The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture [Paperback]

Ruth Benedict (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 1989

A recognized classic of cultural anthropology, this book explores the political, religious, and economic life of Japan from the seventh century through the mid-twentieth, as well as personal family life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

RUTH BENEDICT (1887-1948) was one of the twentieth century's foremost anthropologists and helped to shape the discipline in the United States and around the world. Benedict was a student and later a colleague of Franz Boas at Columbia, where she taught from 1924. Margaret Mead was one of her students. Benedict's contributions to the field of cultural anthropology are often cited today.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (June 26, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395500753
• ISBN-13: 978-0395500750
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating and Amazingly Accurate Glimpse of Japan, October 7, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (Paperback)

Ruth Benedict has beautifully laid out concepts and social constructs which make Japanese culture so tremendously different from Occidental modes of thought. Her study has rightly been called the a classic of the Anthro Canon. Ms. Benedict (to respond to an earlier reviewer) had no intention of writing history, which carries with it a completely different pedagogical/philosophical set of baggage. Instead, as she discusses in the introduction, she examined the most basic functions of Japanese life and modes of thought which are crucial to understanding a major world power--ways of comprehending life which are often entirely separate from Western perception. Most Japanese who have read this book truly appreciate the messages it carries, as they often find Japanese culture too impenetrable to describe to foreign friends. I should add that the book is very 'readable,' a rare and wonderful quality for any non-fiction book. The book was comisisoned by the U.S. Government during the second world war to attempt to understand their opponents. At the time, in the middle of the war, Benedict could not possibly have lived in Japan, and so interviewed Japanese citizens living in the U.S., many living in relocation camps. Between their cooperation and a great body of work (anthropological and otherwise) which came before her project, Benedict had a wealth of cultural nuggets from which she derived her fascinating and crucial work. This book is a must-read for anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of Japanese culture--honestly, as we are so closely tied economically and politically with Japan, and restrained Japan so thoroughly after World War II--restrictions which strongly influence Japanese involvement in world politics today, we all could easily benefit from the Crysanthemum and the Sword. P.S. If you are looking for History (in terms of the academic discipline), there are other important books to read. As Ruth Benedict is a (fantastic) Anthropologist, her concern is with social mindsets an

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction to Japanese culture, February 21, 2000

By 

"onna" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (Paperback)

Anyone who wishes to seriously study Japanese civilization and culture should read this book which is considered a classic, seminal text on the subject. It introduced insights into Japanese culture that are now old hat but were fresh and new to American minds when the book was first published. Although the book is a bit dated as more anthropologists have studied the subject and have been able to conduct field research - which Benedict did not do -, scholars in the field still refer to Benedict's work, so its still worth reading if you want to be fully versed in the literature and discourse. However, if you're entirely new to studying Japanese culture and civilization, this is very readable and a wonderful beginning since Benedict wrote about her Japanese interviewees with real insight and the desire to truly understand the Japanese. Just keep in mind, that this book should be supplemented with other, more recent texts, particularly ones in which the anthropologists actually did conduct field research.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent antropology, June 5, 2001

By 

Boris Aleksandrovsky (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (Paperback)

Chrysanthemum and the Sword : Patterns of Japanese Culture by Ruth Benedict was intended as a commissioned anthropological study of the Japanese culture at the end of WWII. The study was harshly treated and criticized by some of the anthropologists and by many in the near-political university circles because the author use of circumstantial and indirect evidence, since she never went to Japan and did not know the language.

In my opinion, the study however is clear, unencumbendt by assumptions, fairly objective. I feel that Benedict accomplished her goal in laying out the foundation for understanding of what American Japanese administration can do in rebuilding the Japan society so the WWII aggression won't be repeated.

Personally, Benedicts clear explanation of hierarchy of cultural obligation (to the emperor, family, and to ones honor), descriptions of the child upbringing gave me useful insights into Japanese literary and esthetic traditions; and to the history of the development of Buddhism. I would highly recommend it for anybody who wants to understand cultural foundation of Japanese character; and also as a curious piece on how Japan was perceived circa 1946, when nothing of the impending economic recovery, political reorientation and cultural shifts of today were known.