Hagakure
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Nabeshima-Secretary-Hagakure-The-Analects-Bushido-Book.png/220px-Nabeshima-Secretary-Hagakure-The-Analects-Bushido-Book.png)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/36/Hagakure.jpg/170px-Hagakure.jpg)
Hagakure(Kyūjitai:Diệp ẩn;Shinjitai:Diệp ẩn;meaningHidden by the LeavesorHidden Leaves),[1]orHagakure Kikigaki(Diệp ẩn văn thư),is a practical and spiritual guide for a warrior, drawn from a collection of commentaries by the clerkYamamoto Tsunetomo,former retainer toNabeshima Mitsushige(July 10, 1632 – July 2, 1700), the third ruler of what is nowSaga PrefectureinJapan.Tashiro Tsuramoto compiled these commentaries from his conversations with Tsunetomo from 1709 to 1716; however, it was not published until many years afterwards. Written during a time when there was no officially sanctioned samurai fighting, the book grapples with the dilemma of maintaining a warrior class in the absence of war and reflects the author's nostalgia for a world that had disappeared before he was born.Hagakurewas largely forgotten for two centuries after its composition, but it came to be viewed as the definitive guide of the armed forces of theEmpire of Japanduring thePacific War.Hagakureis also known asThe Book of the Samurai,Analects of NabeshimaorHagakure Analects.
Content
[edit]The book records Yamamoto's views onbushido,thewarrior codeof thesamurai.Hagakureis sometimes said to assert that bushido is really the "Way ofDying"or living as though one was already dead, and that a samurai must be willing to die at any moment in order to be true to his lady/lord. His saying" the way of the warrior is death "was a summation of the willingness to sacrifice thatbushidocodified.[2]Hagakure's text is occasionally misinterpreted as meaning that bushido is a code of death. However, the true meaning is that by having a constant awareness of death, people can achieve a transcendent state of freedom, whereby "it is possible to perfectly fulfill one's calling as a warrior."[3]
Historical context
[edit]After the Tokugawa shogunate suppressed theShimabara Rebellionin 1638, Japan experienced no warfare for about two centuries. Private feuding and dueling between samurai was also suppressed. Yamamoto Tsunetomo was born in 1659, after the end of officially sanctioned samurai fighting. He had no personal combat experience and when he was employed, he worked as a scribe. By the late 1600s and early 1700s, samurai faced the dilemma of maintaining a warrior class in the absence of war, andHagakurereflects this uncertainty. Written late in the author's life, the book also reflects his nostalgia for a world that had disappeared before his birth.[4][5]
Reception
[edit]Hagakurewas largely forgotten for two centuries. The first modern edition appeared in 1900, and it did not receive much attention during the first decades of the century.Hagakurecame to be viewed as a definitive book of the samurai only during the Pacific War. According toMark Ravina,"Rather than an account of samurai tradition, this work serves as an example of what the Japanese army thought Japanese soldiers should believe about samurai practice."[4][5]In thepost-war era,the nationalist author and poet,Yukio Mishima,was inspired byHagakureand wrote his own book in praise of the work.[6]Quotations fromHagakureare used as a narrative device in the 1999 American gangster filmGhost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.
Editions
[edit]- Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai,Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Translated by Alexander Bennett, Tuttle Publishing, 2014,ISBN978-4-8053-1198-1(Full Translation)
- The Art of the Samurai: Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure,Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Translated by Barry D. Steben, Duncan Baird, September 2008,ISBN1-84483-720-3(Partial translation)
- Hagakure, The Way of the Samurai,Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Translated by Takao Mukoh, Angkor Verlag, 2000 (Reprint),ISBN3-8311-1530-3
- Hagakure, The manga edition,Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Translated by William Scott Wilson, a comic book/manga version, adapted by Sean Michael Wilson and Chie Kutsuwada, Kondansha International Ltd., 2011.
- Bushido, The Way of the Samurai,Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Translated by Justin F. Stone and Minoru Tanaka,Square One Publishers,2003,ISBN0-7570-0026-6
References
[edit]- ^Yamamoto, Tsunetomo (2002).Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai.Wilson, William Scott (trans.). Stackpole Books. p.15.ISBN978-4-7700-2916-4.
- ^Meirion and Susie Harries,Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Armyp. 7ISBN0-394-56935-0
- ^Kasaya Kazuhiko (June 12, 2019)."Bushidō: An Ethical and Spiritual Foundation in Japan".Nippon.com.Archived fromthe originalon 8 November 2019.
- ^abMark J. Ravina (2015).Understanding Japan: A Cultural History.The Great Courses. Smithsonian Institution. pp. 6:34:30–6:44:10.
- ^abMark J. Ravina (2015).Understanding Japan: A Cultural History. Course Guidebook.The Great Courses. Smithsonian Institution. pp. 94–95.
- ^Varley, Paul (2000).Japanese Culture.Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. p. 212.ISBN978-0-8248-2292-7.
Further reading
[edit]- Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan,by Oleg Benesch. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.ISBN0198706626,ISBN9780198706625.
- Diệp ẩn nhập mônHagakure Nyūmon The Way of the Samurai:Yukio Mishimaon Hagakure in modern life1967 Translated by Kathryn Sparling, 1977,ISBN0-465-09089-3.
- On Hagakure,by celebrated Japanese novelistYukio Mishima.
- The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesukeby Thomas Cleary,Tuttle Publishing,1999.ISBN978-0804831901.
- Hagakure: Spirit of Bushido,by Hideo Koga and Stacey B. Day. Hagakure Society, Saga, Japan, 1993. (University of Kyushu Press, Fukuoka, Japan).ISBN4-87378-359-3C1012.
- The Wisdom of Hagakure: Way of the Samurai of Saga Domain,by Stacey B. Day and Kiyoshi Inokuchi. Hagakure Society, Saga, Japan, 1994. (University of Kyushu Press, Fukuoka, Japan).ISBN4-87378-389-5.
- Moudrost Samuraju: Zivotni Stezka Samuraje Z Kraje Saga,by Stacey B. Day and Kijosi Inokuci. (Prelozila Marketa Cukrova). Trigon, Praha, CZ, 1998.ISBN80-86159-11-6.
External links
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)