2 comments about Samurai Heraldry (Elite).

1. For those of you who are trying to draw samurai with flags, banners or just like reading about them then this book is a good pick.

   It shows (in detail) the flags used by different families and clans and tells what type of flags were used by whom. From the Minamoto to the Tokugawa shogunate, it shows you hundreds of banners and exlpains the hereldry of the banner and in some cases why the symbol was used by that family, though it mainly shows the clan symbols of less known families and not the great ones(ex.Takeda, Toyotomi, Tokugawa, to find these ones look at the book "Samurai, An illustrated history. By: Mitsuo Kure)

   Like all osprey series books it contains a few well drawn and highly detailed pictures in the middle of it and explains each page in full detail, thus the book helps you to undestand the differences between the flags and the banners.

   A great buy for collectors and people studying the Samurai, though the text is a little hard to understand (being that it was written by a graduate from Oxford University, England)




2. I've been reading Turnbull's other Osprey books; after having read "War in Japan" (a good introduction), then the more detailed "Kawanakajima" (good close-up on a "battle"), I turned to this book.

   I'm glad I read the books in the order I did. Without having a feel for what role the ashigaru or the samurai leaders (bodyguards, commanders, etc.), I think I would have been lost reading this book. You probably need to know how armies went into battle, in what order, for what purpose to pick up on the nuances here. This book expands on the material aspects of the soldier only briefly touched upon in the other books. Little detailed sections like "Religious Symbolism in Heraldry" and "The Common People" (with its discussion of how mon heraldry was forbidden to the people, kabuki)) -- very interesting.

   Out of the Osprey books I've read or browsed so far, this one avoids the series' #1 sin: recycling. Most of the pictures and artwork are fresh so I feel like there is some value in having it. It's a nice read to understand how the armies appeared on the battlefield, in their camps, in the castles, etc.

   McBride's illustrations are perhaps the best I've seen so far in the Osprey Japan books -- very atmospheric; they remind me of comic book artist Frank Miller's art (Ronin, 300, etc.).

   3/5 stars: probably only for the history or wargaming buff.

5 comments about Elements Of Japanese Design: Handbook Of Family Crests, Heraldry & Symbolism.

1. John Dower's study of Japanese crests and heraldry benefits from the same lucid writing and impeccable research that this MIT historian has brought to all of his work, including his recent National Book Award study of postwar Japan. The illustrations are excellent and the introduction, in particular, should be required reading for all those interested in Japanese history, heraldry, and samurai practices. It is just as valuable for those with a more generic interest in how heraldry has been used over time and across cultures.



2. I didn't realize the true value of this book until a year after I had initially read it.

   It's a great book about Japanese crests. The pictures are clear and very sharp. There are a lot of kamon in the book, but not as many as others, so I put the book down...my mistake!

   The book is filled with descriptions of the meanings and significance of each kamon! Mr. Dower writes of where the crest orginated when it is used, what season it is associated with, what meaning it has if associated with other motifs, etc. With the text and pictures one can actually recognize and understand the symbolism in Japanese art, kimono, etc. I can now tell what season it is in Japan by just looking at the kimono people wear or the tapestry hung on the wall (if the people who wear the kimono, hung the tapestry, etc. understand the symbolism...which many now don't :(...)!

   There is also a short history of the kamon in the beginning :) The story of how the author came upon the illustrations for the crests is very interesting, too!

   But...this book will not tell you the surnames that go with the crest. Granted, it will tell you of some of the really famous names that go with some of famous kamon, but not all of them.

   I think this book is a must for anyone who is really interested in Japanese culture. (The other books on kamon I have are just for people interested in kamon.) I have loved it so much that the binding is coming apart...




3. Thank You, for such a great book it has helped my research and photography tremendously. The information given is quite helpful. Thank You Again, E.Ortiz



4. Incredibly indepth coverage of Japanese family crests; a wealth of information on the subject. Detailed designs give rise to much inspiration to artists and crafters who enjoy Japanese history and culture.



5. I am very pleased with this book and with Amazon's service. The subject of Japanese family crests and "kamon" designs is summarized very well by the author. As a hobbyist/artist, I find this book to be a very worthy addition to my design library.

2 comments about Feudalism In Japan.

1. Concise,well presented view of the dynamics of Japanese Fuedal structures.



2. I read this book for a class entitled, "The History of East Asia before 1800." This book details from 6th century Japan up until the Meiji Restoration. The epilogue contains some useful insights into modern Japanese culture.

   It's very well written, and outlines the rise and fall of Japanese Feudalism. To be sure, it's a broad overview of the rise and fall of Japanese Feudalism. It covers the broader details, and paints a good historical view of Japan.

3 comments about Isami's House: Three Centuries of a Japanese Family.

1. Isami's House is a fascinating book that provides a view of general Japanese history through the history of one family. As the back cover tease promises, this is an entirely new approach to history, one that presents the drama of modern Japanese history through the gripping ordeal of a single family. In this sense, Isami's House is a fascinating, gripping and original approach to Japanese history.
   
   Nevertheless, I found myself put off greatly by Bernstein's uneven writing style and odd organization. Bernstein's paragraphs are haphazardly organized, and her sentences are riddled with clause after clause. Often, it is difficult to tell exactly where the story is going, and sentences are so dominated by detail that the point behind each story is nearly impossible to decipher.
   
   Take, for example, this selection from page 60: "A ten-day spree of rioting by three thousand farmers in the Asakawa area in January 1798 - nine years after the French Revolution - brought a crowd to the Matsuura family's door on the morning of January 26. The fifth-generation patriarch, also called Yuemon (though his name was not written with the same characters as his deceased father's), had left with his wife and mother several days before; only family servants and a "young couple" remained at home. Rampaging peasants spilled out large amounts of the sake manufactured on the grounds of the family's compound and damaged other property as well." Did the ten-day spree of rioting begin on the 26th, or end then? Why does it matter that this happened 9 years after the French Revolution? Each sentence has a different subject, and little is done to link each separate idea together. Overall, this flaw in Bernstein's style leads to very bad, almost unreadable, prose.
   
   Bernstein's organization is also rather odd. The first half of the book seems to be organized topic by topic, and parallels are directly made between the family's exploits around the Meiji years and earlier family experiences. The second half, however, deals exclusively with the family's experiences during and after World War II. This leads to discontinuity: the first half seems to contain no narrative, and the second half seems to completely abandon the lessons learned in the first. I would have been much happier had Bernstein stuck with one style throughout.
   
   Nevertheless, it is a noble concept, and still a good book to read.



2. Contrary to the first reviewer on this site, I found Isami's House eminently readable, from first to last. The book's concept is, indeed, highly original and should serve well as a resource for understanding the evolution of family life in modern Japan.
   
   Essentially, this is the story of fourteen generations of the Matsuura family, who, until the postwar years, served as headmen of a village in northeastern Japan called Yamashiraishi. A substantial amount of information is provided about the family during Tokugawa and Meiji times, but the heart of the book concerns the family's triumphs and travails in the twentieth century. Many people in the family are discussed, including numerous in-laws, and several stand out prominently. The hero of the story, essentially, is Matsuura Isami, who lived from 1879 into the early 1960s. His wife, Ko, is also given considerable attention, as is the daughter named Toyo. It was Toyo who served as the host for Gail Lee Bernstein, the author, during her first stay in Japan, in 1963, when she was there as a graduate student of Japanese history. Since 1963 was when I, as a graduate student, also first visited Japan, I feel a personal connection to her experiences.
   
   Bernstein hit a mother lode in becoming close to Toyo's remarkable family, as Toyo was one of fourteen siblings (seven sisters and seven brothers); a fifteenth died young. This rich field of close relatives provides the author with a wealth of material for recounting the ups and downs of modern family life in Japan, taking us through the prewar years, the war years (Toyo's family was in Hiroshima when it was atom-bombed), the Occupation, and after, when Japanese values changed so rapidly in the midst of unparalleled economic development. Although there are so many characters that one occasionally has trouble keeping track of who is who, Bernstein does her best to keep the narrative clear, and we get to celebrate the various characters' achievements while also sympathizing with their catastrophes. The Confucian values Isami assiduously cultivated in his children bring rewards to some, but by the century's end they no longer have much relevance to the younger generation, and the strong familial rope Isami wove comes close to breaking. Japan, too, the author suggests, has suffered such a breakdown, and the family's often heartbreaking history comes to be seen as a microcosm of the nation's journey.
   
   Although extensively researched and documented, Isami's House is not a standard sociological tract for use in college classes; in fact, it often--especially the final chapters--reads like gossip, since Bernstein has maintained her ties to the family until quite recently, despite the eventual loss of the principal players. She is, to a degree, like a family member herself; still, her detailed recounting of the less savory deeds of some family members are unlikely to have been exposed to the world at large by the family members themselves. Thus we are given the kinds of insights into Isami's family that only someone with Bernstein's privileged position could provide. Perhaps one could raise ethical questions about the appropriateness of such revelations; on the other hand, the information--apart from the appeal it will have for most readers--has great historical, cultural, and sociological value for outsiders interested in the dynamics of modern Japanese family life.
   
   It should be noted that although Bernstein herself, mainly in the final chapters, becomes increasingly present as a family participant (albeit at one step removed), she never reveals much about who she is. She discusses arranged marriages, love marriages, divorce, childbearing problems, childraising problems, religion, work, etc., but never tells us whether she herself is married, has children, or has shared in any experiences akin to those she so closely chronicles. Her name suggests that she is Jewish. If true, what did this mean to a family that followed Buddhist and Shinto practices but which saw a good many of its members convert to Christianity? I, for one, would have found such personal information useful in understanding her position vis a vis some of the subjects she addresses. She injects herself into the narrative as a way of explaining how the family treated her; I believe we are just as entitled to ask, who is Gail Lee Bernstein?



3. 
   This book tended to be a little dry at times and definitely a little confusing due to all of the family members that you have to keep track of. Just to prove how difficult keeping track can be Gail Lee Bernstein has added a time line, two family trees and a list of central persons to the beginning of the book. The fact that there are so many different characters represented throughout the novel makes it very hard to become attached to any specific one. However, Gail Lee Bernstein does an amazing job transitioning between all of the characters and different generation of families. Even with all of its downfalls, Isami's House is an excellent description of how life and values changed in Japan since the Meji Restoration. I also really enjoy the pictures of the family throughout the book because when it comes to memoirs I love being able to put a face to a name.
   
   I would probably only recommend this novel to people who are truly interested in the history of Japan or its culture. Having a grasp on Japanese history would be helpful for the reader to posses, but it is not necessary.

1 comments about Women of the Mito Domain: Recollections of Samurai Family Life.

1. This is a very realistic and engaging account of samurai life just before the Meji restoration. Samurais are not idealised in this book, but instead their every day life is described. The focus is on women, as it retells history mainly from the view of the author's mother, but as women were completely dependent on men at the time, a lot of the account deals with how men as well as women lived. Topics such as school, dress, dwellings, amusments, family, marriage and divorce are covered, and at the same time the unrest in Mito domain before the restoration. The grandfather of the author had his own school and worked at the Office of Japanese History. He was one of the lower class samurai, but was recognized by the daimyo for his great learning and taught even his children at some point.
   If you want to understand Japanese society in the 19th century up to the Restoration, this is an extremly interesting book. Highly recommended!

5 comments about Japanese Design Motifs: 4,260 Illustrations of Japanese Crests.

1. I bought the book for my son and he loved everything about it. The illustrations are teriffic.



2. This book is simply the best. I found my maternal grandfather's mon and my paternal grandmother's crest in this book. It is quite comprehensive. Reading japanese kanji is a plus as you can then read descriptions next to appropriate mon. Graphic artists studying oriental design will find more than 4,000 designs that have existed for hundreds of years. There is inspiration aplenty for all artists.



3. It hadn't occurred to me that this could be a research source for geneaology, but i'm glad to see that it's useful for those searching for ancestral emblems. I appreciate this book as a source for small, clip art versions of Japanese graphic design.
   As any user of clip art knows, it only takes one application from a source to pay for the cost of the book and this one has more than paid its way.



4. Im in graphic design and using this book has helped me so much! Hundreds of pages bombarded with close to 3x3 thumbnails-so much info that it will probably take a very long time to actually notice each design. Some people dont like this book because all designs are set into a limited palette of insignias. The point is not to look at what the overall shape of the thumbnail is but at the specific contours, combinations. There's a variety from organic to geometric shapes. Some designs look modern, others ancient, others are used today i.e. radiation symbol. All of these designs come from an Asian background which is so design and logo-oriented that it most definitely helps you find that "swoosh" or certain attitude you're looking for. Overall, Dover books have great graphics!



5. This book is a good tool to find the Japanese family Kamon.
   It is a very good reference!

5 comments about Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan.

1. I always find it fascinating when I reach a completely different conclusion than a noted awards organization like the Pulitzers. But after slogging through over half of Herbert Bix's book, "HIROHITO AND THE MAKING OF MODERN JAPAN," I cannot imagine how this book received much of any award.
   
   I guess at some level it is not a complete washout. The book is obviously meticulously researched. As a reference for academics, it will probably have real value. But in terms of simple readability, it is a disaster.
   
   For me, it seems Bix has been immersed in Japan and Japanese culture for way too long. Like a lot of experts, he tends to speak in a bit of a short hand without remembering that it makes it difficult for laymen to follow.
   
   For better or worse, most Americans are not terribly familiar with Japanese history and culture, especially as it relates to pre-WWII. So the huge cast of characters that Bix throws at you is overwhelming because most readers are not going to know who any of them are. His introductions to each of these characters tend to be very brief and there are so many of them (and so many names that are all alien to begin with) that it becomes almost dizzying. You are constantly flipping over to the index to figure out who someone is that hasn't been mentioned in 50 pages.
   
   Cabinets rise and fall with blinding speed and without much explanation for how or why. Japanese cultural points are raised without deep explanation and without reinforcement later in the text. And the prose itself is leaden. It is not a read so much as a slog. You endure it more than you enjoy it.
   
   More bothersome is that Bix has a clear agenda in the biography. His take? Hirohito was a conniving jerk who misled everyone about his role during the war. Other than being an upright family man, Bix's Hirohito is a Machiavellian slimeball constantly making poor choices and then finding ways to foist the consequences on others.
   
   Now for all I know, this may be totally accurate. But the text reads as almost seething in its anger. I have no issue with a writer presenting an opinion and a point of view. That is a role of the historian and the biographer--to interpret the facts and put them into context. But Bix never lets it go to simply tell the story of his subject. He is constantly slamming Hirohito. Again, his criticism may be sound. It probably is. But it so pervasive that at some point you begin to wonder whether or not Bix is presenting all the facts. Based on the enormous "notes" section of this book, he probably is, but at some point he just needed to tell the story. If the problems and hypocrisy in Hirohito's life are as pronounced as he says they are, that will likely come through to the reader without having to ham-handedly beat the man page after page. It reads less like a biography and more like a polemic.
   
   The only reason I am giving this any stars at all is because I feel I am obligated to give some credit to the sheer depth of research that is evident in the work. This is truly a scholarly effort in its research and I suspect the underlying source documents cited will make this a great reference for future scholars seeking information on the subject. But I found the writing itself to be bad and the Bix's anti-Hirohito agenda to just be overwhelming.
   
   This is an important story that needs to be told. But Bix's work is not the book that gets it done. Obviously, based on the accolades this book received from critics, other readers and Pulitzer committee puts me in the minority but I really am left wondering what book they read when they heaped their praise on this work.



2. My wife is Chinese, to this day there still exists a great deal of hate in China for Japan and her actions during the war. I say this to clarify I am no fan of Hirohito or Imperial japan.
   
   What I had hoped to get an objective review of Hirohito and his role before and during the war. Instead what I got from this book was a foaming at the mouth rabid attack Hirohito all in the first few pages. I really had thought people such as Bix might have grown out of fanatical Marxism.
   
   This is the only time I have thought about asking for a refund from Amazon for a book. I suppose I should have read the reviews of others before buying.



3. The author of this Pulitzer-winning bio of Emperor Hirohito had to work without most of the basic tools of his trade. The emperor had written a diary and letters to his family. Neither was open to the writer. Nor were the McArthur files in the US. Alas, this need to work around the center and without key access takes a toll: the sources are generally of the bureaucratic kind.
   Bix's main thesis is this: the emperor was a man who had much more influence than he later admitted. He was not the powerless figurehead that McArthur and he himself liked to describe for the benefit of world opinion. In real life, this emperor was an active player until the end of WW2. He became the figurehead that he claimed to have been only after the US occupation. It seems quite clear that he was much involved in the steady escalation of Japan's aggression against China and in the attack on the US and SE Asia.
   
   We follow H's education during turbulent times: his grandfather Meiji waged war against China and Russia, took Taiwan, Korea, and Sakhalin as colonies, and put a foot into Southern Manchuria (taking Port Arthur from Russia). Japan's later expansionism beyond the Meiji frontiers had been seeded in the minds of the militarist elite already during WW1. Expelling the Germans from their Chinese colony was not just a favor to the Brits. China was already targeted to become a Japanese protectorate, and the Russians needed to be pushed out of Manchuria entirely. Moving the Dutch out of their East Indies was another vision. This whole great concept was based on a racist theory according to which the Japanese as the supreme yellow man had to lead the fight against the white man. This required a sphere of dominance: Asian Monroeism.
   
   H was trained in a contradictory three-pronged way: he had a scientific training and inclination; he even became an amateur marine biologist. But he was also prepared for a role as spiritual leader and got an injection of a strong militarist spirit. Part of his official role was to be the supreme commander of Japan's military machine, and he was also going to be head of his religious cult, the Shinto. And more than that, he was to be a god.
   
   The 1920s were a messy period in most parts of the world. (Only the US, among the major places, had the good fortune to find a decent leadership out of their crisis.) In Japan, H's reign as the Showa Emperor brought a new level of exalted nationalism, including his own deification as the embodiment of the nation's racial community. It brought dictatorship, militarism, glorification of war. Though H was certainly no Fuehrer or Duce type, the term fascism seems justified from most perspectives.
   
   The new expansion of the empire starts in 1931 with the military move to annex the north eastern provinces of China. Manchukuo is set up as a pseudo independent state in 32. The occupation is step by step expanded from Manchuria into other provinces.
   H was not sitting on the sideline in all this, but actively involved on a daily basis.
   The invasion into the Chinese heartland starts in 37. It may be fair to say that the communist victory in the Chinese civil war was much helped by the Japanese focus on fighting Chiang kai-Shek's forces and leaving the communists comparatively undiminished.
   H was fully supporting the undeclared China war. He authorized military expansions, poison gas use, bombing raids, and annihilation campaigns, which killed millions of Chinese. POW protection under international law was not practiced by Japan.
   
   Japan was hesitant how to align internationally. When the Germans seemed to overrun Europe, and had a non-aggression treaty with the SU, Japan's rulers thought it was a good idea to ride piggyback and benefit from the collapse of the colonial empires of Britain, Holland and France. That would solve some of the raw material problems. The southern expansion was a part of the big chess came that Japan lost. It is plausible that the leaders did not really expect a victory over the US, but a German victory in Europe and a smashing defeat of America's European allies might have provided a basis for an advantageous draw.
   
   The build up of the decision to go for the attack on the US is one main subject of the book. So is the war phase with H as commander in chief - not a very good c-i-c. The next is H's role in the acknowledgement of defeat: he was a main engine of the `fight on' faction.
   The next subject is the post war process of cover up and reconstruction, led by McArthur. It all started from learned lessons after Versailles: one should not humiliate losers unnecessarily. Was the lesson carried too far in keeping the emperor in his job?
   
   Since I am not very familiar with the details of the Japanese ruling class, I can't judge the truthfulness of Bix's picture. The China related parts strike me as solid, equally the SE Asia parts as far as I am familiar with them. The book can't be the decisive biography as many key documents were not available. Will they ever be?



4. Hirohito, by Herbert Bix, is history but also a tract: Bix is
   convinced that Hirohito himself didn't take, or get,
   enough blame for events -- the scholars' debate since 1945 has been
   whether he was guilty or just a puppet victim like Pu Yi.
   
   Along the way, Bix carefully picks through all sorts of interesting
   East-West cultural misunderstandings, particularly regarding groupthink
   and peer pressures and reverence for elders & emperors, and weird
   Western ideas like "democracy". Some great choice situations get
   described, several of them famous: face-offs with generals, grand
   policy and wartime decisions.
   
   Yet when he gets to "guilt", Bix is relentlessly Western: he often
   attributes powers over other men to a very young Hirohito, in a society
   which reveres its elders -- interesting question whether Japanese
   elder statesmen & admirals & generals, or a young emperor, would have
   received the greater deference in such situations. Bix often asserts
   that Hirohito did dominate, then doesn't document it -- a Westerner is
   left with the feeling that the evidence for the hanging is somewhat
   circumstantial, here.
   
   The book is wonderfully complemented by a movie currently showing: "The Sun", by
   Alexander Sokurov -- "A meditation on Emperor Hirohito set at the time
   of Japan's World War II surrender, it takes place in a world almost
   totally sealed off from reality" --
   [...]



5. I first looked at this book to help me write a chapter in a textbook. Before long I had ordered my own copy and began the long process of digesting this tome! The chapters are long and the attention to detail can lead to frustration. However, this has corrected my understanding of Japan leading up to, during, and following World War II. I will use the information gleaned to correct every history textbook with which I come into contact that covers this period of history. This is a first-rate work and every history teacher should know something of its contents!

5 comments about Diary of Lady Murasaki (Penguin Classics).

1. First off, Although the book i s 91 pages long there is a 52 page introduction. The introduction by Bowring is very well done, especially for those who are unfamiliar with Heian era Japan, like me. Bowring gives adequate introductions to the architecture, dress, religion, and other things of culture at the time. Although the info he gives of Murasaki Shikibu is scant, he does give the reader all of the information that is known about the author of the Genji monogatari. The diary itself is a wonderful resource of Heian era Japan. Murasaki Shikibu gives wonderfully detailed descriptions of ceremonies, dress, and glimpses of daily lives of females in the court. Bowring adds wonderfully helpful footnotes to aid teh reader. Also the illustrations inb the book are wonderful for showing how the Heian lady dressed and how a Heian era mansion looked. Good little book.



2. And a companion piece ot the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. The world of courtiers and courtesans, intrigues, affairs.
   
   Daily soaps will never be exciting once you've read this book! WOW!



3. The Diary of Lady Murasaki is a very fine read, even by today's standards. Sadly short due to age, it still offers an amazing insight into court life of the time.
   
   The book's coverage of both important court events and the personal outlook of Murasaki herself on everything from fashion to her contemporaries is eye-opening to say the least. Great attention is paid to detail where she was able to remember any detail at all, and when she does not remember detail, she always made a note of why. Perhaps the most refreshing part of the book is the honesty in her observations. She seldom seems to mince words, which is not something that I would expect from anyone at all familiar with court politics.
   
   The book is especially valuable given the lack of other documents to come out of the period.



4. The diary of Lady Murasaki is the court diary of the author of the Tale of Genji - an 11th century masterpiece of japanese literature. Although Murasaki Shikibu has been dead for over 1000 years this diary brings to life Murasaki and the imperial court. It recounts an important period at court with the birth of Empress Shoshi's first son. We are given details into court ceremonies, life, fashion, and attitudes. Excellent read, especially if you're interested in Japan.



5. This penguin volume is the paperback and easily accessed translation of the 'Diary of Murasaki Shikibu', a fragmentary piece written by the author of the much more famous and inspired 'Tale of Genji'. As Genji is probably the best work in all the history of Japanese literature, and as we know so little about its author, this diary (which is a fragented remain of the possible original) has acquired a certain relevance it would otherwise lack from purely literary and quality arguments.
   
   The diary as said is a fragmented and patched-up remain of the original one that Murasaki Shikibu might have noted down. It mainly describes the events of 2 years when she was in the service of Empress Shoshi at the Tsuchimikado Palace. The main event in more than half of the book is the birth of Prince Atsunada, son of Shoshi and the reigning Emperor (Go-Ichijo) and grandson of Fujiwara no Michinaga (the all-powerful regent of that period of Heian Japan). The first 50 or so sections describe in detail the ceremonies held and gives a glimpse of courtier life of the times, so different from the idealized view that Murasaki would forge in the Genji. Here the courtiers tend to be rude, unsubtle and drunk, and the ladies (Murasaki included) bored, insecure and with a high tendency to gossip and critizising everyone else. The second part of the book includes some semblances of fellow-maids and courtiers, some of which were famous poets on their own (Ise no Taifu, Akazome Emon, Sei Shonagon), some ritual Gosechi Dances at the Imperial Palace and Murasaki's absence from the Courtly World. As in all Heian-era diaries, the events described are interspersed with poems written by Murasaki and others for the occasion. Heian courtiers were expected to produce them quite spontaneously as a matter of fact.
   
   Don't get me wrong: the diary as it is has its interest and its beauties. Some of the poems are very good, and some of the paragraphs have been clearly polished and noted down by a master writer, like the first scene of the book, describing the arrival of late autumn at the Tsuchimikado Palace and the lovely combination of the sight of the waters in the Palace lake with the sound of the chanting of the monks. Nevertheless, it is a work of marginal interest if you aren't extremely interested in Heian Japan, the court life of the eleventh century and/or Murasaki Shikibu. I consider it well worth the read, but definitely a minor, anecdotic text.
   
   As for this edition: it is inspired in a previous one, made by Richard Bowring in the 80s and published by Princeton. The old text (it can still be bought second-hand) is more academic (which isn't necessarily a virtue for the lay reader) but has the advantage over the penguin edition in that it also includes the 'poetic memoirs' of Murasaki (that is to say, a colection of a bit over 100 poems by the author, most with explanatory prefaces). It is a pity that the Penguin edition discarted these poems, and being a very small volume, there would have been no space troubles about it.

5 comments about The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan (Kodansha Globe).

1. Mr Morris is my hero! He manages to make an extremely complex subject a joy to read and study...Gosh, i wish other subjects could be this engaging. In the world of the shining prince everything has a protocol and a reason to been, Mr Morris manages to explain many important details that may, at first, be just tiny observations and passing glances in the story. This study book provides readers with tools to better understanding the kilometric "Tale of Genji"



2. This book really enhances, enlarges and clarifies one's understanding of Lady Muraski's world and though not necessary reading really enriches one's reading of The Tale of Genji.



3. I would recommend this book to anyone who is going to read "The Tale of Genji." Elegantly written, with discreet touches of humour here and there, it should help enormously in getting to grips with the superficially accessible, but actually wholly alien and remote world of the Heian court.



4. Ivan Morris wrote the essential guide to understanding the classical literature and culture of Heian Japan in this book.
   
   Everything you ever wanted to know about rarified, indeed *deified* Japanese court life in the 11th century A.D. is here. From directional taboos to de rigeur blackened teeth (and other fashion highlights) to bureaucratic hierarchies - it's all here, in engaging and accessible prose.
   
   We often think of the samurai ethos when we think of Japan, but the roots of Japanese culture developed in the 9th century, when imported Chinese concepts of governance and culture were assimilated. Morris describes how the Heian elite absorbed and transformed Chinese philosophy, and how Shinto beliefs operated in harmony with the teachings of Buddha.
   
   This is an enormously entertaining book, especially in its depiction of the politics and morality of the courtiers.



5. Based principally on Murasaki Shikibu's `The Tale of Genji', and also Sei Shonagôn's "Pillow Book', Ivan Morris brushed an in depth picture of Japan around the end of the first Millennium.
   
   Japanese society, overall climate
   In a country full of epidemics, famines, earthquakes, fires and superstitions the overall mood was somber with some bright spots on ceremony days.
   A tiny fraction (0.1 %) of the population had a privileged status. The rest could barely survive, burdened with heavy taxation, forced labor and conscription.
   In her book `That Mighty Sculptor, Time', Marguerite Yourcenar called the Japanese aristocracy, `the nobility of failure.'
   
   Political economic, financial, social, administrative powers
   The ruling emperor had only two representative functions: a sacerdotal one (religion) and a cultural one (arts).
   Political power was in the hands of one (!) family, which consolidated its power base mainly through marriages (imperial consorts for child emperors). But, this political power was in reality an economic one: control over rice land and fiscal immunity.
   The social and administrative ladder was based on one's hierarchical grade, not on merit. An inefficient and corrupt (office sales) administration undermined the central government, which was not capable to impose `law and order' even in the imperial city.
   
   Religion, superstition
   Completely opposed religious world views could continue to exist together: Shintoism (the joyful acceptance of the natural word), Buddhism (the world is a place of universal suffering) and Confucianism (the primacy of the family unit).
   But superstition (demons, spirits of the dead, astrology, dreams) had a far more important influence on daily life.
   
   Gender, love, sex, marriage
   Within the aristocracy, women could be economically independent.
   Not the nude body, but a white skin, blackened teeth and wealthy head hair were their most attractive features.
   In its polygamous system the oldest son by the principal wife was the only heir.
   Love, sex and marriage were never (or very exceptionally) combined. There existed an absolute tolerance in sexual matters (affairs).
   For women, their most engaging interest was their relation with men, who could protect them against the jealousies and the lethal infighting among the concubines. Women lived in constant fear of being abandoned by a lover, of being dismissed, of gossip and, most of all, in constant anxiety about the future of their children.
   
   Art
   Remarkably, the Heian aristocratic society produced some of the all time highlights of world literature: novels written by women.
   Music, calligraphy, dance and, cardinally poetry (`no poetry, no honey') occupied a central place in daily life.
   Murasaki Shikibu's and Sei Shonagôn's novels are a must read for all lovers of world literature.
   
   Ivan Morris distilled out of world class novels a remarkably pregnant portrait of the Japanese society and its irresponsible leisure class.
   Not only for Japanese scholars.

5 comments about Japan at War: An Oral History.

1. Pacific War experiences related by those who lived it on the Japanese side. Excellent and moving accounts of what the disastrous war was like "on the other side." Helps us see that all people are human beings, not the caricatures and stereotypes portrayed in propaganda of either side.



2. How do I describe in words the emotion this book evokes. It simply can't be done. Of all the books I have read on this era of Japanese history, this one had the most impact by far. Oral histories are valuable because they reveal the side of history you don't hear about in dry history books, they reveal the human side of tragic events in this case. Anyone interested in learning about Wartime Japan must read this book.



3. I rarely go all in for history books of this type. As an academic it is not in my nature to suspend or withhold criticism. Oral histories typically suffer from a certain blindness to strategic considerations, and end up being little more than advocacy for personal preferences held by the author, disconnected from the reality of the people, places and times of historical events under examination. That is NOT the case with Haruko Taya Cook and Peter Cook's "Japan At War: An Oral History".
   
   In the case of the Cooks' "Japan At War: An Oral History," I have no criticism or suggestion for how it could have been made better, save for my lingering wish that there was more to read of it. The interviewees' stories of personal experiences during the war are well told, well edited, well organized and well chosen. At the same time, the authors preserve an overall context in the strategic picture of what was happening at that time and why.
   
   Without hesitation, I rank it as one of my all-time favorites, and whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone interested in history, World War II, Japan, the Far East, or human frailty, vice, cruelty and endurance.



4. This book will make you laugh out loud, angry, or simply awed by the twists of the human spirit- both good and evil. The stories are exceptional and I cannot praise the Cooks enough for creating this document! If you are a student of history, much less, a student of Japanese history, this book should be on your shelf.



5. This is an important book and will be a most rewarding reading experience for anyone who is interested in what life was like in Japan's miltitary, navy, police, and civilians during Japan's war with China from 1937 on through WWII. The underlying message is quite clear --- war is hell, to quote Kenneth Roberts (see his "Oliver Wiswell", 1940). After reading the Cook's book and Richard B. Frank's book "Downfall" I settled into the inescapable conclusion that ending the war quickly was, on international and personal scales, the kindest deed we could have done for the Japanese people (and also for the US). We can look back on it now as a period when the entire Japanese population, incuding its government, voluntarily held itself in the sway of emperor-god worship together with a belief in the omnipotence of fighting spirit. It is also clear that accused war criminals who pleaded that they had to kill innocents in obedience their superior should be allowed such a claim in their defense, whenever it could be shown that violating the order meant their own death, as was the usual case.
   
   This book has 77 narrations by 67 different contributors of oral history, each covering several pages or more. The contributions are grouped into 24 topics whose time-ordered succession ties the entire collection into a highly readable narrative. I especially appreciated the paragraphs written by the authors to give the background of the contributor and to provide some perspective on each topic. The accounts are not for the faint-of-heart --- expecially of those who worked in Unit 731, where they did medical experiments but were excused from war crimes trials.
   
   If you are looking for an example of a fighting spirit that overcomes the most formidable odds, read about the one-eyed Zero pilot Sakei Saburo. No Allied warrior that I know of came close.
   
   I just wish that the authors, who certainly found plenty, could have found a few more to tell their stories of front-line combat. But then, those soldiers were the most likely not to have survived the war.