Customer Reviews
Good book, well worth a look - By: Mr. N. Wildman, 09 Sep 2008 
This book is a must have for any serious martial artist. Bushido is unfortunately a term which is widely used butin the main part, very poorly understood. Even the modern understanding of Bushido is somewhat lacking, leading people to believe that the samurai were so honourable that they could do no wrong. This simply isn't the case. The samurai were human beings like everyone else & the passagesin this book show this nicely. There are many lessons to be learned & applied to everyday lifein the Hagakure & any person wanting to follow the way of the samurai should definitely read this book.
On a different note, this is something that REALLY irritates me so I must point it out: hiri kiri is a bastardisation originating from America. The proper term is Seppuku but if you want to call it by its other name, it's HARA kiri, meaning to cut the hara (centre of body energy).
Right, rant over. Buy the book!!
A Strange and Fascinating Little Book - By: D. Evans, 30 Jul 2008 It is very diffcult to define Hagakure, it's strange & fascinating, yet also rather repugnantin some of its views. Writtenin the early 18th century, it is a series of anecdotes written by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a samurai of the Nabeshima clan who became a Buddhist monk followning his master's death. The Tokugawa Shogunate of the time had outlawed the suicide of a reatiner on a Daimyo's death, leaving Yamamoto with no option but livein a hermitagein Kyushu province.
Hagakure has often been seen as a manual for the samurai classes, yet this is slightly misleading. Yamamoto lived during the Edo period, an era of peace & stability that followed the long period of civil wars that had broken Japanin the 16th century. Yamamoto was therefore not a true warrior, as the samurai were now becoming administrators living on fixed stipends.
This book is also only the opinions of one man, & shouldn't been seen as guide to the samurai ethos for the entire Feudal Period. It is also worth noting that even during his own life Yamamoto was seen as a fanatic with extremist opinions, a fact that he himself would not deny.
The book's contents deal with allsorts of topics, but its main emphasis is on the proper conduct of the samurai class. Yamamoto believes that a samurai must always be ready for death, & that when not engagedin fighting, he should meditate on getting torn apart with swords, arrows, pikes & bullets. His obsession with death & discipline seems to permeate throughout the book. He also provides plenty of anecdotes of stories he has heard about samurai who kill anyone on the slightest provocation. Yamamoto believes that this should be the proper conduct of the samurai, as long as it does not contradict the master's wishes.
His opinion on these matters seem terribly odd for modern western readers. His xenophobic & misogynistic views, as well as his frequent calls for violence to resolve situations, & his obsession with death & the supression of one's own desires & personality for the master, make this an often uncomfortable read. It is not surprising that Hagakure became popular among fascistsin Imperial Japan during the 1930s.
The book also has some sections of wisdom, but these are sometimes countered by Yamamoto's bizarre outlook on life. Here is a selection of some of his sayings, some good, some bad, while others are simply quixotic:
" Covetousness, anger & foolishness are things to sort out well. When bad things happenin the world, if you look at them comparatively, they are not unrelated to these three things. Looking comparatively at the good things, you will see that they are not excluded from wisdom, humanity & bravery."
"The late Jin'emon said that it is better not to bring up daughters. They are a blemish to the family name & a shame to the parents. The eldest daughter is special, but it is better to disregard the others."
"If you cut a face lengthwise, urinate on it, & trample on it with straw sandles, it is said the skin will come off. This was heard by the priest Gyojaku when he wasin Kyoto. It is information to be treasured."
"The Master took a book from its box. When he opened it there was a smell of drying clovebuds."
These are are just a few examples from among hundreds. Sometimes Yamamoto contradicts himself. He argues against rashnessin one section, whilein another he complains that the Forty Seven Ronin did not act quickly enough to avenge their dead master, a rash act that would have seen them fail. That said, it is those very same contradictions that often reminds us that he was only human. This is a fascianting look into the long dead samurai culture, with plenty of anecdotes to make you think. That said, it shouldn't be seen as guide book for lifein the 21st century, but rather as an incredible historical document. A must read for anyone with an interestin the samurai or Feudal Japanese Culture.
Ignore the cheesy title... - By: Andrew Woollock, 20 Apr 2006 If one had to choose a single text to be stranded on an island with, then you could find no better work than this. The more I read this book the higher up my 'ranking' it goes, to the point where it has toppled Mencius:Mencius (D.C.Lau translation) of the top spot & pushed Confucius:The Analects (D.C.Lau translation) into third place. Congratulations HA GA KU RE!
I appreciate that the title 'The Book of the Samurai' is fairly cheesy, & riding on the back of Tom's 'Last Samurai' (a highly admirable film, incidentally) one is inclined to feel that there is some wobbly 'Samurai Bandwagon' rolling into town & the party had best be avoided, but not so. HA GA KU RE (hidden by the leaves) is a work of immense beauty & wisdom, a rare breed indeed. A book penned around 1700 that is as relevant to your life today as any 'healing' or 'self-help' book will ever be, only MORE so. What HA GA KU RE truly delivers is not hippy-dippy fake compassion & moral guidance based upon the lowest common denominator. What it offers is a 6 O'clock roll call awoken by a cold shower & a mirror shovedin your sleepy face so that you can see yourself all puffed upin the morning & your hair standing on end. You are NOT beautiful, you simply ARE.
Page after page this book is filled to the brim with startlingly obvious & brilliantly simple maxims, ideas, quotations & distilled wisdom that will offer a torch-light to anyone out their who is lost & looking to get back to the Way. The truth be told, whether you approach this book from a Bushido perspective, a historical perspective, a Zen perspective or a Cha No Yuu perspective, your cannot help but feel honoured to be reading such an insightful text. And whichever is your chosen Way one thing is sure, it will bring together a number of other areas of your life, or your interestin things Japanese, polish them all up & give them a whole new lease of life.
N.B. I think that due credit must be given to William Scott Wilson for his perfect translation
'Zen Flesh, Zen bones' for those with a dark side ! - By: , 06 Aug 2005 
Buy the 2000/2001 reprint edition of the paperback as it has
included the illustrations & calligraphy, etc that arein the
hardback version. The cover is very slightly different too, the
Samurai symbol is bigger & nearer the bottom of the cover.
Anyway, I really like this book. If you like pearls of Oriental
wisdom buy this, if it's too disturbing, buy Zen flesh, Zen bones!
You can pick up Hagakure for ten seconds at any time & read a
two or three line segment which might shock you, make you laugh
or even give you one of those 'enlightened/profound' feelings.
For martial artists, sift through it, there's LOADS of very
good advice.
Some nice quotes, but generally just wacky. - By: , 23 Feb 2005 
Anyone interestedin Japanese feudalism & the arts
risen from it, not to mention WWII should read this
book, or at least read it on-line as it's available
in it's entirety on several sites.
Those who have seen the film Ghost Dog will have already
'read' the best quotes from the book, as there are some
delightfully quirky quotesin there.
Personally what I find most distasteful about hagakure
is that it is negatively Confucian. The Samurai's be all
and end-all is to serve & die. Not so glamorous !
Also an over-obsession with ritual suicide throughout.
Remember the author was a retired member of the Samurai
class, not a warrior. His only killings were performing
executions. This book is a lament about the decline of
true Bushido (from the author's perspective), & hence
it is a book that was used to foster self sacrifice during
WWII. Also interesting is the mentions of Shodo: initiation
into male homosexuality which most samurai practiced, and
is conveniently glossed over by the macho 'martial' folks.
Allin all recommended as the most 'different' Samurai book.
