Hagakure The Book of the Samauri

by Tsunetomo, Yamamoto; Wilson, William Scott

• ISBN13: 9784770029164
• ISBN10: 4770029160
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-08-30
• Publisher: Kodansha USA

Summary

This treatise comprises the authentic relections of a 17th-century Samuraiarrior on the character of martial life and death. It aims to be annvaluable guide to the disciplines of thought and practice required of theerious martial artist.

Author Biography

YAMAMOTO TSUNETOMO [1659-1719] was a samurai retainer of the Nabeshima Clan, Lords of Hizen province, who became a Buddhist monk in 1700 after the Shogunate government prohibited the practice of tsuifuku: suicide of a retainer on the death of his lord. The book was dictated to a younger samurai during the author's seclusion over a seven year period.
WILLIAM SCOTT WILSON, the translator, was born in 1944 and grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College in 1966, he was invited by a friend to join a three-month kayak trip up the coast of Japan from Shimonoseki to Tokyo. This eye-opening journey, beautifully documented in National Geographic, spurred Wilson's fascination with the culture and history of Japan.
After receiving a B.A. degree in political science from Dartmouth, Wilson earned a second B.A. in Japanese language and literature from the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies in Monterey, California, then undertook extensive research on Edo-period (1603-1868) philosophy at the Aichi Prefectural University, in Nagoya, Japan.
Wilson completed his first translation, Hagakure, while living in an old farmhouse deep in the Japanese countryside. Hagakure saw publication in 1979, the same year Wilson completed an M.A. in Japanese language and literature at the University of Washington. Wilson's other translations include The Book of Five Rings, The Life-Giving Sword, The Unfettered Mind, the Eiji Yoshikawa novel Taiko, and Ideals of the Samurai, which has been used as a college textbook on Japanese history and thought. Two decades after its initial publication, Hagakure was prominently featured in the Jim Jarmusch film Ghost Dog.
Wilson currently lives in Miami, Florida.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 7
Introduction	p. 9
From the 1st Chapter	p. 17
From the 2nd Chapter	p. 65
From the 3rd Chapter	p. 89
From the 4th Chapter	p. 91
From the 6th Chapter	p. 93
From the 7th Chapter	p. 99
From the 8th Chapter	p. 111
From the 9th Chapter	p. 128
From the 10th Chapter	p. 137
From the 11th Chapter	p. 153
Late Night Idle Talk	p. 167
Notes	p. 170
Names, Places and Words	p. 174
Bibliography	p. 179
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