arables far more viscerally than verbal description ever can.
I have one quibble with the book’s title, which should really be something like Selections from Hagakure or A Hagakure Sampler. The reason: there are 1,300 parables or passages in the original, but only 32 in this volume. It’s understandable that so lengthy a treatise would be presented in abbreviated form, but the degree of excerpting should be made a little clearer, along perhaps with some statement about why these passages were selected and how they relate to the whole. This goes double because the target market for this volume would appear to be fans of manga and Japanese popular culture, not scholars of 18th century Japanese philosophy.
That quibble aside, Hagakure: The Code of the Samurai: The Manga Edition offers a lively presentation of some selections from an influential historical work. As such it is enjoyable for its own sake and should also prove to be an effective “gateway drug” to tempt readers so inclined to undertake a deeper investigation of Japanese history and culture.
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