My position is in favor of existing originals, incomplete, moreover, vitiated by errors of copyists or misinterpretations. My goal is not you the truth, far from it, but to try to make a synthesis of the elements in our possession, without forgetting the quality of transcription of former Japanese (Kambun ***), in a Western language, without losing the essence. I'm far from an expert in this field. I leave this work to proven specialists, wishing that this does not betray the original idea of the author.
"*** Kanbun:
Kanbun (literally "Han writing") is the classical Chinese literary or written for Japanese.
Before the appearance of the various Japanese writing system kana syllabary and the Kanbun was used to write Japanese texts.
Today, the Kanbun is used to annotate the classical Chinese or Literary and is a compulsory subject in lenseignement superior, and therefore in modern Japanese, the word "Kanbun" is also used to evoke the classic Chinese literature as a whole.
The modern Kanbun uses a character known as "return items" (, kaeriten) or "Japanese elements" (, Künten). For example, the following sentences Han Fei Zi:
kaeriten be written in the following way:
To read this, the character noted "low" (, shita) is set instead of the character "high" (ue), and even the character "two" (or) is set instead of the character "a "(, ichi). The element inversion (, re) indicates that the order of adjacent characters must be reversed. Elements taken one by one, the sentence becomes:
And the final sentence therefore follows now the Japanese order Subject-Object-Verb. Conjugation may also be added with the okuriganas and corresponding characters (such) must be removed:
sometimes the nature of reading can be annotated with furiganas:
The complete translation is known as the "Japanese reading" (, kundoku). "
THE HAGAKURE:
The Hagakure (Shinjitai: literally "in the shadow of the leaves" or "hidden in the foliage"), or Hagakure Kikigaki () is a practical and spiritual guide for warriors.
This is a compilation of thoughts and teachings of "Yamamoto Jch" ***, former vassal samurai Nabeshima Mitsushige. His comments were received by a young scribe Tashiro Tsuramoto between 1709 and 1716 but they Nont been revealed until much later (in the early twentieth century to the Japanese public) as jealously guarded for over 150 years by the Nabeshima clan. Originally, the Hagakure has 11 volumes.
"*** Author Biography:
Jch Yamamoto, born Tsunetomo Yamamoto (Yamamoto Tsunetomo 12 June 1659-1719), was a Japanese samurai vassal of the lord Nabeshima Mitsushige of the province of Hizen. At the age of 9, he entered the Nabeshima house where he faithfully served for over thirty years, first as lord of the page and then as a samurai.
At twenty, he met Zen monk Tannen, superior of Nabeshima temple, which resigned in disagreement sign when the conviction of a monk. He then made the acquaintance of a Confucian scholar, Ishida Ittei, advising Nabeshima. Ittei was a man of great courage, he was exiled more than eight years for opposing a decision by the Daimyo. These two events marked deeply Yamamoto.
On the death of his master in 1700, he could not perform seppuku to follow him in death, and suicide ritual sign of extreme devotion. For not only his master disapproved of this practice, but it was banned by a decree of the Tokugawa shogun.
He could not agree with the successor of his master, he then received permission to become a monk and withdraw from the world. At the age of 42 after shaving her head, he went to live a semi-reclusive life in a hut at Kurotsuchibaru 12 km north of Castle Saga, which was inhabited by the clan of Nabeshima.
He took the name of Jch Yamamoto. Between 1709 and 1716 a young scribe joined. During these seven years, Tashiro Tsuramoto transcribed all the interviews he had with Yamamoto. Despite the prohibition of the latter, Tsuramoto copied and distributed his writings samurai of Saga under the title: "Analects of Nabeshima." The eleven volumes written and long remained secret and were known under the title of Hagakure (literally "in the shade of the leaves").
Philosophy:
A young scholar, came to visit him, realized conversations he had with Yamamoto on the mind and morals of the samurai. He made a Teaching Institution hand combat and aristocratic in mind for the exclusive use of noble ..
While some claim that there have ever taken part in a battle or a duel, Jch Yamamoto was a devout follower of Bushido, the strict code of loyalty and honor.
His thinking can be summarized in two main principles:
The resolution to die: according to him, a samurai must cultivate "the art of dying" or living in considering himself already dead.
Immediate action means any action planned too long (with particular reference to the episode of the 47 RNIN) would be doomed to failure: a warrior should be able to decide in less time than it takes to expire seven times. "
Original title of the work:
The full title is the master Hagakure Lyrics, perhaps in reference to the fact that Jch Yamamoto lived hidden, secluded in a hut. Some think the title means that the wisdom of the book is accessible to anyone who knows how to find the hidden meaning between the lines.
The Hagakure is also called The Book of the Samurai and is widely mentioned as such in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Jim Jarmusch film released in 1999.
Content:
Although this is not a treaty but a series of evocations and reflections of a true samurai, this text-river exposes gasoline bushido, literally the Way of the warrior. This warrior code of the samurai ethics which defends a chivalrous honor and loyalty to his overlord may extend to self-sacrifice but also humility and necessary discipline to learning and development in the "art of war, life and death. "
The Hakagure has eleven chapters preceded by an introduction on "A quiet conversation at dusk." Their drafting lasted seven friends and suggests a few additional stories by Tashuiro Tsuramoto editor used to make the living concise about the samurai became a monk (hence the name of Tsunetomo change in Jocho) after the death of his suzerain, the seppuku then being proscribed.
The first two volumes bring together the precepts of the samurai. The next three volumes dedicated to the glory of the founders of the clan and daimyo Nabeshima fief Saga. The remaining six volumes deal with the history of the province of Saga, the great deeds of his vassals or those of foreign samurai, and finally additional stories.
Modern History:
For nearly 150 years, Hagakure was not known as Nabeshima samurai clan. It was discovered by the public during the Meiji Era, which began in 1868 but only really began to be distributed at the beginning of the twentieth century, until, during the 1930s, the major louvrage bushido.
After World War II, he was discredited in Japan, accused to have led the nation on the path of militarism and religious leaders and, ultimately, to fail.
Anyway, the Hagakure remains very popular with non-Japanese who sintéressent culture of the samurai.
Translations:
The original manuscript has not been found, so there is no originator release. What remains is a little more than thirty handwritten copies that circulated among the servants of the Nabeshima clan, with each variant (omissions, additions, copies of errors).
Thus the English translation by Takao Mukoh (The Hakagure, A code to the way of the Samurai) is based on yamamoto copy that is retained in the library of Saga Prefecture. That of William Scott Wilson (The Book of the Samurai Hagakure) refers in turn to the copy presented in the Nihon Shiso Taikei (Overview of Japanese thought, volume 26) entitled "Mochiki Nabeshimake-hon".
The choice of copy and selected extracts (sections 150 for the first, 300 for the second) has obvious differences of interpretation on a number of important points. Indeed the first wants to restore the spirit of the text in a Japanese setting, based on the annotations of the book of Sagaru Wataru: Mikawa Monogatari; Hagakure; the second seeks to present unknown aspects to Western readers, drawing inspiration from the study of the writer Yukio Mishima Hagakure Nyumon (Introduction to Hagakure).
This is also by it, translated into French under the title The Modern Japan and Samurai ethics (1967), that was popularized in the Western world the Hagakure. A hundred maxims, mostly drawn from the first two books, are subject to a philosophical reading is part of a patriotic tragic perspective:
