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A review by rotorguy64
Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo
2.0
The first third of this book was fairly interesting, but by the end, it has devolved into descriptions of random acts of barbarism. Servants committing suicide over petty failures, arbitrary executions, spontaneous killigs fueled by nothing but a hurt ego, page after page. No context to them, no system behind them, and on a few occassions I didnt even know what lesson the author wanted me to learn. Most of the ones I did understand were about death-worship, how to be subservient to your master, and how to be liked by your peers.
Granted, this book had considerable humorous value. A man whose spinal cord was severed in battle put his head back in place with his hands, was treated with oil and resin, and recovered completely. An incident with a kaishakunin who, upon hearing a comment on his skills at beheading, lost his temper, ripped off the head of the corpse of someone who had just committed seppuku and held it up in the air was described as "rather chilling". There's a page dedicated to explaining why cowardice is the only reason why one wouldn't want to behead a criminal, and a description of how one can flay a decapitated head, by - among other things - urinating on it. The latter is seen by the author as "information to be treasured".
This level of brutality and disregard for life seems to me to be well beyond what was usual at the time. The feuds and territorial wars common in Europe, especially some centuries earlier, were far more civilized than what Hagakure preaches and praises. As the book did have some interesting bits, and as the writing style itself wasn't unpleasant, I'll still rate it with two stars instead of one, despite the immorality and blandness of its philosophy.
Granted, this book had considerable humorous value. A man whose spinal cord was severed in battle put his head back in place with his hands, was treated with oil and resin, and recovered completely. An incident with a kaishakunin who, upon hearing a comment on his skills at beheading, lost his temper, ripped off the head of the corpse of someone who had just committed seppuku and held it up in the air was described as "rather chilling". There's a page dedicated to explaining why cowardice is the only reason why one wouldn't want to behead a criminal, and a description of how one can flay a decapitated head, by - among other things - urinating on it. The latter is seen by the author as "information to be treasured".
This level of brutality and disregard for life seems to me to be well beyond what was usual at the time. The feuds and territorial wars common in Europe, especially some centuries earlier, were far more civilized than what Hagakure preaches and praises. As the book did have some interesting bits, and as the writing style itself wasn't unpleasant, I'll still rate it with two stars instead of one, despite the immorality and blandness of its philosophy.