Hagakure: The Book of the Samauri (edition 1997)

by Tsunetomo Yamamoto, William Scott Wilson (Translator)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
2,334	17	6,597	(3.71)	17

shawnd's review

This book was scribed by a younger samurai who sat basically at the deathbed of the samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo. For seven years, the scribe sat and had conversations with Tsunetomo. Tsunetomo had become a monk after the death of his 'Master' in 1700. By 1716 the conversations ended, the result was a large manuscript. Hagakure is a compilation or thread of the most meaningful and 'best' of the manuscript.

The book is a mix of advice, stories, Buddhist teachings and koans, and direction on how to be the best samurai possible. As is more realistic and pure samurai teachings, this focuses less on swordplay than do most of the contemporary 20th and 21st century movies. The book is very much about loyalty--so much so that it is bound to conflict with modern and especially American views of independence, bootstrapping, etc.

Because it is written in small chunks without a specific plot or flow, I found the book to be great as a 'daily reader'. The author seems very calm, sane and without anger, and while I suspect no one would call him Enlightened, it reads without malice. From a Buddhist perspective, I had good luck replacing the word 'master' with 'compassion' and it worked almost seamlessly as a Buddhist reading meditation. (

)

shawnd | Jan 9, 2008 |

All member reviews

English (14) Dutch (1) French (1) Italian (1) All languages (17)

date ▼ | votes

Showing 14 of 14

If you learn one thing from this book, it is that advice is cheap. (

)

markm2315 | Jul 1, 2023 |

A good distillation of a culture is like wine. There is color, there is character, there are bracing effects, there are notes and complexities. Bushido is a culture within a culture, a rich mix. The ideals are kindness and capacity for quick and lethal action. The shadow of death is to be embraced in every moment.

The author was not a samurai. He was a Zen student, Confucian scholar, scribe / retainer to a lord whose father and grandfather were samurai, and finally a mountain-dwelling, married Buddhist priest. Hagakure is a mixing vat of many elements, but its main notes, first and last, are living with death, inhaling it, to the final breath. Sip it to your pleasure and think about how deeply to swallow it in. (

)

Cr00 | Apr 1, 2023 |

Despite it's history (martial manual for Axis era Japan), the 'Hagakure' in it's originality is a striking text resplendent with one sole emphasis: carry out your duty.

It is not a Sun Tzu type 'Art of War' but rather a nostalgic yearning for times long gone. Profound yet spontaneous, I learnt the essentiality of forbearance from this book. (

)

Amarj33t_5ingh | Jul 8, 2022 |

Some fascinating historical perspectives mixed with wisdom and what I can only describe as an alien mindset. I recommend this book not to those seeking a greater understanding of Zen, but rather to those who want to understand the spiritual underpinnings of samurai culture. (

)

jamestomasino | Sep 11, 2021 |

This book has aphorisms and truisms and ideals and things. Some of the wisdom is kinda culturally specific and sexist. For instance, never have a daughter. "Daughters bring shame to the family," according to the book. Also, if you are a retainer to a samurai, you have to kill yourself when your master dies. It has other interesting ideas too, but those are the ones that stuck out in my mind.

According to the book, the translator selected two hundred excerpts from the works known collectively as the Hagakure and this distillation of knowledge is what resulted. It's not that long of a book and it is really fragmented, but all in all it is a pretty good volume of Eastern Wisdom. (

)

Floyd3345 | Jun 15, 2019 |

Another one I read years ago. Note the biohazard kamon on the cover. (

)

nicdevera | Mar 3, 2017 |

Hagakure, simply put is a book about warrior culture. Written in a time of peace by Tsuramoto Tashiro who compiled these commentaries from his conversations with Tsunetomo from 1709 to 1716; Yamamoto Tsunetomo a samurai whom was forbidden to perform junshi, a retainer's ritual suicide after his master died, by an edict of the Tokugawa Shogunate combined with his master's disapproval of the tradition.

The book is filled with proverbs, observations, Lessons on bushido as well as Yamamoto Tsunetomo's views on bushido, the warrior code of the samurai. (

)

Tj-G | Mar 25, 2016 |

Never read cover to cover... browsed here and there... classic 17th century Asian philosophy (

)

BooksForDinner | Jan 20, 2016 |

I am deeply impressed with the philosophy it expounds and the discipline, loyalty, and honor it promotes. (

)

mrellis64 | Jun 30, 2009 |

)

shawnd | Jan 9, 2008 |

This book was a disappointment, perhaps because I expected something along the lines of the Art of War or The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) that would have relevance to today's urban warrior.

Instead, this would be a good book to give to a dog (if that dog could read). It is mostly about how to be a single-mindedly subservient retainer. I found very little to take away from it that would improve my martial arts, my daily life, or for that matter, my self esteem. It's all about being someone whose life is worthless, except as an unquestioning, willing martyr for one's boss.

This book was quoted several times in Ghost Dog, and I had to check to see that the quotes were really in there. I think those few references contain all of the quotable insight in the whole book. (

)

HoraceSPatoot | Oct 5, 2007 |

Its alright but its probably not like what you think it I'll be like. Its more a guide to how to survive in the buisness world, similar to how to make friends... and books of that ilk. Yes you do have bits like "imagine yourself being ripped apart by arrows..." but at the same time you have it telling you to lie constantly for some relations, that if you are going to a party you should leave early before they get bored of your company, that too win an argument you should not confront people, but listen to their point say "I see that's what I was thinking, but..." and then attach your opposite view on the end.
I dunno, it seems a bit half baked at times but ots interesting none the less. (

)

djlimb | May 25, 2007 |

The "Hagakure" is the rulebook for being a samura in that most interesting periods in world history, that of feudal Japan. The writing is remarkably fresh for so old a piece, and one is greatful for the work done by the translator in making it so.

The most memorable aspect of the book is the fact that so many rules ended with 'the disgraced samurai is then supposed to commit seppuku - ritual suicide.' Even if he forgets to put the seat down! (

)

soylentgreen23 | Dec 22, 2006 |

Kopfpolsterbuch