COMMENTS by readers / customers:
- Scholarly excellence, but lacking in context
(Rating: 3 of 5) |
Like many who will approach this book, I sought out Ravina's "The Last Samurai" as a corrective to the 2003 Edward Zwick film of the same title. As has been said elsewhere, it's deemed less politically correct in Hollywood to make a movie about a Japanese Robert E. Lee -- an American whose career is somewhat analagous to that of Saigo Takamori -- than a Japanese Sitting Bull. Ravina's extensively researched account strips away the romance from Saigo's life and presents it in a well-written and unemotional account.Unfortunately, people such as myself -- American history buffs with only a rudimentary knowledge of Japanese history and, especially, the political struggles during the transformation of
of 19th-century Japan from a feudal society to a modern nation with ambitions of world power -- are going to find "The Last Samurai" rough going. There is a good deal of information in the book about the people and events that shaped Saigo's career, but Ravina seems to assume that the reader will be well-acquainted with some of the basic aspects of Japanese history -- the establishment and development of the shogunate, the relationship between the shoguns and the imperial dynasty and court, the relationships among the various daimyos, or feudal domains -- and provides inadquate context for the uninformed reader. I would advise any potential reader not already thus informed to read at least one expansive, general account of 19th-century Japanese history before delving into the life of Saigo. Such foreknowledge will make Ravina's book a far more rewarding experience. The book contains some decent maps and illustrations, but the maps could have been more inclusive, to show all the feudal domains of mid-19th-century Japan. (A map listing in the contents page also would have been welcome). And as another reviewer suggests, a biographical "cast of characters" who figure prominently in the book would be useful. Maybe it's just me, but some of the Japanese names and titles were hard to keep separate in my mind. In summary: This is not a "popular" biography and does not conform to stereotypical Western images of the samurai gleaned from a half-century of movies. It's an enlightening book for specialists or for others who have prepared themselves for a study of 19th-century Japan.
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- If you want to know what Samurai were like in the real world
(Rating: 5 of 5) |
Then you should buy this book. The man whose life it details, Saigo Takamori, is torn between his samurai ethos and the values of the newly emerging japanese society. He helps to overthrow the old shogun and establish a new government, but then becomes disillusioned and leads a rebellion of disgruntled Samurai against the modern Japanese government he helped to create. Saigo is sort of a living embodiment of the japanese cultural struggle between traditonal values and the modern world. If you like the movie the Last Samurai, or like Kenshin on cartoon network, then you will like this book because it gives you the real deal about samurai in 19th century Japan. The main Samurai character, Katsumodo, and plot of the new Tom cruise movie, are entirely based on Saigo Takamori's life and the rebellion he led. The context of the book is historical, but hey, its non-fiction, thats the point. Definately a good read for anyone interested in Samurai or Japan.
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- The Paradoxical Life of a Paragon of Virtue
(Rating: 5 of 5) |
The Tom Cruise movie, "The Last Samurai" depicts Saigo Takamori as a reactionary who rejected everything Western and died valiantly waving a samurai sword as he rode into the murderous fire of gatling guns. Well, he did die valiantly (or quixotically) as a medieval samurai charging on horseback into gunfire, but he wasn't a reactionary. He was a little bit more complicated than that. Instead of being the movie's staunch defender of the status quo, Takamori was instrumental in dismantling Japanese feudalism and bringing Japan into the 19th Century. He embraced Western technology and admired some aspects of Western government. Fierce in battle, compassionate in victory, loyal to a fault, tortured by his perception of himself as a failure, eager to embrace death before dishonor, this was a man who commanded such respect that he endangered the Meijin government by simply refusing to participate in it. How could one of the greatest supporters of the Meijin emperor rebel against his sovereign? How could one of the main architects of the moderization of Japan wind up charging on horseback into the murderous gunfire of the modern Japanese army? How could he in death be transformed into a hero of mythic proportions? Read the book and find out.
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