Description
"La ética del samurái en el Japón moderno" es el ensayo que escribió Yukio Mishima sobre "Hagakure", el clásico de la literatura samurái, escrito en el siglo XVIII por Yamamoto Tsunetomo tras dejar las armas y convertirse en el monje budista Jocho. "Hagakure", traducido como "Oculto por las hojas", es un conjunto de dictados sobre el samurái ideal, muy popular en Japón hasta la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Fue una de las obras que acompañaron a Mishima desde niño y que dio sentido a su vida, viendo en ella una vía de protesta contra la sociedad japonesa que olvidaba sus valores tradicionales. "La ética del samurái en el Japón moderno" es un libro fundamental para comprender la obra literaria y la manera de pensar y actuar de Mishima. Éste hizo suya una de las máximas de Yamamoto: "Descubrí que el Camino del Samurái es la muerte", como "abandono de uno mismo como medio de conseguir la virtud". Terminó muriendo en 1970 practicándose el "seppuku", el rito tradicional del suicidio japonés… (more)
Library's review
from dust jacket
The Way of the Samurai: Yukio Mishima on Hagakure in Modern Life
'The book that was to provide constant spiritual guidance must form the basis of my morality and it must enable me to approve completely of my youth. It must be a book that could support firmly this loneliness of mine
Here, for the first time in English, is Mishima's own adaptation and interpretation of Hagakure, the fascinating collection illustrating 'The Way of the Samurai'-the traditional code of life for the Japanese. In his commentary, Mishima stresses the similarities between his own criticicism of postwar Japan and the ciriticism of his eighteenth-century contemporaries. For Mishima what matters is the perfection of the individual, the isolation of the individual, and the impossibility of communication between human beings.
In his introduction to Hagakure, Mishima discusses the great influence that the book has had on his own development as a writer and as an interpreter of modern Japanese society. As seen by Mishima, Hagakure advocates a particular philosophy of love, of daily living, and of action. Mishima's own frenzied career carefully followed this philosophy of action: responsibility for one's acts, partiotism without question , and the opting for suicide as the most honorable course to follow when confronted by unacceptable alternatives. For Mishima, 'the way of the samurai' was lost to Japanese men who, as he wrote, 'have preserverd the chrysanthemum of traditional culture, but not the sword.'
Jacket Illustration: Nakamura Nakazo I as Sadakuro, print by Katsukawa Shunsho, Tokkyo National Museum. From Kabuki by Masakatsu Gunji, publshed by Kodansha International Ltd. Courtesy of the publisher.
Jacket design by Vincent Torre.
Contents
Tanslator's Note
Prologue
Hagakure and I
Raymond Radiguet's Le Bal du Comte d'Orgel and The Collected Works of Akinari Ueda
The One and Ony Book for Me, Hagakure
Hagakure, the Book That Teaches Freedom and Passion
My Testimony
'I Found That the Way of the Samurai Is Death'
The Misfortune and the Happiness of the Man of Action
Hagakure, Womb of My Literary Oeuvre
My Hagakure
Hagakure Is Alive Today
Contemporary Youth Infatuated witht the Cardin Look
The Femnization of the Male
Expense Account Aristocrats
Lionized Baseball Players and Television Stars
The Compromise Climate of Today, When One May Neither Live Beautifully nor Die Horribly
The Ideal Love is Undeclared
Hagakure: Potaent Medcine To Soothe the Suffering Soul
Suppressed, the Death Impulse Must Eventually Explode
Times Have Changed
The Significance of Hagakure for the Present Day
The Forty-Eight Vital Principles of Hagakure
Hagakure and Its Author, Jocho Yamamoto
The Background and Compositon of Hagakure
Jocho and the Tanscriber, Tsuramoto Tashiro
Hagakure: Three Philosophies
How to Read Hagakure
The Japanese Image of Death
Death According to Hagakure and Death for the Kamkaze Suicide Squadrons
There Is No Obligatory Death
Can One Die for a Just Cause?
No Death is in Vain
Appendix: Selected Words of Wisdom from Hagakure
The Way of the Samurai: Yukio Mishima on Hagakure in Modern Life
'The book that was to provide constant spiritual guidance must form the basis of my morality and it must enable me to approve completely of my youth. It must be a book that could support firmly this loneliness of mine
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and my anachronistic stance. What is more, it must be a book banned by contemporary society. Hagakure conformed to all these specifications.'-from Mishima's Prologue to HagakureHere, for the first time in English, is Mishima's own adaptation and interpretation of Hagakure, the fascinating collection illustrating 'The Way of the Samurai'-the traditional code of life for the Japanese. In his commentary, Mishima stresses the similarities between his own criticicism of postwar Japan and the ciriticism of his eighteenth-century contemporaries. For Mishima what matters is the perfection of the individual, the isolation of the individual, and the impossibility of communication between human beings.
In his introduction to Hagakure, Mishima discusses the great influence that the book has had on his own development as a writer and as an interpreter of modern Japanese society. As seen by Mishima, Hagakure advocates a particular philosophy of love, of daily living, and of action. Mishima's own frenzied career carefully followed this philosophy of action: responsibility for one's acts, partiotism without question , and the opting for suicide as the most honorable course to follow when confronted by unacceptable alternatives. For Mishima, 'the way of the samurai' was lost to Japanese men who, as he wrote, 'have preserverd the chrysanthemum of traditional culture, but not the sword.'
Jacket Illustration: Nakamura Nakazo I as Sadakuro, print by Katsukawa Shunsho, Tokkyo National Museum. From Kabuki by Masakatsu Gunji, publshed by Kodansha International Ltd. Courtesy of the publisher.
Jacket design by Vincent Torre.
Contents
Tanslator's Note
Prologue
Hagakure and I
Raymond Radiguet's Le Bal du Comte d'Orgel and The Collected Works of Akinari Ueda
The One and Ony Book for Me, Hagakure
Hagakure, the Book That Teaches Freedom and Passion
My Testimony
'I Found That the Way of the Samurai Is Death'
The Misfortune and the Happiness of the Man of Action
Hagakure, Womb of My Literary Oeuvre
My Hagakure
Hagakure Is Alive Today
Contemporary Youth Infatuated witht the Cardin Look
The Femnization of the Male
Expense Account Aristocrats
Lionized Baseball Players and Television Stars
The Compromise Climate of Today, When One May Neither Live Beautifully nor Die Horribly
The Ideal Love is Undeclared
Hagakure: Potaent Medcine To Soothe the Suffering Soul
Suppressed, the Death Impulse Must Eventually Explode
Times Have Changed
The Significance of Hagakure for the Present Day
The Forty-Eight Vital Principles of Hagakure
Hagakure and Its Author, Jocho Yamamoto
The Background and Compositon of Hagakure
Jocho and the Tanscriber, Tsuramoto Tashiro
Hagakure: Three Philosophies
How to Read Hagakure
The Japanese Image of Death
Death According to Hagakure and Death for the Kamkaze Suicide Squadrons
There Is No Obligatory Death
Can One Die for a Just Cause?
No Death is in Vain
Appendix: Selected Words of Wisdom from Hagakure
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User reviews
LibraryThing member edwinbcn
In 1970, Yukio Mishima committed ritual suicide after a failed coup. The intentions of the coup, and Mishima's political views at the time, are hard to understand to Western readers, who have interpreted Mishima's actions as those of an irrational madman.
The Samurai ethic and modern Japan bring
The book has the subtitle "Yukio Mishima on Hagakure. Hagakure refers to a compilation of commentaries published in Japan in the early Eighteenth Century as The Book of the Samurai. It seems that this book is predominantly associated with the warrior code, known as "Bushidō" or "the way of the warrior" with special emphasis on the warrior's readiness to die.
The meme of willingness to follow a lord in death originates in China, and was also found in the earliest annals of Japanese culture. The ancient tradition of xunsi (殉死) following a lord into the grave was outlawed in Japan as early as the Seventh Century BCE, but retained its fascination.
However, this "warrior code" must be seen in a much broader context of a practical and moral guide of the samurai. Over the centuries the class of samurai developed into a veritable form of aristocracy, and the Hagakure came to encompass a must broader life philosophy, similar to The Book of the Courtier.
The Samurai ethic and modern Japan are not a translation of the Hagakure, which is described as a much larger work in eleven volumes (p. 36). The four "essays" of very unequal length and scope, one of which merely indicated as an appendix, consists of notes which Mishima made for several undisclosed occasions. There is a lot of overlap between the four sections of the book, some repeating observations or ideas in exactly the same words. Rather than a volume of essays on Hagakure, the book should be seen as a scrapbook.
Yukio Mishima was a very well-read author, very well-versed in Western literature, as well. The scrap book forms a testimony to his long dedication to understand and apply the moral principles of the samurai code to his own life, to shape his life as that of a Japanese traditional gentleman. The code stresses dignity, appropriacy and honor. There are many references to links with Western culture, such as epicureanism, hedonism and nihilism. There are aphorisms and sections prescribing proper conduct with other people and on a variety of occasions. There are also many references to Chinese and Japanese culture, and references to other works interpreting Japanese culture, such as The Chrysanthemum and the Sword.
The Samurai ethic and modern Japan only contains Yukio Mishima's reflections on the Hagakure Analects, but offer no interpretations. Thus, while the book apparently tells the reader a lot about Japanese culture, by the end of the book one is no wiser as to Mishima's motives, or how elements of the books connect with episodes in his life and work.
The Samurai ethic and modern Japan seems mainly very interesting to the reader who is seeking to understand the Japanese Mind in general.
The Samurai ethic and modern Japan bring
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together four, rather disjointed essays or collections of notes, which may provide a cultural or philosophical underpinning for Mishima's ideas in the years leading to his death.The book has the subtitle "Yukio Mishima on Hagakure. Hagakure refers to a compilation of commentaries published in Japan in the early Eighteenth Century as The Book of the Samurai. It seems that this book is predominantly associated with the warrior code, known as "Bushidō" or "the way of the warrior" with special emphasis on the warrior's readiness to die.
The meme of willingness to follow a lord in death originates in China, and was also found in the earliest annals of Japanese culture. The ancient tradition of xunsi (殉死) following a lord into the grave was outlawed in Japan as early as the Seventh Century BCE, but retained its fascination.
However, this "warrior code" must be seen in a much broader context of a practical and moral guide of the samurai. Over the centuries the class of samurai developed into a veritable form of aristocracy, and the Hagakure came to encompass a must broader life philosophy, similar to The Book of the Courtier.
The Samurai ethic and modern Japan are not a translation of the Hagakure, which is described as a much larger work in eleven volumes (p. 36). The four "essays" of very unequal length and scope, one of which merely indicated as an appendix, consists of notes which Mishima made for several undisclosed occasions. There is a lot of overlap between the four sections of the book, some repeating observations or ideas in exactly the same words. Rather than a volume of essays on Hagakure, the book should be seen as a scrapbook.
Yukio Mishima was a very well-read author, very well-versed in Western literature, as well. The scrap book forms a testimony to his long dedication to understand and apply the moral principles of the samurai code to his own life, to shape his life as that of a Japanese traditional gentleman. The code stresses dignity, appropriacy and honor. There are many references to links with Western culture, such as epicureanism, hedonism and nihilism. There are aphorisms and sections prescribing proper conduct with other people and on a variety of occasions. There are also many references to Chinese and Japanese culture, and references to other works interpreting Japanese culture, such as The Chrysanthemum and the Sword.
The Samurai ethic and modern Japan only contains Yukio Mishima's reflections on the Hagakure Analects, but offer no interpretations. Thus, while the book apparently tells the reader a lot about Japanese culture, by the end of the book one is no wiser as to Mishima's motives, or how elements of the books connect with episodes in his life and work.
The Samurai ethic and modern Japan seems mainly very interesting to the reader who is seeking to understand the Japanese Mind in general.
Show Less
ISBN
465090893
Publication
Basic Books Inc., Publishers New York
Original publication date
1967