Saaler Sven

Exclusive to the British Museum, this paperback catalogue traces the fascinating history of the samurai from medieval warriors to global pop culture phenomena, challenging common preconceptions. The figure of the samurai is unique in its global intelligibility, read both as a symbol of Japan and as a universal icon of the virtuous and fearless warrior. While the term is now commonly used throughout the world, there is little understanding of the historical reality of the people called samurai, or of the wide variety of ways in which the stereotype has been used over time, both in Japan and elsewhere. Published to accompany a major exhibition at the British Museum, this is the first book to explore the centuries-long trajectory of the samurai through objects from international collections. It discusses the historical origins of the samurai warrior class in the civil wars of the medieval period and examines the stories they told of their own achievements. From the early 1600s, with the establishment of peace, the samurai became an official class fulfilling a bureaucratic role. The ideal of the medieval warrior took on legendary status, leading to endless representations in popular culture of past examples of heroic valour. As the highest social class, samurai were consumers of deluxe products and their tastes set the standard for the rest of society. Political tensions intensified during the 1850s, culminating in civil war in 1868 and the abolition of the samurai social class in 1876. With the full opening of Japan to international visitors, the concept of the samurai was packaged for foreign tourists and repurposed to provide a model for the modern soldier in a period of military conflict and colonial expansion. The image of the samurai has been interpreted and reimagined in Japan and across the world in myriad ways. Discussions of national myth and global samurai bring the story up to the present day through a broad selection of films, television shows, manga, anime, video games and much more. With contributions from international scholars, this groundbreaking title presents the latest research on this fascinating subject.

https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-Modern-Japanese-History/Saaler-Szpilman/p/book/9781138815186

For the historian and social scientist the opportunity to access recorded memories is invariably welcomed as a valuable building block in research and a determinant in establishing balance and perspective. Subjects treated include the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps (Tokkotai), how Comfort Women are remembered in ‘historical revisionism’ in Japan, the history and memory of the Nanjing massacre, the ‘Tokyo Trial view of history’, historical memory in novels, and an analysis of the post-occupation war movies. The Power of Memory in Modern Japan will be widely welcomed by students of modern Japanese history, politics and international relations.