EALC 24422 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: East Asian Studies, Hagakure, Edo Period
20 Jun 2018
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EALC Week 6 Discussion and Lecture Notes pt 1
Things that you found interesting about last class
- Heterogeneity of the samurai
- Mutual dependency
- Economic discrepancy voice was attempted to be filled by honor (honor and its roles)
- Different goals of the samurai and the state
- Samurai are military elite and wield the sword
- While the state had its best interest in reining them in
- Because of all this, words change their meaning
- The changing meaning of violence at this period
- Honor is both socially constructed and internal
- Quest for honor, shame is more heavily noted
- Seken
- Social world in which honor is judged and where this action takes place
- A created (imagined) community of honor
Presentation Notes
- Intensely emotional ethos of the samurai
- Idea of historically accurate manifestations and manifestos
- Hagakure (short stories on the behaviour of samurai; death, personal loyalty, etc)
- Criticized 47 ronin
- By controlling one’s death, one controls one’s life
- “A most glorious death”
- Why were the samurai willing to die?
- Pure Land buddhism, resetting your life, dying for a higher
purpose
- Popular war literature idealized beautiful deaths of
war figures; they held onto their own higher
purpose. Samurai would read and hope to attain
- Death frenzy
- Shini gurui
- Every morning, be sure to think of yourself as dead
- Samurai should choose honor and accept punishment over order and disgrace
when those conflicted
- One can WIN DUELS if they attack without regard for their own life
- Seppuku
- An honorable death for warrior stuck in battle
- Type of death penalty--evolved
- Became official procedure with highly ritualized service.
- Moment he pointed the fan at himself, he resigned himself to death
- Is the vassal’s loyalty to the lord or the tokugawa state?
Document Summary
Things that you found interesting about last class. Economic discrepancy voice was attempted to be filled by honor (honor and its roles) Different goals of the samurai and the state. Samurai are military elite and wield the sword. While the state had its best interest in reining them in. Because of all this, words change their meaning. The changing meaning of violence at this period. Honor is both socially constructed and internal. Quest for honor, shame is more heavily noted. Social world in which honor is judged and where this action takes place. Hagakure (short stories on the behaviour of samurai; death, personal loyalty, etc) By controlling one"s death, one controls one"s life. Pure land buddhism, resetting your life, dying for a higher purpose. Popular war literature idealized beautiful deaths of war figures; they held onto their own higher purpose. Every morning, be sure to think of yourself as dead.
