashii

 Yamato-Damashii (大和魂^?, "Japanese spirit") is a historically and culturally loaded word in the Japanese language. The phrase was apparently coined in the Heian period to describe the indigenous Japanese 'spirit' or cultural values as opposed to the cultural values imported into the country through contact with Tang dynasty China.^{[citation needed]} Later, a qualitative contrast between Japanese and Chinese spirit was elicited from the term. Edo period writers and samurai used it to gloss the Bushido concept of 'valor'. Japanese nationalists propagandized Yamato-damashii – 'the brave, daring, and indomitable spirit of Japanese people' – as one of the key Japanese military-political doctrines in the Showa period.

The online Encyclopedia of Shinto comprehensively defines Yamato-damashii.:
Yamato damashii refers to an inherent faculty of common-sense wisdom, resourcefulness, and prudent judgment that is characteristic of, and unique to, the Japanese people. It also refers to a practical, "real life" ability and intelligence that is in contrast with scholarship and knowledge acquired through formal education. It is a term used to express such ideas as the essential purity and resolute spirit of the Japanese people, the wish for the peace and security of the nation, and the possession of a strong spirit and emotion that will meet any challenge, even at the expense of one's own life. Yamato damashii is synonymous with Yamato gokoro (lit. "Japanese heart").