A review by iamericat22
Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo
3.0
This book goes way back...like approximately the year 1709 back. As such, it has some proverbial wisdom and some really dated crazy stuff.
The book involves sayings from Tsunetomo who was a Samurai to a Lord who looked down on the practice of Seppuku (disemboweling yourself with a sword) and therefore forbid his warriors to do so upon his death. This led to Tsunetomo becoming a monk and spewing his good ole days story to anyone who would listen.
These stories in Hagakure mainly involve who Seppuku'ed who. Living with honor and not fearing death is a central theme. There are some nuggets of wisdom about living a good life, but there's also some hate speech against women and talk of how best to behead a man. All advice may not be applicable to your life, but do what you will with it. For my part, my rating is on its usefulness to present day and readability (very easy).
#3StarRead
The book involves sayings from Tsunetomo who was a Samurai to a Lord who looked down on the practice of Seppuku (disemboweling yourself with a sword) and therefore forbid his warriors to do so upon his death. This led to Tsunetomo becoming a monk and spewing his good ole days story to anyone who would listen.
These stories in Hagakure mainly involve who Seppuku'ed who. Living with honor and not fearing death is a central theme. There are some nuggets of wisdom about living a good life, but there's also some hate speech against women and talk of how best to behead a man. All advice may not be applicable to your life, but do what you will with it. For my part, my rating is on its usefulness to present day and readability (very easy).
#3StarRead