Customer Reviews

The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan

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I lived in Japan for two and a half years, and cannot speak highly enough of The Nobility of Failure.

In TNOF, Ivan Morris provides a much-needed look at - to most westerners, anyway - one of the oddest aspects of Japanese culture - the self-immolating hero. TNOF offers a rundown of Japanese populist heroes from the past 2,000 years - all of whom are doomed to complete and utter failure - and provides a convincing analysis of why Japanese culture produces such men, and why their failures actually raise their status in the eyes of many of their fellow citizens.

Morris was perhaps the leading Japan scholar of his day, but even he finds many of his subjects bizaare. He deftly, though not necessarily disrespectfully, pokes fun at the absurdity of many of their situations. Not many scholars can make you laugh while they make you think.

An engrossing, very well written book detailing the somewhat peculiar nature of the Japanese "failed hero." In contrast to the Western ideal, the Japanese do not seem to require their heroes to "win" or "succeed." Ten chapters describe ten different historical figures (or groups) throughout Japanese history who fit this oxymoronic label. Anyone interested in Japanese history would find this book at once fascinating, inciteful, and educational.

I lived in Japan for two and a half years, have visited the country several times since, and cannot speak highly enough of this book.

In TNOF, Ivan Morris provides a much-needed look at - to most westerners, anyway - one of the oddest aspects of Japanese culture, the self-immolating hero. TNOF offers a rundown of Japanese populist heroes from the past 2,000 years - all of whom are doomed to complete and utter failure - and provides a convincing analysis of why Japanese culture produces such men, and why their failures actually raise their status in the eyes of many of their fellow citizens.

Morris was perhaps the leading Japan scholar of his day, but even he finds many of his subjects bizaare. He deftly, though not necessarily disrespectfully, pokes fun at the absurdity of many of their situations. Not many scholars can make you laugh while they make you think.

A great book with a good overview of Japanese history explored through it's cultural myths and legends. Morris is eloquent and concise, and his work is thoroughly researched (almost half of this study's pages are notes and references - truly a treasure trove for researchers). I find a lot of the myths really compelling, and the conclusions Morris draws are right on the money. His thesis is relatively simple: Japan idolizes and remembers it's historic failures much more than successes. There's something about being committed to an ideal or a cause to the bitter end, even if it's wrong, that resonates strongly with the warrior culture of Japan. But not just there, I think that in contemporary American culture, with its attraction to whimsy, instantaneous gratification, and billion channel satellites, there can be found a certain respect for people who can commit themselves solidly to a cause. There's something romantic about lost causes in general that I think people identify with, the almost types of stories get embedded in our culture as well (here I'm thinking of Rudy).

A good read for a piece of dense and thorough scholarship.

I first read this book in the 1970s and have reread it several times.

Initially I had trouble understanding the concept of the "failed hero," as I am an American, but learning about this broadened my viewpoint.

The book reads like five or six novels -- each failed hero has a detailed back story filled with intrigue, romance, rivalries within the Japanese imperial family, battles, assassinations, political conflicts, religious concerns, suicides -- never a dull moment. I learned so much about Japanese culture and history from this book.

You do not need to know anything about Japanese history, literature or language to enjoy the book. The author unobtrusively explains anything that a Westerner might not know.

The book was given added poignancy by the ritual suicide of the author's friend, Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. The author, professor Ivan Morris, is said to have written the book partially to place Mishima's suicide within Japan's historical context of failed heroes.

The fact that the book deals with tragic heroes who were mostly executed or exiled has additional poignance for me from my discovery that Professor Morris died in 1976, shortly after the book was published.

"La Nobleza Del Fracaso es el último de los grandes libros de ese erudito cuya muerte prematura constituye una pérdida grande para todo aficionado a la historia y a la literatura japonesas".
Marguerite Yourcenar.