The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture

by Ruth Benedict

No work on Japan has attempted to tell so profoundly and from so many aspects the development of the ideology of the Japanese as it is reflected in the daily manners and customs of their life. This recognized classic of cultural anthropology is of enduring interest as a contribution to the history of human thought, and as an illumination of the cause and conduct of World War II it is of primary importance. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword covers the view of life of the people of Japan and their many-faceted view of themselves. Here are the main outlines of Japanese society, their curious system of practical ethics, their ideas of good and evil, and the structured disciplines that make the Japanese able to live according to their code. The political, religious, and economic life of Japan from the early days through Feudalism, the restoration of the Emperor, the Meiji reform, modern industrialism, the second world war, the surrender of Japan and its aftermath are thoroughly explored. The life of the person and of the family--etiquette, sexual conduct, marriage, prostitution, and the institution of the Geisha--are all examined in depth. There is also penetrating discussion of Buddhism, Shinto, Zen, and Yoga. Especially illuminating is the thoroughgoing contrast of the civilization of Japan with that of the United States.

Ruth Benedict, before her death in 1948, was a full professor at Columbia University and was recognized as one of the most eminent of American anthropologists. Her Patterns of Culture has been called a milestone in the development of anthropology; she is also well known for her study Race: Science and Politics. During the war she worked with the U.S. Office of War Information on occupied and enemy territories, and it was during this period that she extended and brought to fruition her long-standing interest in the people and culture of Japan.

Genres: Japan, Anthropology, Nonfiction, History, Sociology, Cultural, Japanese Literature

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Ruth Fulton Benedict, noted anthropologist, studied Native American and Japanese cultures.

Ruth Fulton Benedict, a folklorist, attended Vassar College, and graduated in 1909.

She entered graduate school at Columbia University in 1919 under Franz Boas. She received her Philosophiae Doctor and joined the faculty in 1923. She perhaps shared a romantic relationship with Margaret Mead, and Marvin Opler ranked among her colleagues.

Work of Ruth Fulton Benedict clearly evidences point of view of Franz Boas, her teacher, mentor, and the father. The passionate humanism of Boas, her mentor, affected affected Ruth Benedict, who continued it in her research and writing.

Ruth Fulton Benedict held the post of president of the association and also a prominent member of the folklore society. People recognized this first such woman as a prominent leader of a learned profession. From the limited confines of culture-trait diffusion, this transitional figure redirected folklore, her field, away towards theories of integral performance to the interpretation of culture, as people can view. The relationships among personality, art, language, and culture insist that no trait existed in isolation or self-sufficiency; she champions this theory in her Patterns of Culture in 1934.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

Some hesitation.

Let me begin on the day I bought the Invention of Nature, once packed away in my satchel I, like the chicken in the joke, crossed the road and entered a second-hand bookshelf, there I spied this book, it rang a bell, but distantly, I left I think only with the aforementioned Sorel: Europe and the French Revolution and maybe something else because “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a book, must be in want of several more" there see, if only I had been Jane Austen's editor.... Later I confess I had a look on Goodreads and indeed I remembered that I had wanted to read The Chrysanthemum and the Sword I have a deep dislike of the 'To-Read' list and am in a different mental universe to those who add books to such a list perhaps even with a happy whistle, this runs counter to my book reading policy which relies heavily on serendipity, and may be thought of as a life long experiment to demonstrate the presence of predestination and fate in one's reading life so the following month when I had returned to hospital for an appointment, I afterwards marched back up hill and bought Ruth Benedict's book.

Having read it and feeling a slight hesitancy about it I will begin properly with respect and honour. It is a solid achievement. Benedict was a US anthropologist pottering about when she received a commission in 1944 from the government to write a study of the Japanese with a view to whether they would surrender, and if militarily defeated, if they would fight on, or rebel, or just generally cause a nuisance, and more generally to help get under the Japanese skin which might help an occupation to progress smoothly. Starting from scratch with no knowledge of Japanese she laboured on and the book was published in 1946, so I guess it represents twelve to eighteen months of contentious and solid work. Which is an achievement. The work consisted of reading the secondary literature on Japan, noting things she didn't understand, interviewing Japanese Americans, taking them with her to watch Japanese films and asking them to explain why the plots seemed so strange, reading novels, school books and memoirs - from one of these she cities the daughter of a samurai family who allowed in a missionary school a patch of garden to grow what ever she likes, experiences wild joy at planting potatoes while all her school-fellows plant flowers.

As you probably have guessed the downsides of this book are exactly the same as its positives - it was written at a particular time, for a particular purpose drawing on limited sources, and the end result now is not only seventy years on, historical but also circular.

Specifically from 1868 there began in Japan the Meji restoration which swept away the old shoguns and aimed to make the Emperor the central figure in Japanese life, prior to this the Emperors had spent several centuries as ceremonial figures, dependant sometimes on handouts or selling samples of their calligraphy in order to make ends meet. The Meji era reformers stressed that duty owed to the Emperor trumped all other duties and obligations. Unsurprisingly then Benedict found from School books and war films that duty to the Emperor trumped any other duty or obligation. Incidentally and implicitly for her this meant that so long as the Imperial will was for Japan to fight to demonstrate it's proper place in the hierarchy of world nations (ie at the top), then the Japanese would fight -down to their last bamboo spear and beyond, while once the Imperial will was that Japan must live in peace and friendliness that all Japanese would do so with no less enthusiasm. We might agree that such a potential was implicit in Japanese culture, but it seems it was specifically actualised only in a particular historical circumstance, but for Benedict there seems to be no distinction between ideology and culture. The beliefs that certain groups of people wished to inculcate in wider society are treated unproblematically as pure manifestations of culture. Further the actual people she interviewed were Japanese American, either emigrants recalling their lives in Japan before coming to America or those born in the USA drawing upon their family traditions, this I guess tended to a view of Japanese society as being conservative and unchanging, while as an observer one's immediate assumption thinking about post 1945 is to think of Japan in terms of change and modernity. Both views are probably right to some extent, but the point is that Benedict's study is profoundly informed by the circumstances in which it was done. This I think limits the book's value over time, naturally if you want to enjoy old Japanese war films, it is just the ticket, but seventy odd plus years down the road in a somewhat different political environment it is probably not quite as valuable as it was - although I must stress that Benedict was writing for a specific purpose - to aid Americans in the task of occupying a defeated Japan, she wasn't intending to create something to stand for all time. In any case Benedict died in 1948, she didn't get so much as a chance to revise or revisit her work. Equally perhaps distinguishing between elite ideologies and the culture as a whole wasn't relevant to the purpose of the book in 1946.

A curious feature of the book is that it is a distorted mirror to the USA, the study is largely a compare and contrast between the USA and Japan, after a while as a third party foreigner, the USA of the 30s and 40s seemed considerably odder and more strange than the Japan which Benedict was describing. Japanese sense of a proper hierarchy and dislike of profiteers who violated this seemed quite natural and proper from a UK perspective. While solemnly Benedict tells us that the Japanese have no concept of evil while Americans in addition to having to be at war with the evil in their natures, are full of resentment against things they have to do like sleeping, eating spinach and getting married.

I felt the lack of a consistent awareness of cultural gender differences was interesting given that Ruth Benedict was as far as I am aware herself of female persuasion, mostly man did seem to mean purely man rather than people, yet there wasn't a great deal of interest in women's roles in Japanese culture beyond that from their late teens through to their marriages that they got to have the best and most elaborate hairstyles. Though Mother-in-law vs Daughter-in-law tensions were Benedict felt, particularly intense.

The principal issue that she identified was that Japanese live within a network of obligations and duties, analogous to owing money to many different and competing creditors, one may temporarily satisfy some to a certain extent, but only at the cost of not satisfying others, perhaps by this point I had already become more crazy than ever because this seemed to me entirely natural, the debt to ones parents for life and upbringing, to kin for occasional indulgences, to the bastard bank for the mortgage, duties of citizenship and humanity. This network of obligations she notices provides for really satisfying unhappy endings in Japanese fiction, and she suspects this means that happinesses, like that lovely warm bath, tend to be postponed or avoided in favour of meeting some obligation or other (such as to the family, or benefactor and the Emperor). Shame is felt so extremely, that ideas of revenge against people who insult you is taken extremely seriously - here I did wonder if she had read too many novels featuring samurai in the course of her research but then again it perhaps is a fair point about the culture of early twentieth century Japan and its search for international prestige through colonialism. For a brief instance while reading I did feel deeply that her discussion of all these circles of duty made sense of the Olympus scandal, but then I thought that all businesses take their reputation and image extremely seriously and generally seem to prefer to cover up, evade, or lie rather than to come clean about mistakes - and in that sense perhaps corporations are people after all.

Anyway as in Childhood and Society it all comes back to breastfeeding and toilet training. The American mother as you may expect is angry and resentful at having to share her breast milk while according to Benedict the Japanese mother appreciates breastfeeding as a sensual pleasure and indeed if she delays weaning will be teased for enjoying feeding her child too much. Then according to Benedict your standard American child is fed and put to bed by the clock, this fills the young American with rage and resentment. By contrast the young Japanese is entirely indulged at first, only as they get older are they teased for their attachment to the breast and softly through teasing brought into all those circles of duty. This fills the Japanese with rage and resentment and this difference is why your typical American will stock pile guns and eventually go on a killing spree while the typical Japanese will adjust easily to a changed situation but then suddenly commit suicide. Having written that I hasten to add, without earnestness, it does strike me that for all that Benedict claims that there is an essential piraticality beneath the Japanese character, she didn't really demonstrate it.

It is a consistently interesting book, though in the nature of such books, at least with me, it does spark disparate chains of thought too much so even for spoiler text. I would say it is good for what it is, but with the caveat that it is both dated and focused on the period from 1868 to 1945 and in this edition the lack of a bibliography means it won't take you any further without assistance. Despite a chapter on self discipline which touches on Zen I felt it was not enlightening about religion or necessarily about the Arts. As a companion book to reading the literature of that '68 to '45 period this might be useful, but perhaps less so for the age of the Godzilla film or even the Kurosawa epic and I'd be fooling myself if it added anything to my past reading of Basho, but perhaps it shone a light on The Toyota Way, I'll need to sleep some more on that.

From a policy point of view the book was a great success, Benedict's vision in the wake of Japan's surrender must have been very reassuring, and to that extent it must also have served Japan well in the short and medium term. On the other hand on can see in the tendency to managing the economy and a valuing of social stability above all, that maybe stability has allowed for a degree of entropy and ossification to build up in the long term, while a more radical departure in 1945 might have allowed for different social and economic problems to have emerged seventy years on.

[Bob Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange, but insightful pioneering effort that is outdated today

I’m giving this work more stars that it might deserve because it was an early effort to understand Japan, started perhaps when WW II was still raging, but finished in the aftermath when American forces had occupied Japan and, in 1946, were still trying to understand what the best way to administer the country would be. It had been a terrible war, ending in the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the fire-bombing of Tokyo and other cities. After that, Americans predicted that there would be fierce resistance. It didn’t happen. The acceptance of American occupation contrasted startlingly with the brutality of Japanese forces during the war. Why? We can say that Ruth Benedict, an anthropologist who did not speak Japanese and did not have the opportunity to go to Japan, wrote an amazingly insightful book in such a situation. Whether all her observations were true or if they still hold water today is entirely another subject.

Before WW II, most anthropologists concentrated on far-flung tribes and islanders supposedly little-influenced by outside contacts. They traveled to various remote points in Australia, Africa or the Amazon, the American West, the Andaman Islands, or to small Pacific islands like Tikopia, Dobu, and the Trobriands. Few investigated complex industrial societies or even peasant cultures in Europe, though there were some. That’s why I think you can say that Benedict’s effort was pioneering. Also, in comparison with British anthropologists who tended to look at functional aspects of culture, she, as part of the American tradition, was more interested in the psychological side—for example, how childhood training influenced adult behavior and world view.

After an exploration of Japanese history leading up to the opening of the country to the West in the 1850s, she discusses the “extreme hierarchy” in Japanese society of the time, a hierarchy which she says continued up till the war began. She starts to talk about the Meiji reforms and says “The strength, and the weakness too, of [its] leaders was rooted in traditional Japanese character and it is the chief object of this book to discuss what that character was and is.” (p.79) She discusses Japanese ways of thinking and behaving, starting with such concepts as on, giri, and chu—concepts which you’ll have to read the book to fully grasp. She talks about the importance of recognizing gratitude and repaying it through action. That gratitude started with feelings towards the Emperor. She comments that “the Japanese point of view is that obeying the law is repayment upon their highest indebtedness…” (p.129) and contrasts that with the American resentment at government interference in individual freedom. Do 21st century mask mandates come to mind?

Drastic renunciations, different ideas of revenge, the Japanese view of sincerity and self-respect, and an analysis of the “Chushingura”, an early 18th century tale most popular in Japan up to now, fill out the pages of this still-interesting book. And there is a section on shame cultures vs. guilt cultures which has been endlessly discussed over the years. All in all, it’s a fascinating effort to understand a culture from afar. I think it may be lacking a lot, for instance the idea that Japanese culture was not as monolithic as she may have shown it. Also, being part of the modern world for the last 75 years has certainly changed the society a lot. Nevertheless, as an attempt to create a portrait of a society, it is still noteworthy with the caveats that I have mentioned.

[Olivier Delaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest books on Japanese culture out there, and still very relevant today. If you love Japan or are simply interested to know more about this fascinating country, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword is a must-read and re-read.

[MameYakko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in Japanese because it seemed difficult to read even in Japanese, so I thought it would be even more difficult to read the original work in English.
I wanted to know how the Japanese culture was viewed by Americans.
It was weird to learn how we the Japanese are through an analysis done by a foreigner who had never visited Japan, but her account was very clear and mostly accurate.

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was wondering... Could a treatise on an entire country and its people, no matter how beautifully worded and presented, be objective if...

a) the author of the said treatise didn't live in that country
b) the author is from the victorious country (Who was it who said that history is written by the victors?)
c) the country being analyzed was, in many years of its history, closed to the outside world (Was it James Michener who claimed that Japan had put up one of the most effective iron curtains in the history of mankind?)?

Perhaps I should also add that ...

d) the author didn't speak the language of the said country. (I did see the movie Lost in Translation. And a lot can get lost in translation sometimes. I should know. Over two decades here in Japan and I still get lost in Shinjuku Station, never mind the biggest hospital in my neighborhood.)

Still...this one gets a good rating from me. I rate it not for its objectivity, but for its relative accuracy. Benedict wrote with what materials she had and could obtain, and the result was not so bad. She did claim in the first chapter that Japan is a country of contradictions - "different". That claim alone gives the reader fair warning that she could be wrong in some of her interpretations (and that she could also be right). And this tone resonates in the whole book. She keeps repeating the word "different" that Japan appears quite exotic, even alien, in some parts (just try to grasp "giri"...getting out of Shinjuku Station when you get lost in it seems an easier task).

Needless to say, Japan now is not like how Benedict saw it. Many aspects of the country's people and culture have evolved. Nevertheless, this book offers a good study of where the country was in the author's time. And what a chaotic time it was...

There is also the interesting side to this book that many miss to see. In her aim to reveal Japan, Benedict unwittingly, or perhaps intentionally, reveals her own.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a masterpiece. Each time a height has been scaled and the reader returns to the valley, he sees yet another, taller peak on the horizon.... It is essential reading.

Benedict is an anthropologist -- though I've read a good amount of anthropology, I had never read Patterns of Culture. And I was somewhat skeptical, remembering the bland cover of Patterns on the old copy my father had when I was a child. But Benedict writes with such depth and intelligence and broad vision that I now see that her reputation is fully deserved. She is brilliant..., and humane.

It is not necessarily the case, of course, that everything she writes about Japan is entirely correct -- though her general approach must be right. And, of course, Japan may have changed much since 1945. But books like this really do transcend particular pages and footnotes.

There is a lot of facile criticism of this book -- criticizing her for using the distinction of shame/guilt, for viewing Japanese culture through the lens of kinship structures, and so forth. Forget the critics -- like many such books, she puts them to shame (pun intended). They're what my students would call 'salty'.

Anyway -- a MUST read.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

An intriguing book, but there is no way to ignore the many false premises upon which this book is based, the pitifully scant citations (very disappointing in an academic work- she could have made the entire book up, for all we know), and the painfully sweeping generalizations which do their best to paint Japan as a nation as uniform and alien as possible. Based on secondhand reports from expatriates living in internment camps, Westerners who had spent time in Japan, and Japanese prisoners of war, this book is certainly interesting, but by no means a conclusive, thorough, or particularly accurate depiction of Japan.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a total secret, but the island nation of Japan and I have one of those "if we’re both single in 2015 let's get married" things. If it comes to that, and on the strength of "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword", I've decided that Ruth Benedict can do the reading.

Because her book is Yum, Yum, absolute Yum. It is a complete guilty pleasure. Reading this book I felt like a dog rolling around in something absolutely disgusting. But I just couldn't stop. Ruth's milkshake brings all the Japonophiles to the yard.

I love Japan because…

"one principal of [a school for girls], advocating for his upper middle class students some instructions in European languages, based his recommendations on the desirability of their being able to put their husband's books back in the bookcase right side up after they had dusted them."

"It is told of Count Katsu who died in 1899 that when he was a boy his testicles were torn by a dog. He was of samurai family but his family had been reduced to beggary. While the doctor operated upon him, his father held a sword to his nose. 'If you utter one cry,' he told him, 'you will die in a way that at least will not be shameful.'"
Yeah, but I'm suspicious of what Count Katsu was doing with a dog at his testicles.

"Within the reign of the present Emperor, a man who had inadvertently named his son Hirohito – the given name of the Emperor was never spoken in Japan – killed himself and his child."
I love it, but I struggle to believe it. Didn't this father know what the Crown Prince's son / Crown Prince was called? Hirohito was the eldest son of the Meiji Emperor's eldest son; there weren't any surprises in the succession. Did the father kill the boy when Hirohito became the Taisho Emperor’s Regent? Or wait until he inherited the throne "for real"?

"In the rural areas, too, boys may visit girls after the household is asleep and the girl is in bed. Girls can either accept or reject their advances, but the boy wears a towel bound about his face so that if he is rejected he need feel no shame next day. The disguise is not to prevent the girl from recognizing him; it is purely an ostrich technique so that he will not have to admit that he was shamed in his proper person."

"The favorite form [of industrial action] is for the workers 'to occupy the plant, continue work and make management lose face by increasing production. Strikers at a Mitsui-owned coal mine barred all management personnel from the pits and stepped daily output up from 250 tons to 620. Workers at Ashio copper mines operated during a 'strike,' increased production, and doubled their own wages.'"

[Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars

First published in 1946, this 13-chapter classic "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" by Dr Ruth Benedict having never been to Japan herself has still inspired and informed its readers more as one of the 'Nihonjinron' books (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihonjinron) popularly written, published and read after World War II. This formidable study "reprinted over fifty times" assigned by the US Office of War Information was "to spell out what the Japanese were like" (back cover) by means of all the techniques of which she was capable as a cultural anthropologist. Thus, its first chapter aptly entitled "Assignment: Japan" implies her challenging work and looming responsibility.

Around a decade ago, I came across a quote scribbled on the blackboard in a computer classroom at the university, "Nobody is perfect but a team can be"; this has long impressed me since it sometime reminds me of the famous pioneering Q.C. initiated and developed by Dr W. Edwards Deming in Japan as a postwar tradecraft/technology imported from the USA. After its English publications with wide readership, its Japanese readers were also interested in buying and reading its Japanese version. However, there were pros and cons in relation to its research methodologies from various scholars on Japanese culture. This is not fair to her because, I think, this study would have been more perfect if it had been researched, discussed and thought out by an eminent team. Therefore, we need to forgive and praise her since she did her best within a limited time frame, that is, only one year after Japan surrendered in August 1945.

There are a few points I would like to share with my Goodreads friends soon; in the meantime, please visit this website: http://www.jpri.org/publications/occa... to read an interestingly in-depth article by Professor Sonia Ryang, in which I think you can read and know more on its different argumentative viewpoints, then I hope you would see why this study has long since been remarkable by an intrepid anthropologist named Dr Benedict. Enjoy!

[Hieu Cao · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learn more from how my classmates respond to this book than from reading the book itself. The reason is not difficult to understand. Japanese culture is fairly familiar with me through manga, anime and the zeal about Japan in Vietnam several years ago. Also, despite its distinctive culture, Japan shares with other East Asian countries the philosophy of Buddhism and Confucianism which integrate so deeply in those countries' social life. On the other hand, how the Western perceive the Eastern is not quite obvious to me. Moreover, the Western perception of the Eastern exposes the deep root of Western culture to level of daily life which I couldn't penetrate when studying Western Tradition and Challenging of Modernity, two courses about the development of Western ideologies.

In short, I recommend this book for East Asian students who are taking courses about Western culture or sociology. It's paradoxical but you will understand what I mean when you read this book.

[Nila Revchuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ґрунтовна антропологічна праця про устрій, культурне та соціальне підґрунтя японців, викладена в зрозумілому широкому загалу науково-публіцистичному стилі.

Слід зважати (і кілька разів протягом читання собі нагадувати), що текст опублікований у 1946 році, багато що з тих часів змінилося, багато чого застаріло. Глава про виховання дітей місцями дещо упереджена. �� хороші порівняння "у нас/у них". Але описана база, культурні підвалини, соціальний ґрунт тут проаналізовано чудово. Є ревізія багатьох праць по темі, від художніх до історичних та соціальних робіт, можна вибрати собі чимало цікавого для подальшого дослідження.

Текст грамотно поділений на глави. Це своєрідні етапи, наче сходи, з якими стає виднішою глибина і розвиток нації. Тут розібрані ті основи, які полегшують сприйняття спілкування з японцями, художніх та письмових текстів.

Також варто пам'ятати, що авторка та спеціалістка – американка, і хоча здебільшого висновки абсолютно нейтральні, час від часу спостерігається певний особистісний вплив і сприйняття. Але мабуть цього не уникнути на сто відсотків у такій роботі.

Надзвичайно цікаво аналізувати, як висновки щодо економічного та мілітарного майбутнього Японії, зроблені пані Бенедикт, справдилися чи розвіялися (ми, фактично, простежуємо це зараз). Загалом, те, як американці зрозуміли, що діло зламу саме цього ворога у WW2 лежить у культурі, вихованні і глибоко підкопали якраз з антропологічного боку, викликає, як мінімум, цікавість і змушує задуматися.

Чудовий переклад українською, на даному етапі одна з небагатьох книжок, видана з найадекватнішою транслітерацією.

[Tô · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mục lục sách:
Chương I: Nhiệm vụ: Nhật Bản
Chương II: Người Nhật trong chiến tranh
Chương III: Người nào chỗ nấy/Người nào phận nấy
Chương IV: Cuộc Duy tân Minh Trị
Chương V: Kẻ mang nợ của lịch sử và thế giới
Chương VI: Đền ơn trong muôn một
Chương VII: Sự đền đáp "cái khó nhận nhất"
Chương VIII: Gột rửa thanh danh
Chương IX: Thế giới cảm xúc của con người
Chương X: Vấn đề nan giải của đạo đức
Chương XI: Tự tu dưỡng
Chương XII: Việc học của trẻ em
Chương XIII: Người Nhật sau ngày bại trận
Với bất kỳ ai mới tìm hiểu văn hóa và con người Nhật Bản ở mức chập chững (tức là bạn chưa phải cắm mặt học môn Văn hóa Nhật Bản để qua ba tín chỉ) thì đây là một cuốn khá thú vị. Bản thân mình thấy những điều được nêu ra trong sách không có gì mới nên chỉ chấm 3*, nếu có gì đó đáng chú ý thì đó là cách lí giải về việc chính phủ áp đặt một cách thành công quan hệ đẳng cấp trong XH vào hoạt động tổ chức kinh tế thời Minh Trị. Ngoài ra, từ rất lâu rồi, trong khi tìm sách về văn học Nga trong thư viện, mình đã may phúc vớ phải một cuốn nghiên cứu sự khác nhau giữa văn hóa, cách ứng xử của người phương Tây (cụ thể là người Nga) và Nhật Bản có tựa đề là "Hoa anh đào và rễ sồi", với cách viết thú vị đến mức mình còn mang về nhà gõ ra Word (yêu sách quá nên không nỡ mang đi photo vì sợ gãy gáy :)))). Giọng văn/dịch của Hoa cúc và gươm bản tiếng Việt không hấp dẫn mình lắm. Ngoài ra, tác giả dùng văn hóa Mỹ (một quốc gia Hợp chủng dọn tới Tân Thế Giới chỉ mới già 200 năm) để làm đối tượng so sánh văn hóa Nhật thì e là chỉ thấy toàn điều "trái khoáy", trong khi với "Hoa anh đào và rễ sồi", tác giả đối chiếu với văn hóa Nga - là quốc gia trải dài từ Đông sang Tây đủ để mang trong mình những xung đột tương tự. Nhưng thôi, mình sẽ không lạm bàn về vấn đề này nữa vì mình thấy bản thân cũng không hiểu quái gì về văn hóa Nga, Nhật lẫn Mỹ cả :<<<< Kiểu độc giả "ghế bành" gặp tác gia - nhà nhân học "ghế bành" thì là xứng lứa vừa đôi quá rồi ^^
Hoa cúc là biểu tượng có nhiều ý nghĩa trong cả văn hóa tinh thần lẫn vật chất của người Nhật. Nhắc đến Nhật Bản, người ta thường hay nhắc đến hoa anh đào với hình ảnh cả rừng hoa lìa cành ngay sau khi nở rộ, nhưng chính ra, cái đấy chỉ đại diện cho tinh thần của tầng lớp samurai mà thôi. Nói về phần đa con người Nhật, Tinh thần Nhật thì phải nhắc về hoa cúc, thứ hoa có khí chất quân tử, một mình mọc 1 mùa, chết đứng trên đài, là đại diện thân thảo duy nhất trong bộ tứ quý "Tùng- Cúc - Trúc -Mai".
Hình tượng Hoa cúc ở đây không phải là đối trọng của Gươm theo nghĩa mạnh - yếu, khoảnh khắc - vĩnh viễn, sự sống - cái vô tri,... mà theo nghĩa bổ sung cho nhau. Hoa cúc đại diện cho Vương/Thần quyền và Gươm đại diện cho Quân quyền/Chính quyền, cái đẹp - sức mạnh cùng bổ trợ để làm nên cái gọi tinh thần Nhật Bản (cả tích cực lẫn tiêu cực). Sự sóng đôi cũng hai hình ảnh này cũng phần nào giải thích cho sự "đối nghịch" trong tính cách của người Nhật. Nghĩa là thoạt nhìn thì thấy hai thứ không liên quan gì nhau, "vô lý" nhưng khi đi vào bên trong, họ biết cách thỏa hiệp để làm cho mọi thứ hợp lý đến không ngờ và có hệ thống hẳn hoi :)))) [Nói vậy thôi chứ mình thấy vẫn lôm côm lắm]. Trong cuốn sách này, Ruth Benedict vẫn chưa đủ khả năng giải thích sao cho thấu đáo mọi mối quan hệ, quan điểm xung đột, khiến chương sau chọi chương trước đôm đốp.
Thật đáng tiếc là cho đến nay mình chưa được đọc một cuốn sách nào của tác giả Việt Nam có kết cấu tương tự, tức là nêu lên các mẫu hình Văn hóa Nhật Bản trong sự đối chiếu sát với mẫu hình Văn hóa Việt Nam và có tham chiếu với văn hóa Trung Quốc từ đó tìm ra những điểm chung của văn hóa Châu Á (và nếu may mắn thì biết đâu chung ta thấy chúng ta giống Nhật ở chỗ nào đó nhiều hơn giống Trung Quốc :))). Ở đây có một điểm mình nhìn ra là quan điểm về "on" (ân) và đạo Hiếu (Ko) của Nhật Bản khá giống với quan niệm về đạo Hiếu của người Việt. Đó là món nợ "mặc định" (tương tự với tội lỗi tổ tông trong Thiên Chúa giáo), bạn càng lớn thì món nợ này càng tăng và việc báo hiếu không chỉ là "đối xử tốt với cha mẹ" (như người Mỹ) mà là làm theo kì vọng của cha mẹ (bị ảnh hưởng bởi kỳ vọng xã hội), để rồi sau này khi bạn sinh con bạn có thể đặt "ước mơ" (là thứ mà có thể bạn đã phải hy sinh để vừa lòng bố mẹ) vào "lòng" những đứa trẻ của bạn =))))
Điều này lý giải cảm giác tha thiết muốn nhận con nuôi khi nhắc đến vấn đề con cái. Đó là bởi mình muốn cho con mình sự "tự do" ngay từ khoảnh khắc nó là con mình. Tức là mình hy sinh cả "bản năng loài" mong muốn sản xuất ra thế hệ f2 mang gen "vị kỷ" của mình để đổi lấy "tự do" cho con mình. Ủa, mà ngẫm cho kỹ, đây cũng là dạng truyền đạt "kỳ vọng" cho thế hệ sau chứ chả phải cái gì mới mẻ :))))) Và thế đấy, thưa quý vị, dù cho chúng ta là ai, chúng ta nghĩ mình đangvượt lên các mẫu hình văn hóa do dân tộc, thời đại của mình chi phối.
Ps: Phần này dành cho bạn Bắp vì mình biết bạn Bắp thích mấy cái tào lao mà rv này của mình thì hơi thiếu cái chất ấy.
Bắp có thể nghĩ về sự xung đột trong quan điểm, cách hành xử của người Nhật giống như việc người ta vừa xem cúc là biểu tượng của Hoàng gia, đạo Phật và người quân tử với việc liên tưởng nó với quan hệ tình dục đồng giới, và thêm chẳng phải gương/kiếm là một hình ảnh ẩn dụ bổ sung cho điều trên hay sao =))) Làm sao một người có thể nhìn ngắm một bông hoa cúc trên bàn thờ và hòa giải với N thứ bậy bạ đang hiện lên trong đầu mình nhỉ? Hồi xưa, tiểu luận của mình có chi tiết này và thật khó hiểu là cô giáo đã sửa điểm cho mình từ 8.5 lên 9.0 : <<<<<

[Dina]

було задоволенням читати одну книгу впродовж місяця і не перемикатись на інші тексти. ба більше, я вважаю, що правильно зробила, бо рут бенедикт варто читати обережно - вона часто найобує читача своїми псевдокультурними тейками

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixed thoughts about this famous/notorious CIA funded depiction of Japanese society and psychology - sometimes I feel the knee-jerk criticism of this sort of anthropology for 'exoticism', as in criticisms of her pal Margaret Mead, is based on a disavowed American fury that there really are (and are still!) societies that run on very different lines to America. Well, societies do have different rules and different codes of ethics, even industrialised ones, even industrialised ones in Europe in the 2020s, and analysing how this works and why it happens is not, imo, race science. There's also an admirable refusal to judge in lots of this, alongside a great deal that is indeed very dubious, especially the shame/guilt distinction and the defence of the emperor system; but I didn't dislike this as much as I thought I would.

[Zeynep T. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uyduruk sosyoloji kitaplarından biri daha. Amerikan Harp Enformasyon Dairesinin sipariş ettiği ve yazarın da hiçbir kaynak ya da referans göstermeden yazdığı ve Japonlar hakkında mabadından uydurduğu çıkarımlarını anlattığı eser. Bu metnin altına imza atmaya utanır insan.

[Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems the author was pulled into the war effort as a sort of military anthropologist - Japanese military decisions were so difficult for the Allies to understand that they needed academic help!

It's amazing what a different world she paints. Japan was within one lifetime of being forced out of isolation at the time, and she really shows the link between their World War II thinking and their old ways. And she doesn't simplify the old ways as being just one construct: she discusses how the ascent of the shogunate changed things too. I don't think modern Japanese culture is like this at all, but you can see the links.

It's also interesting what she implies about American culture, especially because there was apparently quite a debate on how to handle the occupation of Japan. If America's leadership today had been as willing to admit ignorance of a foreign culture, the occupation of Iraq might be going a lot better.

[Velvetea · Rating 4 out of 5]

ASTONISHING how this book taught me so much about Japanese culture that 1 year and 4 months living here hadn't yet fully showed me.....Usually strictly informational books don't grab me this much, but I was entranced with each sentence, read most of it open-mouthed, and I copied down so many quotes that by the end I had a book of my own!! I strongly recommend this to anyone with an interest in Japanese society, and especially how it opposes Western thinking. I recommend it even MORE strongly to those also living in Japan and experiencing our differences first-hand. Much of what is said in this book is dated, but a lot of it still holds true... it's the unshakable Japanese Spirit.

[Govinda Parasrampuria · Rating 2 out of 5]

The history part was informative and interesting to some extent, but the explanation of Japanese people's behavior was just too condescending IMO. I'm currently living in Japan, and I don't think much of it is accurate. I daresay the book is heavily outdated.

It got sooo boring at the halfway mark, it was taking me forever to make progress. After putting me sleep for several weeks, I finally decided to quit on this book.

The fact that the version I read had so many typographical errors didn't help one bit.

Read it for the history part only if you want, but there will definitely be better options available.

[Kazen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Benedict studied Japan via completely secondary sources, and while she did as well as she could there's still a bunch of stuff she gets wrong. At the same time, she gets other things quite right. Picking apart the wheat from the chaff was quite the experience.

More (somewhat ranty) thoughts in my standalone review on Booktube: https://youtu.be/Vkiudwqn70c

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Proper review to come, after I’ve gone through it again and made notes at all the places I’ve marked - the book is bulging with post-its.

[Ligeia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storia ragionata delle origini della coesistenza pacifica degli opposti insita nel pensiero giapponese

testo commissionato dall'Office of War e pubblicato all'indomani di Hiroshima, questo saggio rappresenta ancora oggi la più completa e accurata disamina del pensiero giapponese e della sua evoluzione nei secoli
l'autrice è antropologa e le sue fonti sono le interviste condotte con i prigionieri di guerra giapponesi sul suolo statunitense, i quali collaborarono attivamente allo studio e si rivelarono preziosi per la comprensione delle dinamiche che motivano il modo di pensare così particolare di questa popolazione
i concetti portati alla luce e spiegati nel dettaglio non sarebbero mai stati assimilabili con una semplice osservazione sul campo, troppe sono le consuetudini radicate nei secoli di chiusura verso l'esterno e troppo diverse dal pensiero occidentale le motivazioni e le scelte esistenziali, motivo per cui si rese necessario ai tempi approfondire lo studio con un grado di accuratezza estremo al fine di evitare una catastrofe umanitaria senza precedenti

tutt'oggi i concetti portati alla luce dall'autrice sono alla base della comprensione dell'estetica giapponese e dello stile di vita di questa popolazione, il cui fascino rimane immutato nei secoli proprio per le sue caratteristiche uniche

consigliatissimo agli amanti della cultura giapponese e imprescindibile per gli amanti del cinema e della letteratura sia classici che contemporanei

ps. tenete conto però che molte delle osservazioni di paragone sono America/centrate e ai tempi il politicamente corretto non era neanche stato immaginato

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword is a seminal study of Japanese culture by Ruth Benedict who was commissioned by the US government to study Japanese culture in order to understand how to govern it after WWII. It turns out that she was a colleague of the infamous Margaret Mead, and like Mead I’m not sure her legacy is completely positive. She is most famous for her analysis of Japan as a culture of shame in relations to western cultures, which are cultures of guilt. However, many of her observations about the Japanese no longer hold true, since Japanese culture has changed so much since WWII. In particular the analysis of societal obligations is no longer valid in my opinion, although I think there are traces of this legacy even today, but not to the extent that Benedict writes about. I am assuming that this study also suffers from the fact that Benedict never had the opportunity to live among the Japanese to make observations on the culture firsthand, which seems to me to be a huge limitation. However, I did find her chapter on “The Meiji Reform” interesting and well written. I had been meaning to read this book for a long time, but was recently reminded of it by a colleague at a meeting where we were reviewing the English entrance examination questions. One of my Japanese colleagues felt that a particular question was reinforcing Japanese stereotypes and said, “That sentence looks like it was written by Ruth Benedict!” So I’m not sure how the book has been received by the Japanese themselves, but I have seen references to it by other Japanese anthropologists and observers. (Sawa Kurotani, who writes the Behind The Paper Screen column for The Daily Yomiuri, and Takeo Doi, author of Anatomy of Self)

[P.H. Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real rating 6.7/10
Dated to say the least with some factual inaccuracies, such as her statement that the Tang Dynasty had a classless society which the Japanese did not adopt, however the Tang had a well documented class system. Although it must be said that the Japanese did adopt a multitude of things from the Chinese as Kanmu was a great admirer.
The overall knowledge level and assuredness of the text is not there as she constantly has to state a colleague or friend informed her and she freely admits to never visiting Japan. Which I find a huge flaw as I have known people who have traveled to China and have BA's in Chinese and no one could understand a word of Mandarin they spoke, but they were assured by their Chinese professors that they were learning pure mandarin when it turned out to be Cantonese or Dongbeihua. Cultural notes from afar are never quite acceptable. Also while I realise it was just after the war, the book talks about America far too much and a little too pro-American for a book discussing another culture.
That said the knowledge she draws from other books is quite decent and the section on ON is very interesting and worth a read.
Ultimately this is a book for those who have a vision of Japan that does not exist anymore and those who actually know very very little about East Asian culture, those even semi-versed should turn elsewhere.

[Caligula · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very detailed account of Japanese culture that was praised by Yukio Mishima for capturing the essence of Japan and the explanation behind what may seem to any American "strange" and even "brutal" codes of living. A must read for anyone interested in Japan. Although he is not mentioned in the book, it brings an understanding of Yukio Mishima's self-torture, eccentricity, and militant passion for "old" Japan and the code by which they lived.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was written shortly after World War II but deals mainly with the Japanese culture at the time. As someone who's been interested in Japan for a long time, you'd think I would have liked this. There were some very interesting things I learned, but other than that, this book would almost put me to sleep at times with how dryly written it was. This feels even more like a textbook than the last book for my class that I read.

[Sezin Koehler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Messed up, although well written. It's an anthropological account of Japanese culture that was "researched" in the internment camps of California in the 1940's. It was commissioned by the US government, another reason to be sicked by this study. A perfect example of Anthropology trying to be a "hard" science and failing miserably.

[Bree Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting breakdown of Japanese cultural motivations and practices. In some ways, this would have been good to read before living in Japan, but I'm also glad to have read it after the fact. I could look back and consider how I had seen some of the things mentioned in this book lived out accurately in my own experiences. This book was written in 1946 so a lot has shifted in Japanese culture. The roots are still there though. I often wondered about how children could be allowed such freedoms, yet end up being so docile and obedient by middle school. I wondered why everyone acted too unsure to help the woman who had been knocked over by a car in front of me. I wondered why they religously take hot baths every single evening. I wondered how Japan could go from being so ruthless and dominating in history to being so peaceful and mild in the present. This book answered my many questions and gave insight into things I hadn't even considered. I think some things may be a bit outdated, but overall, I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in Japanese culture.

[Víctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro es el resultado de un estudio antropológico realizado a distancia ante la necesidad que tenía EEUU de conocer, en 1944, a uno de sus enemigos bélicos cuyo país posteriormente ocuparía.

Muy interesante (yo lo consideraría imprescindible) para todo aquel que quiera introducirse a la cultura japonesa y quiera comprender mejor la mentalidad de los japoneses.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

окрім ммм сумнівної об'єктивності, це ще й безнадійно застаріла книжка.

[Isabella Tiberi · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for a book about Japanese culture from a nonbiased perspective, this isn't going to work for you. It's a book filled with anecdotal evidence and secondhand accounts, and while Ruth Benedict is a renowned anthropologist of the time who earned her high reputation...this is definitely a book of its time and of its origin. It is an American researcher piecing together what she and others have gleaned from Japanese culture, and it says just as much (if not more) of Westerners and how they view other foreign cultures as it does about Japanese culture of that period.
This book works best as a time capsule of post-WWII Japanese culture as interpreted by American academics, and as long as you keep in mind this is by no means an unbiased perspective, it's an interesting read. I can definitely see why American readers would be so interested in Japanese culture and how they view things so differently from them, but that lens makes it very difficult to parse how unbiased and accurate their interpretation is.