Customer Reviews

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

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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

This was one of the first studies on the samurai I ever read, and it proved a very tough read, yet rewarding as well. Now that I know much more than I did on the topic back then I've re-read this book, and it's reaffirmed how great it is.

As the other reviewer states, this is a sociological study of the samurai rather than a history book, so this is not the book for you if you are after a rundown on the history of the samurai - for that I'd recommend you pickup the three Sansom 'History of Japan' books. This book instead deals with the warrior class of Japan's evolution sociologically, focussing primarily on the evolution that the class undertook during the Edo period of Japan, after the great civil war was over.

During these final two centuries of samurai rule there were no large scale battles to be fought, and with a ruling class whose right to rule was based on it's warrior status & lineage this created many tensions in society, requiring a series of changes that took place over the years aimed at refocussing what it meant to be a samurai. It is with this topic that Eiko Ikegami excels and what makes this book such an interesting read.

Though it may not be a history book, it does contain many historical case studies and even has chapters devoted to several of the more well known samurai incidents & works, including the case of the 47 ronin & the infamous Hagakure. The Hagakure section in particular is fantastic, being the first text on this topic I've read that doesn't either take it at face value or outright dismiss it as garbage. Instead Eiko interprets it as it should be interpreted - the work of a man who was struggling to envision the meaning of being a samurai during times of peace.

I really can't recommend this book enough if you have an interest in this area of the samurai, though I'd definitely recommend that you are already familiar with the basic history of the samurai beforehand.

...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.

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.

Eiko Ikegami's THE TAMING OF THE SAMURAI: HONORIFIC INDIVIDUALISM IN THE MAKING OF MODERN JAPAN is invaluable if flawed. For the first time, here is someone who recognizes the individualistic element in the samurai tradition, who does not dismiss the samurai willingness to die as the product of "inscrutable" Asian psychology or Buddhist resignation. With a thorough knowledge of the literature, Ikegami demonstrates that the typical medieval samurai was possessed of a "proud moral autonomy", which is to say, "a firm understanding that a warrior is someone who is capable of deciding his own destiny." (p 110) In his quest for honor, the samurai strove to prove his courage on the battlefield for the greater glory of himself and his lineage. In stark contrast to the anonymity of modern warfare, samurai combat was a contest between individuals. The warrior would ride out in front of his comrades on horseback, loudly proclaim his name and the deeds of his ancestors, calling upon the ablest warriors on the other side to take up his challenge, and when one did so, the battle commenced. A courageous enemy was regarded with respect (pp. 73-74). Although samurai society contained a hierarchical element in that higher and lower were bound together in a lord-vassal relationship, the position of vassal was not an unenviable one. Indeed, the lord had to work hard to retain the respect of his vassals, who could leave him if he proved too overbearing or a coward on the battlefield. Often lord and vassal were connected by deep bonds of love and friendship, bonds which proved stronger than any formal methods of ensuring obedience (pp. 209-10). But nowhere was samurai independence revealed so clearly as in the ritual of suicide, whether it involved belly-slitting seppuku or (as so often happened on the battlefield) a quicker method of killing. Ikegami recognizes that "the self-willed death was the sovereign pride of the military elite; by virtue of their possession of martial skills, the samurai were the owners of their own bodies, and self-inflicted death signified an independent ability to determine their own fates-- to control their deaths and hence, their own lives." (p. 112)

Later, the samurai would impose their own values on the imposed "peace" and absolutism of the Tokugawa era. Although samurai values originated in an environment unique to Japan, it was the interaction of samurai ethics and "Confucian" philosophy (I put the term in quotes because recent scholarship has suggested that it might not be the most appropriate one) which produced a morality based upon those ethics. Through the lens of Chinese philosophy, the independence and moral autonomy of the samurai became the foundation of a political philosophy which ultimately brought down the Tokugawa shogunate. But this is where Ikegami errs. Assuming that "Confucian" philosophy only benefitted the Tokugawa government, and not those samurai who chafed under its restraints, she fails to mention that the samurai "Confucian" Yamaga Soko taught in Ako Province before the Ako Vendetta and hence may well have had a profound influence upon both Lord Asano and his avenging retainers. Toward the most important samurai intellectual of the period, Yoshida Shoin, she is even more unfair. Devoting only four pages to him as opposed to a whole chapter to the irrational, servile and nihilistic Yamamoto Tsunemoto (of HAGEKURE fame) she fails to see how important he was. For Yoshida was not a "tamed" samurai. In contrast to Yamamoto, whose experience with violence was limited to silly quarrels and sadistic, eyewitness accounts of beheadings and torture-executions, Yoshida and his followers were seriously plotting to assassinate the chief minister of the Tokugawa shogunate, Ii Naosuke. Their plot ultimately succeeded though without Yoshida's participation, because he was by then in prison. The point is that Yoshida was both a courageous samurai of the old stamp and a brilliant, highly-educated exponent of Chinese philosophy. But that should not surprise us. After all, it was the Chinese philosopher Mengzi who, some three centuries before the birth of Christ, first advocated regicide for tyrants-- the two traditions were not nearly so different as Ikegami assumes.

As the samurai tradition evolved to become an effective weapon against Tokugawa despotism, so it can be utilized as a weapon against the materialism and obsession with physical security which has paralyzed the Western libertarian tradition. But in order to do so, one must go beyond Ikegami's otherwise fine study.

It was difficult for me to finish this book. I am relatively new to the samurai culture as well as Japan in general. Though the book brings some interesting facts to light that interest the beginner enthusiast, it's depth of sociological theory and comparison proved dry and monotonous at times. My impressions were largely influenced by the fact that I have yet to read, or be instructed about Japanese history as well as ethics and politics in Japanese culture.

In short, before tackling this book pick up a couple of textbook-style history books concerning "feudal" Japan and foster a solid understanding and following of it before reading this book.