The Taming of the Samurai

The Taming of the Samurai
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 456
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780674254664
ISBN-13 : 067425466X
Rating : 4/5 (64 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Taming of the Samurai by : Eiko Ikegami

Download or read book The Taming of the Samurai written by Eiko Ikegami and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1997-03-25 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern Japan offers us a view of a highly developed society with its own internal logic. Eiko Ikegami makes this logic accessible to us through a sweeping investigation into the roots of Japanese organizational structures. She accomplishes this by focusing on the diverse roles that the samurai have played in Japanese history. From their rise in ancient Japan, through their dominance as warrior lords in the medieval period, and their subsequent transformation to quasi-bureaucrats at the beginning of the Tokugawa era, the samurai held center stage in Japan until their abolishment after the opening up of Japan in the mid-nineteenth century. This book demonstrates how Japan’s so-called harmonious collective culture is paradoxically connected with a history of conflict. Ikegami contends that contemporary Japanese culture is based upon two remarkably complementary ingredients, honorable competition and honorable collaboration. The historical roots of this situation can be found in the process of state formation, along very different lines from that seen in Europe at around the same time. The solution that emerged out of the turbulent beginnings of the Tokugawa state was a transformation of the samurai into a hereditary class of vassal-bureaucrats, a solution that would have many unexpected ramifications for subsequent centuries. Ikegami’s approach, while sociological, draws on anthropological and historical methods to provide an answer to the question of how the Japanese managed to achieve modernity without traveling the route taken by Western countries. The result is a work of enormous depth and sensitivity that will facilitate a better understanding of, and appreciation for, Japanese society.


The Taming of the Samurai Related Books

The Taming of the Samurai
Language: en
Pages: 456
Authors: Eiko Ikegami
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 1997-03-25 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Modern Japan offers us a view of a highly developed society with its own internal logic. Eiko Ikegami makes this logic accessible to us through a sweeping inves
The Tokugawa World
Language: en
Pages: 1199
Authors: Gary P. Leupp
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-09-20 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

With over 60 contributions, The Tokugawa World presents the latest scholarship on early modern Japan from an international team of specialists in a volume that
To Stand with the Nations of the World
Language: en
Pages: 329
Authors: Mark Ravina
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An almost perpetual peace -- The crisis of imperialism -- Reform and revolution -- A newly ancient Japan -- The impatient nation -- The prudent empire -- Conclu
The Making of Urban Japan
Language: en
Pages: 416
Authors: André Sorensen
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-08-19 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

During the twentieth century, Japan was transformed from a poor, primarily rural country into one of the world's largest industrial powers and most highly urban
Religion, Power, and the Rise of Shinto in Early Modern Japan
Language: en
Pages: 298
Authors: Stefan Köck
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-04-08 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book sheds new light on the relationship between religion and state in early modern Japan, and demonstrates the growing awareness of Shinto in both the pol