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112 reviews for:
Art Of The Samurai: Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure
Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Barry D. Steben
3.64 AVERAGE
112 reviews for:
Art Of The Samurai: Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure
Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Barry D. Steben
3.64 AVERAGE
Curioso, como todo lo relacionado con los samurais, aunque algunas anécdotas desconcertaban un poco.
Really interesting. Somewhat random, but there were still themes.
While this book is interesting within its context of being about one man's view on samurai in feudal Japan a hundred years after the height of the importance of samurai, and while it does have some interesting philosophical tidbits, I suppose that for me, it just doesn't have much value beyond that. I also think that perhaps I just do not find as much value in some of the philosophy of the samurai as others might, it just isn't for me. Ritual suicide to avoid bringing shame to oneself or one's family puts to much importance on the "honor" concept, and actually seems selfish to me. It would be more selfless to suffer with the damaged honor and continue doing good in your life. I also do not find value in unchanging and unquestioning loyalty to a leader or giving up one's self and one's identity to serve in a military fashion. Violence and military servitude are less important to me than compassion, mercy, and thoughtfulness. I suppose I just have different values that do not align well with this. Or perhaps I misunderstood it. I thought the second half of the book in particular was just uninteresting. And although I understand the book's historical context, I found its few anecdotes and thoughts about women very annoying. There are far better books for philosophy and history, in my opinion, than this one.
Overall, I thought that this was a good book. Divided into sections, it paints an interesting picture of Japan in the late 1600's, as recounted by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. It is worth mentioning that the original author lived only at the very end of the century, and therefore should be taken with a grain of salt.
Regardless, many of the passages provide interesting perspectives on how to live a daily life, as well as some more long term suggestions.
Regardless, many of the passages provide interesting perspectives on how to live a daily life, as well as some more long term suggestions.
slow-paced
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
slow-paced
Brilliant, but not a strategy book as sometimes presented.
این ساموراییها هم مردمان بدبختی بودن. بدبختیهای زیادی به سر خودشون میآوردن. بخشهای زیادی ازش یادداشت کردم. این نسخه، پانویسهای خوبی داشت
This review is for the manga adaptation by Sean Michael Wilson and Chie Kutsuwada.
Having not read the original, it's hard for me to judge this book, but taken on its own it seems to paint a rather screwed up picture of bushido. Not that there weren't some seriously screwed up elements to the samurai code.
The main thing this book left me with is a desire to read the full text to see if there are subtleties that I'm missing. After that I should be able to come back and update this review.
Update: I've now read a translation of the Hagakure by Alexander Bennett, and I have to say that this manga version seems to really distort the original by focusing so much on the most violent entries. The majority of the original deals with more mundane matters, but the manga picks out all the most violent anecdotes while ignoring those that actually make up the bulk of the original work.
Having not read the original, it's hard for me to judge this book, but taken on its own it seems to paint a rather screwed up picture of bushido. Not that there weren't some seriously screwed up elements to the samurai code.
The main thing this book left me with is a desire to read the full text to see if there are subtleties that I'm missing. After that I should be able to come back and update this review.
Update: I've now read a translation of the Hagakure by Alexander Bennett, and I have to say that this manga version seems to really distort the original by focusing so much on the most violent entries. The majority of the original deals with more mundane matters, but the manga picks out all the most violent anecdotes while ignoring those that actually make up the bulk of the original work.