Podcast: Writ Large (LS 39 · TOP 2% what is this?)
Episode: Bushido
Pub date: 2020-11-12

Notes from The Listener:

Well produced show about literary history tackles a seminal work by the Japanese writer Inazō Nitobe. Born in 1862, Nitobe travelled widely outside of his home country and was repeatedly startled by the misunderstandings of Japanese culture that existed in the United States and Europe. He wrote his introduction to the samurai code and ethics, Bushido: The Soul of Japan, in English to redress this balance and it was published in the US in 1899. As well as recapping its contents, this episode also examines the book's reception in Japan

Nitobe Inazō wanted to explain Japan to Westerners, particularly morality as it is taught in Japanese society. He was born a Samurai in 1862. In his book Bushido: The Soul of Japan,Inazō Nitobe explains the moral foundations of traditional Japanese society to a Western audience through “the way of the warrior,” Bushido.

Harvard Professor David Howell is the Robert K. and Dale J. Weary Professor of Japanese History and Professor of History at Harvard University and the Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. He’s also author of the books Capitalism from Within and Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan.

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