Hagakure Excerpts

Hagakure - The Book of the Samurai, written by Yamamoto Tsunetomo and Translated by William Scott Wilson is kinda like a diary of philosophical advice on how to live as a samurai and as a human being.  It was written between 1659-1719, the life time of Tsunetomo-sensei.  I recieved this book from my sister on christmas.....of 2006.  Yeah, I'm not a very diligent reader, but I can once I get into it.  Anyways, Tsunetomo-Sensei was a Samurai and was near the end of the wars and the end of his master's rule.  He was going to perform Seppuku (honorable suicide by dis-embowling yourself with your katana), but was forbidden to do so by his time.  So he became a monk, and started to record ways in which one should act as a samurai and as a human being.  While reading though, somethings were inspiring; however, the things he says sometimes is absurd within or modern age.  So I thought I'd share some of the excerpts from the book with everyone and tell you what I was thinking:

Page 60- "Senility is when one goes about doing only that towards which he is most inclined.  One is able to suppress and hide this while his vigor is still strong, but when he weakens, the essential strong points of his nature appear and are a shame to him.  This manifest itself in several forms, but there is not a man who does not get senile by the time he reaches sixty.  And when one thinks that he will not be senile, he is already so."

   Trenton- I knew it!!! We're all crazy, we just don't know it yet!!!

Page 60 & 61- "According to a story at the Ryuutaiji, there was a master of the Book of Changes in the Kamigata area who said that even if a man is a priest, it is useless to give him rank while he is under the age of forty.  This is because he will make many mistakes.  Confuscius was not the only  man to become unperplexed after reaching the age of forty.  Upon reaching the age of forty, both wise and foolish have gone through an appropriate amount of experience and will no longer be perplexed."

   Trenton- I guess we should listen to our parents more often?  I don't know, I think even at the age of 40, I'm going to be still very perplex in life.....

Page 61- "When I was young, I kept a "Diary of Regret" and tried to record my mistakes day by day, but there was never a day when I didn't have twenty or thirty entries.  As there was no end to it, I gave up.  Even today, when I think about the day's affairs after going to bed, there is never a day when I do not make some blunder in speaking or in some activity.  Living without mistakes is truly impossible.  But this is something that people who live by cleverness have no inclination to think about."

   Trenton- If I did that, STARTING a "Diary of Regret" would have been the biggest regret.  We would truly become senile if we were to mark every mistake we've done each day and pay attention to our mishaps.  No matter how old or intelligent we may become, we are bound to have flaws within ourselves and in what we do.  If not, growth in body and mind wouldn't be possible.

Well, if you're interested, this books sells for about $20 or so since it was written AND translated (yeah, I hate expensive books too).  But you could probably find Hagakure for cheaper somewhere else.