Customer Reviews

The Art of the Samurai: Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure (The Art of Wisdom)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

this is probably the finest english edition of the hagakure that i've ever seen. the full color illustrations are phenominal. this is one of my prized peices of my entire book collection. great for study, japanese literature collections, and would make a great gift to anyone interested in samarai code or japanese art.

I have read a previous version of this book but bought this version of the Hagakure because of the pictures it advertised. The Hagakure has always been a very special book to me, and I felt that this author really expanded on Yamamoto's proverbs of Samurai life. The author's translation might of expanded too much at times, because the previous version kept a raw sense in the translation from Japanese to english, while this version seems to always have been written in english and you couldn't tell it was translated. Because of this, I think it hurt in deciphering some of the proverbs which feed on that raw sense of wording in order to gain meaning from the proverbs. But besides this, its still a good read.

After reading several versions of the Hagakure, I found this book to be the best version available today. The book itself is quite a high quality and the hardcover gold leafing is pleasing to look at.

The content has excellent references, both in the comparison of Musashi's life compared to Yamamoto Tsunetomo's life was well written and give the reader a reason for the different insights into the code of bushido. The pictures in the book are quite good and gives the person who has never read the Hagakure or seen too many Japanese history books a bit more of a culture view of the samurai. The conversion of the translation may leave some readers confused, but will ultimately give the reader "food for thought" and upon reading several more times will begin to make sense.

Would highly recommend this version of the Hagakure over any other version presently released and would make a good addition to anyone's library.

This is a Fantastic read. It lends it self well to a daily bit of wisdom kind of read. You can pick it up and read a few pages and then spend hours pondering the depth of some of the statements. Really great.

The book was fabulous BUT I was double billed for two books by Amazon.
I have written in to ask for a follow up but have not recieved a reply as yet.

The book came in prestine condition, better than expected. the delivery time was moderate. The packaging was well done, and overall I'm totally satisfied with the purchase.