Winston L. King (1907–2000)

from cover

'A superb analysis...Daring and stylish-a true Zen/samurai stroke of religious scholarship.'

Zen-serene, contemplative, a discipline of meditation associated with painting, rock gardens, and flower arranging-seems an odd ingrediant in the martial psyche of the Japanese samurai. 'one who is a samurai must before all things keep constantly in mind...the fact that he has to die.' wrote a seventeenth-century warrior. 'That is his chief business.' But the demands of that 'business.' wirtes Winson King, found the perfect philosophical match in the teacings of zen buddhism.

In Zen and the Way of the Sword, King offers a fascinating look into the mind of the samurai swordsman in a far-reaching account of the role of Zen in the thought, culture, and the martial arts of Japan's soldier elite. King explains how the samurai cultivated Zen, relating its teaching of a free and spontaineous mind to the experience of a warrior in individual combat, and shows how this allowed them to find the psychological strength in Zen as they prepared themselves for death. He focuses on the sword-the soul of the samuai, as it was called-describing how it was forged, the honor given famous swordsmiths, and the rise of schools of swordsmanship. And he goes on to trace the role of Zen in samurai life through the peaceful eighteenth and nineteenty centuries, examining the absorption of Zen into World War II psychology and broader Japanese culture.

An intriguing account, Zen and the way of the Sword provides fascinating insight into the samurai ethos, and the culture of Japan today.

Winston L. King is Professor Emeritus of Vanderbilt University.

Contents

A Note on the Text
Introduction
Part I Zen and Japan
1 The Zen Discipline and experience
2 The Japanese Warrior Adopts Zen
Part II The Japanese Samurai
3 The Warrior in Japanese History
4 The Samurai Sword
5 Samurai Swordsmanship
6 Bushido: The Samurai Ethos
Part III Samurai Zen
7 A Stable Inner Platform of Mental Control
8 The Zen Sword: A Modern Interpretation
Part IV The Samurai Heritage
9 The Samurai of the Twentieth Century
10 The LIfe-giving 'Sword' of the Martial Arts
Postscript
Bibliography
Index… (altro)