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Summary: ...
Review: The Hagakure has changed my life and the way I look at everything.
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Summary: A Powerful Message
Review: The Hagakure is a mixed bag for the average reader- some of the contents are life changing and pensive, while others seem very out of place. Overall, it provides an excellent view into the way of life that was the Samurai. It had a profound impact in my daily life, and I would like to absorb more after another time through it.
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Summary: Excellent Perspective on Samurai Bravery and Etiquette
Review: This book features sayings and anecdotes from an aging Samurai who died around 1700. It is a quick and entertaining read, and offers great perspective both on the individual who wrote it, and on the general theory of being a samurai. There is an obvious sense of loss in many of the passages which comment on how things in contemporary society (of the 1700s) are so different from years past. This book, intentionally or not, captures the spirit of those older days, and serves both as a manual for younger samurai, and as a historical document for people who are interested in "The Way of the Samurai" today. In his excellent introduction, the translator makes the very relevant point that this book is not a rigorous philosophical treatise, at least not in the way that Western scholars would define it. Instead, it is a collection of stories and phrases about a certain way of living. It doesn't hold up to scientific cross-examination (the author contradicts himself frequently), but it shouldn't have to. Yamamoto gives the impression that if faced with a philosophical attack on his "way", he would shrug his shoulders and say, "Yes, but that doesn't change a thing." In other words, his examples and aphorisms speak for themselves, and are not meant to either exclude other points of view or force others into conformity. Yamamoto even states that the Way he advocates is specific to his region of Japan -- samurai of neighboring regions are free to develop their own Ways. The passages in the book usually focus on one of two topics: bravery, or etiquette. Yamamoto offers a lot of advice on charging into battle, seeking revenge, executing others, etc. The main thrust of most of it is: the Samurai does not spend a lot of time thinking about killing his enemy. He just rushes in and gets it over with. On matters of etiquette, Yamamoto discusses the proper way to hold a Tea Ceremony, how to cover up a yawn, how to pay attention to people you are talking to, and so on. One of the charming aspects of this book is that right after discussing the swiftest way to cut off someone's head, he'll discuss how to make yourself look nice even if you have a hangover. This could be a result of the editing, but it still makes for entertaining reading. The other theme that permeates almost every paragraph of the book is loyalty to one's master. Yamamoto never tires of discussing the extremes that a samurai should go to so that he may honor his master and show his loyalty. He gives the example of a samurai who was being beaten by his master: during the course of the beating, the master dropped his staff down a hill, so the samurai immediately ran down to retrieve it, and return the staff to his master so he could continue to be beaten. Of course, the ultimate act of loyalty to one's master is to kill oneself after his death. Yamamoto spends a great deal of time discussing various aspects of this tradition, and regrets that his own master forbade him to commit suicide in such a way. The book reads very quickly (it took me about 4 hours), in part because it is organized into brief paragraphs and anecdotes (much like a book of sayings), and in part because the underlying material is almost inherently fascinating. It gives a very complete picture of the state of mind of an aging samurai, and depicts the world of the samurai as it existed in the 17th century. The translation flows very well, though I cannot attest to its accuracy, and the translator includes a somewhat useful glossary in the back of the book, as well as the introduction which I mentioned. I should also mention, for the curious, that this is the translation that Jim Jarmusch used as the source of his aphorisms in the recent film "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai."
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Summary: Definitely worth reading
Review: This book is a series of the most "interesting" excerpts from a much larger japanese version. Tsunetomo's thoughts are interesting, although occasionally a bit odd when compared to other writers on the same subject. Also, the ideas about combat, and courage are hard to pay attention to, as the author never fought in battle. Nevertheless, this book is very much worth reading. Also, fans of Yukio Mishima will want to read Hagakure for insight into Mishima's attitudes
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Summary: Not Written by a 'real' Samurai!
Review: This book was written in the 18th Century by a monk. It was thus written long after the Samurai had ceased to be real warriors: the age of feuding clans had ended early in the 17th Century. The kind of lifestyle described in this book by the author Tsunetomo is quite simply a lifestyle that was never led. While it is not entirely 'pure imagination', it is a work that focuses on all the most extreme and suicidal examples of Samurai behaviour. The author was trying to 'bring back' a macho ideal of bushido that had in fact never existed. He was upset by the way that the Samurai class had lost their martial edge. Unfortunately, his own biases distort the truth of how Samurai of previous eras lived their lives. We have a great deal of evidence from earlier periods pointing out that the Samurai enjoyed the pleasures of life, and tended to behave as humans, unlike the robotic and slavish picture portrayed by the author. To give a Western analogy, his book is like the works of 19th Century Europe which romanticize the lives of Medieval knights: attributing knights with single-minded devotion to the Code of Chivalry and submission to their 'ladies'; while in reality the Code of Chivalry was never really formulated, and the 'ladies' were other men's wives. I give this book two stars because it is of some use in understanding what an 18th Century Japanese bookworm thought the old Samurai were like, and there is some cultural interest in that. If you want a book that gives a real picture of Samurai duties, lifestyle and obligations, then read the 'Code of the Samurai' which was written in the 17th Century, which, although a time of peace under the newly-installed Tokugawa regime, was only starting to lose its martial traditions. By the time Hagakure was written in the 18th Century, the true memory of the 'Age of the Country at War' was very confused and blurred.
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Summary: Finally someone posts a down side...
Review: This has been a long time problem with the American understanding of Japanese Samurai. The Samurai "Code of Ethics" never really existed. This book is based on a romanticized view of Samurai and their way of life, it is not all fact. Although there are MANY parts of the book that were VERY true in all aspects, but be warned that there are two versions of Samurai, the fact based, and the American view of honesty and never stabbing someone in the back. These were merely ideas upheld by some Samurai, not by all.
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Summary: An inspiration
Review: Truely this is the first book if have encountered so far that captures the essence of Bushido so well...most likely due to the fact that it was written by a samurai. My only quibble with the book is the fact that the translator , William Scott Wilson, did not include all of Yamamoto Tsunetomo's 1300 refelctions and short anecdotes.
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Summary: Bizarre yet fascinating
Review: Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of the 17th century Samurai! While some of this material evokes a Zen-like sense of clarity and wisdom, other passages seem just plain ridiculous to my modern Western mind. I found that the constantly recurring references to ritual suicide, while ghoulishly interesting at first, grew more and more repulsive as I read through the book. In the end the fierce samurai come across as nothing more than a bunch of mindless robots. In the politics of old Japan, the samurai were just cannon fodder to be moved around from battle to battle. Their masters expected then to follow orders without thought or hesitation, be it attacking a castle or spilling one's guts to atone for some minor infraction of the rigid warrior code. In the end the whole "seppuku" thing is just too tiresome to put up with anymore. Despite all the spooky ceremony attached to the samurai method of suicide, the act remains what it has always been - the coward's way out of difficulty. Rather than sticking around to suffer with shame and embarrassment (and just maybe figure out a better way to conduct his affairs) the proud, stiff-spined samurai drops through the convenient trapdoor provided by suicide. "Hagakure" offers us a look into an alien world, a way of living (and dying) far removed from ordinary everyday experience. In many ways it is strange and repulsive, and yet, like so many other repulsive things, it manages to be very interesting.
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Summary: A historical, anecdotal glimpse into the Bushido mind.
Review: Whether you find HAGAKURE of interest depends on your approach to the book. Although this is not a book of sword technique, it is much like a traditional sword
master, teaching only what the student is open enough to know, and teaching on many levels. On one level, it is a book of eyewitness accounts and stories from the decline
of the Samurai era. Tsunetomo has a gift for storytelling, and for slipping in little details that might be of use to
the aspiring Bushi. For example, do you know the quickest,
easiest way to remove a dead enemies' face from his skull?
He also gossips in an entertaining way about the lives of various local notables. It is as if you are having dinner with a slighly cynical, retired Samurai, the saki is passed around, and he begins talking freely.
On another level the book adresses the questions of loyalty,
honor, and the meaning of life. It celebrates virtue and valor, while avoiding the sugarcoating that such subjects
get in the west. Anyone who faces dangers and obstacles in their day to day walk will find this little book strangely
supportive. In this age where loyalty has a price, and commitment is a meaningless word, the savage beauty and strange purity of the Bushi mind, as revealed by Tsunetomo, can strengthen the heart, and recharge the mind.
IF YOU LIKE HAGAKURE, you should read:
THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS, Miamoto Mushashi
THE UNFETTERED MIND, Takuan Soho
ACTS OF WORSHIP, Yukio Mishima
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