Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai by Tsunetomo Yamamoto

Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai Reviews

• 
  goodreads Customer

  A detailed and insightful translation of a very important piece of Japanese History.
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  Kindle Customer

  Arrived scuffed and cover in marks, with the cover bent and a corner completely folded over. Bought this New, what a joke.
• 
  Xavier Herbert -Will

  The structure of the content of the work
• 
  Andrea Z

  Si trovano in giro uninfinità di traduzioni dellHagakure, alcune grossolanamente incomplete o reinterpretate. non dico che questa sia la migliore perché a questo punto è difficile capire quale corrisponda di più alloriginale. Ciò detto, il testo appare molto completo e vicino allo stile dellopera originale di cui non conosco che alcuni brani (rivisti) in lingua giapponese moderna. Utilissime le note e sobria linterpretazione, come si addice agli argomenti trattati.
• 
  Davide domingues

  Gutes buch
• 
  Vinylspinner

  This translation needs no recommendation to the readers interested in martial arts, medieval history or Japanese literature. Security professionals, Fortune 500 executives and those already having it on their must read list need no recommendation either.Instead, I would like to recommend this book to the reader who might never consider reading it, or worse, who would put it aside after seeing flashy cover and skimming through the Introduction.There is a strong reason for that.To any Westerner unfamiliar with it, Bushido could be best described by using Michel Foucaults terms technology of the self and caring for oneself(epimeleia heautou). It is true art (techne) that provides necessary preparation skills (paraskeue), influenced by the time and field tested Neo Confucianism, Zen and Buddhism. However, Bushido resonates familiar to anyone who read Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius. Therefore, in an indirect way, Bushido reminds us Westerners of our own Classical roots, mostly lost and forgotten in the West.That is why Hagakure is timeless, and not limited to martial arts only, if read in a wider context. Jim Jarmusch used Hagakure as a loose framework for Ghost Dog, set in a fictional 1990s slum. Kenneth Branagh might use it as well to create another present day drama, like he did with Hamlet, because, like Yamamotos time, ours is also the time of turmoil, when the old ways are becoming obsolete, or so it seems, if attention is not paid to what is hidden in the leaves(i.e. hidden in plain sight).Here is a suggestion to non martial artist, one of the ways how to approach Hagakure. First reading provides historical context and information to better understand Japanese society,Yukio Mishimas writing, Japanese movies or even some better Hollywood attempts (47 Ronin). Subsequent readings should be an idea, one vignette or one chapter at the time, perhaps kept on a phone, read and reflected as an allegorical training manual. The Lord (daimyo) should be understood as the best possible version of the Readers self, while the Retainer (Samurai) is the Readers will to achieve this. Like samurai, the Reader has to struggle with the notion that we do not control things around us, but we do control our actions and reactions, the same way long jumper does not control the wind speed, only his actions, to make the longest possible jump.Like Samurai writing the scroll, the Reader has to keep in mind that hastily written e mail could end up on the Facebook wall.Like Samurai, the Reader has to be able to make the right decision within the span of seven breaths. That is how this book comes into perspective of non martial artist and how to be in the right frame of mind to accept what this gem of a book offers. I guess everyone will benefit differently. A friend of mine gave me Hagakure almost thirty years ago and told me to read it often. Perhaps it was one of the best advice I ever got.
• 
  David

  I can think of perhaps no one better qualified than Alex Bennett to do a new translation of Hagakure into English; Professor Bennett is probably the foremost authority on Budō and bushidō writing in English (and probably any other language) today. His extensive experience as both a practitioner and researcher of the Japanese martial traditions renders him especially suited to the task, and Bennetts translation does not disappoint: thoroughly researched from a historical perspective, yet with a keen eye toward what lessons the text may hold for readers of today, both practitioners of the martial arts and non practitioners alike. It is eminently readable, devoid of the stuffy archaicisms often resorted to by translators of such texts in order to give them an exotic flavor; this translation favors substance over surface.My only quibble with the text has nothing to do with the translation, but with the publisher Tuttles decision to go with a somewhat substandard quality of paper used for the first imprint of the book itself. I understand that the publishing industry is facing difficulties with the production of physical books in the face of digital publishings continuing rise, but cutting costs by producing cheaper printings seems like a step in exactly the wrong direction. This is not a throwaway beach novel or once through self help toss off, but a classic, one to which readers will want to refer again and again, and which deserves a physical presentation worthy of its quality. I can only hope that future editions are of higher physical quality, perhaps also with a hardcover available. In this day and age, if one is going to buy an actual book, it seems like it should be one worth keeping. In the meantime, Im afraid I would suggest the Kindle edition.
• 
  goodreads Customer

  This book’s insights are engaging immediately upon reading. The author’s translations and depth of historical context helps to put reader in the period it was written. The core values of Hagakure are mentioned early and frequently to remind the reader of the duty bound retainers of the era. Samurai lovers, MUST BUY.