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Inventing the Way of the Samurai : Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushidō in Modern Japan by Oleg Benesch is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is Inventing the Way of the Samurai : Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushidō in Modern Japan about?

Inventing the Way of the Samurai examines the development of the'way of the samurai'- bushidō - which is popularly viewed as a defining element of the Japanese national character and even the'soul of Japan'. Rather than a continuation of ancient traditions, however, bushidō developed from a search for identity during Japan's modernization in the late nineteenth century. The former samurai class were widely viewed as a relic of a bygone age in the 1880s, and the first significant discussions of bushidō at the end of the decade were strongly influenced by contemporary European ideals of gentlemen and chivalry. At the same time, Japanese thinkers increasingly looked to their own traditions in search of sources of national identity, and this process accelerated as national confidence grew with military victories over China and Russia. Inventing the Way of the Samurai considers the people, events, and writings that drove the rapid growth of bushidō, which came to emphasize martial virtues and absolute loyalty to the emperor. In the early twentieth century, bushidō became a core subject in civilian and military education, and was a key ideological pillar supporting the imperial state unt

Author

Oleg Benesch

Publisher

OUP Oxford

Published

2014

Language

EN

ISBN

9780198706625

Subjects

History, Philosophy, Humanities

Rating

4.7 / 5 (26 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14