The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan

Professor Ikegami examines the evolution of the samurai as a social institution from its beginnings nearly 1,000 years ago up to the formal dissolution of the samurai in the late 19th century, as well as the continuing influence of samurai society on modern Japan. She shows that the concept of honor was central to the samurai throughout their history, but also demonstrates that their concepts of honor changed greatly. The samurai are presented not as distant, inscrutable creatures of a mysterious culture but as human beings constructing and living within a society adapted to their needs and circumstances. Their combination of ferocity and refinement are made comprehensible.Along the way she presents important and insightful analyses of such familiar aspects of samurai life as ritual suicide, bushido, the _Hagakure_, and the story of the revenge of the 47 ronin.The book begins with a section in which Ikegami sets out her analytical structure and theses. This may seem dry to some, but it is important in introducing concepts that run through the subsequent narrative. The bulk of the book consists of a chronologically arranged history of the development of samurai society, based in a wide range of Japanese and western sources.The book is well written and has many touches to aid the reader (such as reminders of the meanings of key Japanese terms and avoidance of unexplained jargon). Nevertheless, the density of the argument and facts demand careful and thoughtful reading.As the title should suggest, this is not a book for the novice, unfamiliar with the broad outlines of Japanese history. Nor is it a military history of the samurai.Will O'Neil

...of the origin and ongoing evolution of the Samurai class in Japan.I'd always thought that, despite congruences with warrior classes in other cultures, the Samurai were unique in a lot of ways. Certainly, no other warrior class ruled their society for 800 years.Ms. Ikegami's book now informs me that they were unique in different ways, at different times, and frequently subject to unique stressors and sociological conditions. The changes in the samurai, from reputation-and-power-seeking free agents to powerful rulers, lords and warlords, finally to confucianist administrators in the Tokugawa shogunate, demonstrate remarkable adaptivity. The author describes these changes against the background of Japanese state formation. People more qualified than myself seem to think her approach is revelatory.I had thought there would be more material documenting how the twin motors of bushido, honor-seeking and service-owing have been internalized in modern Japanese culture, but that final section was not in great depth. In any event, it was still an eye-opener, viewing the early stages of the class, and of bushido...anyone who has ever thought the Japanese culture inculcates only conformity, shame-aversion and discipline has gotten things badly wrong. (except for the discipline part)As to the difficulty factor, Ms. Ikegami's ideas can be followed, and her historical attributions, while not dense, certainly seem sound. That said, parts of the book sounded very much like they were aimed at a dissertation-review committee rather than 'people interested in the samurai'. If you've ever read any dissertations-turned-general-release-books, you'll know how to wade through.

A well researched book that explains samurai culture to a non-Japanese.

The title suggest a very interesting and worthy subject. However, the book seems to be a copy of Ikegami's dissertation. Factual information does not have to be communicated with words that cannot be understood by most readers. I spent most of my time in Google - researching definitions. It appears this book is a regeneration of the writer's dissertation.

This is a work of historical sociology. The author is not a historian but rather a sociologist interested in state formation and the relationship between ideology and social structure. This book is not based on novel archival research but is rather a very thorough and insightful analysis of the historical literature on the samurai class. Ikegami covers a broad swathe of Japanese history from the emergence of the Samurai to the fall of the Tokugawa state in the mid-19th century. Ikegami discusses the emergence of the Samurai during the late Heian period, the emergence of the first Shogunal state, its decay into the Warring states period, the unification, and the development of the Tokugawa state. Drawing on the work of a large number of Japanese and non-Japanese scholars, Ikegami offers a very thoughtful and concise analysis of the history of the Samurai and how a relatively centralized Samurai dominated polity came into being. Ikegami's narrative and analysis of the broad sweep of Japanese history is the best part of this book. She shows very nicely how the apparent paradox of the relatively powerful, centralized state based on military vassalage came into being. The discussion, in particular, of the structure of the Tokugawa state with its core of "bureaucratic vassalage" is particularly good. In the course of this narrative, Ikegami makes some additional insightful points. She points out, for example, that Confucianism was not particularly influential in Japan and only began to make substantial inroads after the formation of the Tokugawa state. She suggests that the spread of Confucianism in Tokugawa Japan was an example of the relative intellectual pluralism of Tokugawa Japan and that this pluralism and relative openness to new ideas would be important in meeting the subsequent challenges of the Western world. This is much more convincing than the facile description of Japanese success as a function of it being a Confucian society.In Ikegami's analysis, the Samurai code of honor played a key role within the Samurai class. Fundamentally, she sees the concept of honor and its interpretations as being an ideological glue for the master-vassal relationship of the Samurai class. While never completely coherent, the code of honor was usually a way to reconcile subservience to masters with a form of personal autonomy. Ikegami shows very well the historically dynamic nature of the code of honor and how it changed with the changing position of the Samurai in Japanese society. This is a thoughtful and careful analysis. This analysis is also the major defect of the book. While insightful, it is also rather repetitive. As a sociologist and not a historian, Ikegami apparently felt compelled to include some theoretical discussions. At least by my standards, there isn't that much to this kind of theorizing that isn't basic common sense and much of this discussion could have been presented in a more concise and clear manner.

L'ho utilizzato per comporre la mia tesi. Un testo ottimo, dettagliato e completo. Un must buy per gli appassionati del settore!