"The Taming of the Samurai"

Paper Summary:

In this book review of "The Taming of the Samurai" by Eiko Ikegami the author looks at the book as a critical sociological analysis of Japanese state formation. He centers on the fact that in reconstructing the history of Japanese state development, Ikegami focuses on the samurai class and the honorific individualism by which that class is historically defined. The author explains "The Taming of the Samurai" as an exploration of samurai class identity as it was constructed, maintained and reformulated within progressive periods of medieval and modern Japanese history. In conclusion the author regards "The Taming of the Samurai" as an argument of remarkable clarity, ambition and integrity stating that Ikegami has undertaken a broad historical survey, addressing multiple centuries of Japanese history and arriving at a compelling evaluation of samurai honor as the decisive cultural resource articulating Japanese state formation.

From the Paper:

"Ikegami has at this point led her reader down a path of coherent historical argument, arriving at a convincing theory of Japanese State formation as the result of samurai's honorific individualism. The Tokugawa shogunate represented the strict, hierarchical socio/political organization of early Japanese statehood. The true vitality of the samurai honor culture under the Tokugawa becomes apparent once more after the Meiji restoration in 1868. (Ikegami 360) The revival of meritocratic rewards and the rebirth of incentive for individual accomplishment witnessed the reemergence of the samurai class as national leaders in the process of rapid-paced, Japanese Westernization and modernization."

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