I’ve been watching the show Shogun and I am completely captivated by the ancient code of honor that samurai used to follow. I am a philosophy undergrad student and I am particularly interested in their ideology surrounding death. Especially when it comes to the ancient tradition of seppuku. Holding honour in such a high regard, super interesting to me.
I was wondering if anybody had any reading recommendations to learn more, maybe from a philosophical perspective, about ancient Japanese samurai values, traditions, beliefs and history. It could be a fiction novel as much as it could be just informative. I am not very well educated on ancient Japanese culture and my knowledge only extends to popular media such as movies and video games just like Shogun. I want to learn more about what they believed and why death wasn’t as scary to them as dishonor is.
by V0ltiac
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The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
The Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo