≡ Descargar Gratis The Nobility of Failure Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan Ivan Morris 9780374521202 Books

The Nobility of Failure Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan Ivan Morris 9780374521202 Books

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The Nobility of Failure Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan Ivan Morris 9780374521202 Books

A classic, a must for those eager to understand the japanese psyche. But also a lesson for those brainwashing us with their unending propaganda logorhea about "heroes", "success" and other obsessive happy endings. Sometimes, things turn bad and it is as well. Since from failures we learn probably more than from triumph.


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The Nobility of Failure Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan Ivan Morris 9780374521202 Books Reviews

I first read this book in the 1970s and have reread it several times.

Initially I had trouble understanding the concept of the "failed hero," as I am an American, but learning about this broadened my viewpoint.

The book reads like five or six novels -- each failed hero has a detailed back story filled with intrigue, romance, rivalries within the Japanese imperial family, battles, assassinations, political conflicts, religious concerns, suicides -- never a dull moment. I learned so much about Japanese culture and history from this book.

You do not need to know anything about Japanese history, literature or language to enjoy the book. The author unobtrusively explains anything that a Westerner might not know.

The book was given added poignancy by the ritual suicide of the author's friend, Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. The author, professor Ivan Morris, is said to have written the book partially to place Mishima's suicide within Japan's historical context of failed heroes.

The fact that the book deals with tragic heroes who were mostly executed or exiled has additional poignance for me from my discovery that Professor Morris died in 1976, shortly after the book was published.
Ivan Morris has developed ten exemplary portraits of Japan's noble failures from Prince Yamato Takeru, perhaps more a composite of warrior heroes from the start of Japanese civilization, to the Kamikaze pilots of World War II.

Yamato Takeru may be seen as a folk hero comparable to Lancelot of Arthurian legend. His early victories resulted in his receiving the special Kusanagi 'grass mower' sword from the Emperor's sister. Having subdued the Emperor's enemies east and west, Takeru, on his way across Tokyo Bay, raised the ire of the God of the Straits who stirred the waves sending his boat adrift. After many more trials, Takeru decided it was time to return home to report to the Emperor, but his inability to muster the strength to do so, resulted in failure. Before his death Takeru crafted a poem to a lonely 'brother' pine tree. The aura surrounding this Ur-hero in Japanese tradition, by not requiring his safe return home, is, according to Morris, a departure from the norm and the basis for all Japanese tragic, failed heroes to follow.

Yoruzu, 6th-century warrior hero, was crippled by an arrow and unable to escape his enemies. He stabbed himself in the throat, propelled by the momentum of his own bravery, in pursuit of honor, and became an exemplar of makoto or 'sincerity', the cardinal quality of the Japanese hero.

Arima no Miko, 7th-century prince, who though quiet and pessimistic at court, was accused by political opponents of treason even though innocent of political intrigue. His demise symbolized by the scattering of cherry blossoms, a quintessential image that permeates Japanese literature.

Sugawara no Michizane, 9th-century poet, calligrapher and master of Chinese, the official language of scholarship in Japan then, died in exile in his sleep unlike so many other failed heroes who died violently by their own hands. He is venerated today, enshrined as a Shinto deity.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune, 12th-century military hero along with his brother Minamoto no Yoritomo, is the epitome of the tragic hero who suffered a tragic fall from power at the height of his career. Despite Yoritomo's fame as administrator and government reformer, it was Yoshitsune who became Japan's quintessential hero.

Kusunoki Masashige, failed 'hero' of the Battle of Minato River in 1333, near present-day Kobe, when surrounded by the forces of Ashikaga Takauji, when asked by his fellow loyalist commander what his last wish was before committing ritual suicide, replied “I should like to be reborn seven times into this world of men so that I might destroy the enemies of the Court.” Scholars today see Masashige as a 14th-century Marshal Petain, defender of Verdun. Morris tells us that for kamikaze pilots Masashige was their most revered hero (p. 103).

Amakusa Shiro, the Japanese Messiah, is said to have been able like St. Francis, to call down flying birds that would alight on his hands. Christianity came to Japan in the middle of the 16th century, and had initial success, but by 1640 the Tokugawa rulers had eliminated its influence. Shiro, lead a rebellion against the Tokugawa that had its apotheosis in 1637 at the Battle of Shimibara across the bay from Nagasaki. Shiro, unlike other noble failures who obligingly committed suicide following defeat in battle, did not do so because of his Christian faith. His flag which survived the holocaust at Shimibara displays on a white background, two black angelic figures on each side of a chalice above which is a white host adorned with a black cross. The failure of Christianity in Japan remains an anomaly considering that both Buddhism and Confucianism have co-existed alongside Shintoism throughout Japanese history.

Oshio Heihachiro, Confucian scholar and Osaka police official, in 1837, exactly 200 years after the disaster at Shimbara, led an uprising to protest conditions of Osaka's starving populace. The protest was a fiasco and the Tokugawa regime ended violently the resistance and lives of Oshio's rebels. A few hours after the uprising began, with no ensuing support from surrounding villages, Oshio sat on a stool munching a rice ball while gazing at the burning Osaka harbor. Ivan Morris tell us, “like the other heroes Oshio has experienced a total peripetia and it is at these key moments that one most keenly realizes the contrast between the preceding success and the catastrophe that is the ensue. Much of the appeal of the hoganbiiki [sympathy with the loser]type of hero derives from this contrast it is because he has such a great distance to fall that the hero's failure stirs the emotions.” (p. 137)

Saigo Takamori, the apotheosis of samurai warrior, was for Ivan Morris the last true hero of Japan. Morris who died shortly after his Nobility of Failure was first published in 1975, would have been pleased that Saigo served as the basis for the film, The Last Samurai.

Kamikaze fighters, mostly pilots of the Oka, a modified air-to-surface, rocket-guided glider torpedo, began their suicide missions mostly against the U.S. Seventh Fleet in October 1944 at Leyte Gulf, intensified attacks during the battle for Okinawa, and ended such missions in August 1945. Why did Japan pursue this tactic late in a war that its leadership knew was strategically lost at Midway three years earlier. Morris believes Japan's leaders convinced themselves that their enemy would be daunted by the spiritual strength of kamikaze, that this trump card might counter the enemy materiel superiority. This had become an article of faith among the Japanese leadership and their volunteer kamikaze suicide warriors. The first four attack units were designated Shikishima (an ancient poetic name for Japan), Yamato (another traditional name for the country), Asahi (rising sun), and Yamazakura (wild cherry blossoms) – all four words providing the framework for an 18th-century poem

What is the spirit of Yamato's ancient land?
It is like the wild cherry blossoms,
Radiant in the rising sun.

Ivan Morris dedicated his Nobility of Failure to his friend Yukio Mishima, novelist and playwright, who committed ritual suicide at a Japanese military headquarters in November 1970.
Very good very happy!!!
Without a doubt one of the most important books analyzing Japanese culture. A must for all students of Japan
A great book with a good overview of Japanese history explored through it's cultural myths and legends. Morris is eloquent and concise, and his work is thoroughly researched (almost half of this study's pages are notes and references - truly a treasure trove for researchers). I find a lot of the myths really compelling, and the conclusions Morris draws are right on the money. His thesis is relatively simple Japan idolizes and remembers it's historic failures much more than successes. There's something about being committed to an ideal or a cause to the bitter end, even if it's wrong, that resonates strongly with the warrior culture of Japan. But not just there, I think that in contemporary American culture, with its attraction to whimsy, instantaneous gratification, and billion channel satellites, there can be found a certain respect for people who can commit themselves solidly to a cause. There's something romantic about lost causes in general that I think people identify with, the almost types of stories get embedded in our culture as well (here I'm thinking of Rudy).

A good read for a piece of dense and thorough scholarship.
One of the greatest books I have ever read. Certainly the best book that I have ever read on Japan.
Morris focuses on the concept of hougan biiki (sympathy with the loser) and uses this angle to explore some of the most fascinating dichotomies existing in Japanese culture. Not only is it incredibly informative, it is powerful. I broke into tears repeatedly during the life of Saigo Takamori. This is the kind of book I have spent the last ten years searching for.
It was well worth the wait.
A classic, a must for those eager to understand the japanese psyche. But also a lesson for those brainwashing us with their unending propaganda logorhea about "heroes", "success" and other obsessive happy endings. Sometimes, things turn bad and it is as well. Since from failures we learn probably more than from triumph.