Description
In Legends of the Samurai, Hiroaki Sato confronts both the history and the legend of the samurai, untangling the two to present an authentic picture of these legendary warriors. Through his masterful translations of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports, and arguments accompanied by insightful commentary, Sato chronicles the changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai's historical origins to his rise to political power. A fascinating look at Japanese history as seen through the evolution of the samurai, Legends of the Samurai stands as the ultimate authority on its subject.
Library's review
from dust jacket
Over the decades the reputatuion of the samurai has grown to mythical proportions, owing to such films as Akiro Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Yojimbo as well al stories such as James Clavell's Shogun; in the eighties, the seventeenth century treatise on marital arts, A Book of Five
Through his masterful translation of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports, and arguments accompanied by insightful commentary, Hiroaki Sato chronicles the changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai's historical origins to his rise to political power. For this purpose, Sato has chosen to translate, wherever possible, writings closest in time to the actual event. His translations are testament to his mastery of the language for they flow with lively ease that one might not expect from accounts, many of which are ancient.
Legends of the Saurai covers legends from mythological times to teh early eighteenth century. Through this book Sato describes men accomplished in martial arts, warrior-commanders in battle, and samurai's own views of themselves. It ends with a famous modern retelling of a mass disembowelment in the mid-seventeenth century.
Hiroaki Sato has published two dozen books, sixteen of which are translations of Japanese poetry into English. His translation of the ancient Japanese teatise on swordsmanship, The Sword and the Mind, is available from The Overlook Press. He is a frequent lecturer on Japanese poetry ands past president of the Heiku Society of America. In 1982, he, along witgh Bkurton Watson, won the P.E.N. translation prize fro From the Cokuntry of Eight Islands: An anthology of Japanese Poetry.
Contents
Acknowledgments and Notes
Introduction
Chronology
Genealogy of the Minamoto Clan
Part One: Samurai Prowess
Yamato Takeru: Loser as Hero (Fourth century A.D.)
Yorozu: 'I Wanted to Show My Bravery!'
Otomo no Yakamochi: To Die by Our Sovereign's Side (Poem written in 749)
Minamoto no Mitsuru and taira no Yoshifumi: The Duel (Mid-10th century)
Fujiwara no Yasumasa and Hakamadare: Presence of Mind
Muroaka no Goro and Hakamadare: To Know When to be Alert
Taira no Koremochi, a.k.a. General Yogo: 'Did You Bring His Head?'
Kanetada and Koremochi: Meaning of REvenge
Tachibana no Norimitsu: 'What Splendid Swordsmanship!' with a description of the same man as viewed by Sei Shonagon, author of the Pilow Book
Sakanoue no Haruzumi: A Warrior's Shame
Minamoto no Raiko: Aleert and Penetrating
Guardian Kings and the Oxcart: a Comic Interlude, with an account of the origin of Haniwa
Minamoto no Yorinobu: 'Lert Your Little Kid be stabbed to death!'
Raiko and Others: Tales of Archery
Taira no Munetsune: The Silent One
Taira no Sadatsuna: When Not to Risk Your Life
Part Two: Battles Joined
Minamoto no Yoshiie: 'The Samurai of the Greatest Bravery Under Heaven'
Minamoto no Yoshitsune: A Hero Hounded
Kusunoki Masashige: A Guerilla of Unflinching Loyalty
Ko no Moronao: 'When a Samurai Falls in Love'
Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin: Two Warlords
Oda Nobunaga: The Warlord and Poetry
Part Three: The Way of the Warrrior
Hojo Soun: 'Lord Soun's Twenty-one Articles'
Miyamoto Musashi: Gorin no Sho (Book of Five Elements)
Arai Hakuseki: 'My Father
Yamamoto Tsunetomo: Hagakure (Hidden in Leaves)
The Forty-Seven Samurai: An Eyewitness Account, with Arguments
'Memorandum of Okado Denpachiro'
Arguments
Hayashi Nobuatsu
Sato Naokata
An Anonymous Samurai
Asami Ysusada
Dazai Skhundai
Hokoi Yayu
Part Four: A Modern Retelling
'The Abe Family' by Mori Ogai
Bibliography
Index of Important Figures
Maps:
Twelfth century
Seventeenth century
Ilustrations:
Cover: Kusunoki Masashige
Hakamadare and Yasumasa
Haniwa
Yoshiie Exchanging Renga with Sadato
Oda Nobunaga
Miyamoto Musashi
Abe Yaichiemon and his Sons
Over the decades the reputatuion of the samurai has grown to mythical proportions, owing to such films as Akiro Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Yojimbo as well al stories such as James Clavell's Shogun; in the eighties, the seventeenth century treatise on marital arts, A Book of Five
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Rings (A Book of Five Elements) became the bible of Wall streeters who looked to samurai strategy for success in business. Although the picture of a superhuman, sword-wielding fighting machine has some basis in truth, this swashbuckling image is only part of the samurai story. In Legends of the Samurai, Sato confronts both the history and the legend of the samurai, untangling the two to present an authentic picture of these legenedary warriors.Through his masterful translation of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports, and arguments accompanied by insightful commentary, Hiroaki Sato chronicles the changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai's historical origins to his rise to political power. For this purpose, Sato has chosen to translate, wherever possible, writings closest in time to the actual event. His translations are testament to his mastery of the language for they flow with lively ease that one might not expect from accounts, many of which are ancient.
Legends of the Saurai covers legends from mythological times to teh early eighteenth century. Through this book Sato describes men accomplished in martial arts, warrior-commanders in battle, and samurai's own views of themselves. It ends with a famous modern retelling of a mass disembowelment in the mid-seventeenth century.
Hiroaki Sato has published two dozen books, sixteen of which are translations of Japanese poetry into English. His translation of the ancient Japanese teatise on swordsmanship, The Sword and the Mind, is available from The Overlook Press. He is a frequent lecturer on Japanese poetry ands past president of the Heiku Society of America. In 1982, he, along witgh Bkurton Watson, won the P.E.N. translation prize fro From the Cokuntry of Eight Islands: An anthology of Japanese Poetry.
Contents
Acknowledgments and Notes
Introduction
Chronology
Genealogy of the Minamoto Clan
Part One: Samurai Prowess
Yamato Takeru: Loser as Hero (Fourth century A.D.)
Yorozu: 'I Wanted to Show My Bravery!'
Otomo no Yakamochi: To Die by Our Sovereign's Side (Poem written in 749)
Minamoto no Mitsuru and taira no Yoshifumi: The Duel (Mid-10th century)
Fujiwara no Yasumasa and Hakamadare: Presence of Mind
Muroaka no Goro and Hakamadare: To Know When to be Alert
Taira no Koremochi, a.k.a. General Yogo: 'Did You Bring His Head?'
Kanetada and Koremochi: Meaning of REvenge
Tachibana no Norimitsu: 'What Splendid Swordsmanship!' with a description of the same man as viewed by Sei Shonagon, author of the Pilow Book
Sakanoue no Haruzumi: A Warrior's Shame
Minamoto no Raiko: Aleert and Penetrating
Guardian Kings and the Oxcart: a Comic Interlude, with an account of the origin of Haniwa
Minamoto no Yorinobu: 'Lert Your Little Kid be stabbed to death!'
Raiko and Others: Tales of Archery
Taira no Munetsune: The Silent One
Taira no Sadatsuna: When Not to Risk Your Life
Part Two: Battles Joined
Minamoto no Yoshiie: 'The Samurai of the Greatest Bravery Under Heaven'
Minamoto no Yoshitsune: A Hero Hounded
Kusunoki Masashige: A Guerilla of Unflinching Loyalty
Ko no Moronao: 'When a Samurai Falls in Love'
Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin: Two Warlords
Oda Nobunaga: The Warlord and Poetry
Part Three: The Way of the Warrrior
Hojo Soun: 'Lord Soun's Twenty-one Articles'
Miyamoto Musashi: Gorin no Sho (Book of Five Elements)
Arai Hakuseki: 'My Father
Yamamoto Tsunetomo: Hagakure (Hidden in Leaves)
The Forty-Seven Samurai: An Eyewitness Account, with Arguments
'Memorandum of Okado Denpachiro'
Arguments
Hayashi Nobuatsu
Sato Naokata
An Anonymous Samurai
Asami Ysusada
Dazai Skhundai
Hokoi Yayu
Part Four: A Modern Retelling
'The Abe Family' by Mori Ogai
Bibliography
Index of Important Figures
Maps:
Twelfth century
Seventeenth century
Ilustrations:
Cover: Kusunoki Masashige
Hakamadare and Yasumasa
Haniwa
Yoshiie Exchanging Renga with Sadato
Oda Nobunaga
Miyamoto Musashi
Abe Yaichiemon and his Sons
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User reviews
LibraryThing member Cecrow
This isn't a Japanese history text, but it could be a great supplement to one. It's a collection of Japanese legends and histories which feature samurai, presented chronologically but also divided into three parts: tales of individual heroics and other famed acts; tales of war that do verge on
The introduction is fantastic at briefly providing an overview of the different eras of Japan's history, and at establishing basic knowledge about samurai culture. I liked the presentation of the content that followed, which alternates between translations from the sources and the author's explanatory passages that establish setting and context. There are also substantial footnotes provided as aids. A straightforward translation of the sources without any of this support would have left me in the dark and much less appreciative. Hiroaki Sato uses sources that were recorded closest to the actual occurrence of events, to minimize the exaggeration in their retelling over the centuries. Even so, the earliest tales read like Greek mythology, but there is a clear progression in the objectivity with which these histories were recorded. The author/translator notes a bias whenever he feels one occurs, sometimes citing sources with opposing versions for contrast.
Thanks to this work I'm now much more familiar with the 'greats' of samurai lore. I can't seem to readily retain most of these Japanese names, but I'll be keeping this book as reference and making connections as I read other works on the subject in hopes of making the names 'stick' eventually. I was surprised how frequently deception is lauded as a tactic in these tales (particularly the faking one's death, an oft-used ploy); I would have thought that ran contrary to the samurai honour code, so it goes to show how much I've yet to understand. I was also intrigued by the strong emphasis on art forms that balances or even overshadows the rigorous martial arts training a samurai required. Poetry is closely linked to the warrior way, as explained in the introduction, and it is featured in many of the tales. The author does a great job of explaining quoted poetic nuances through his asides or in the footnotes.
The content here consists only of highlights from the selected sources, some of them very brief. You would have to look elsewhere to find the full source translations, but this is a great overview of select readings that provides a solid framework and goes a long way to introducing the legends of the samurai.
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relating Japanese history; and a more philosophically themed section that mostly covers events of the Tokugawa period, featuring Musashi's Book of Five Elements and the revenge story of the Forty-Seven Samurai.The introduction is fantastic at briefly providing an overview of the different eras of Japan's history, and at establishing basic knowledge about samurai culture. I liked the presentation of the content that followed, which alternates between translations from the sources and the author's explanatory passages that establish setting and context. There are also substantial footnotes provided as aids. A straightforward translation of the sources without any of this support would have left me in the dark and much less appreciative. Hiroaki Sato uses sources that were recorded closest to the actual occurrence of events, to minimize the exaggeration in their retelling over the centuries. Even so, the earliest tales read like Greek mythology, but there is a clear progression in the objectivity with which these histories were recorded. The author/translator notes a bias whenever he feels one occurs, sometimes citing sources with opposing versions for contrast.
Thanks to this work I'm now much more familiar with the 'greats' of samurai lore. I can't seem to readily retain most of these Japanese names, but I'll be keeping this book as reference and making connections as I read other works on the subject in hopes of making the names 'stick' eventually. I was surprised how frequently deception is lauded as a tactic in these tales (particularly the faking one's death, an oft-used ploy); I would have thought that ran contrary to the samurai honour code, so it goes to show how much I've yet to understand. I was also intrigued by the strong emphasis on art forms that balances or even overshadows the rigorous martial arts training a samurai required. Poetry is closely linked to the warrior way, as explained in the introduction, and it is featured in many of the tales. The author does a great job of explaining quoted poetic nuances through his asides or in the footnotes.
The content here consists only of highlights from the selected sources, some of them very brief. You would have to look elsewhere to find the full source translations, but this is a great overview of select readings that provides a solid framework and goes a long way to introducing the legends of the samurai.
Show Less
Subjects
ISBN
879516194
Publication
The Overlook Press Lewis Hollow Road Woodstock, New York 12498