Rome vs Japan

[Narukami]

Narukami, have you, perhaps, seen Ghost Dog, and do you have an opinion about it? I thought it was a fine movie and would like to know more about this man's samurai code.

Ah Ghost Dog -- an excellent film, the best from Jim Jarmusch.

The Japanese love gangster films, either their own (Yakuza films, the comedian Beat Takeshi has done some excellent ones recently) or from Hollywood (the Godfather trilogy is very popular in Japan, they view it as a Samurai Tragedy). Jarmusch has taken this genre and, as is his wont, turned it on its head and pushed it to the limits and beyond.

The book Ghost Dog refers to is the Hagakure, the Book of Leaves written by Yamamoto Tsunetomo.

Two other books that might be of interest to you are:

Bushido by Inazo Nitobe

The Book Of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

Musashi was famous for fighting with two swords and his life story is the subject of several books and films, fiction and non-fiction alike.

There is an on going argument that the very existence of these books attests to the decline of the samurai. Such books and codes of conduct did not exist in ancient times, so the argument goes, because they were not necessary. The constant wars the samurai fought shaped their conduct. However, when peace broke out, and the samurai moved away form the arts of war to the arts of bureaucracy, they needed codes to remind them of who there were and where they came from.

The story of the 47 Ronin is a case in point and the classic example of 18th samurai who understood clearly what it meant to be samurai.

You should be able to find these books on Amazon, I think all are in print. There are also several versions of the 47 Ronin story, including plays and films. For film I recommend Chushingura (the 1962 version) directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. It is long and very deliberate in its pacing, however, to my mind it is the best.

:wink:

Narukami