Fulminata reviewed Hagakure by Tsunetomo Yamamoto
Review of 'Hagakure' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
This review is for the manga adaptation by Sean Michael Wilson and Chie Kutsuwada.
Having not read the original, it's hard for me to judge this book, but taken on its own it seems to paint a rather screwed up picture of bushido. Not that there weren't some seriously screwed up elements to the samurai code.
The main thing this book left me with is a desire to read the full text to see if there are subtleties that I'm missing. After that I should be able to come back and update this review.
Update: I've now read a translation of the Hagakure by Alexander Bennett, and I have to say that this manga version seems to really distort the original by focusing so much on the most violent entries. The majority of the original deals with more mundane matters, but the manga picks out all the most violent anecdotes …
This review is for the manga adaptation by Sean Michael Wilson and Chie Kutsuwada.
Having not read the original, it's hard for me to judge this book, but taken on its own it seems to paint a rather screwed up picture of bushido. Not that there weren't some seriously screwed up elements to the samurai code.
The main thing this book left me with is a desire to read the full text to see if there are subtleties that I'm missing. After that I should be able to come back and update this review.
Update: I've now read a translation of the Hagakure by Alexander Bennett, and I have to say that this manga version seems to really distort the original by focusing so much on the most violent entries. The majority of the original deals with more mundane matters, but the manga picks out all the most violent anecdotes while ignoring those that actually make up the bulk of the original work.