“The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture”, by Ruth Benedict

 

336 pages, Mariner Books, ISBN-13: 978-0618619597

I was given this book by a mate I worked with at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, and, frankly, was unsure what I could learn reading a 70+ year old book about Japanese culture written by an American scholar who had never even visited the country. Some background: Ruth Benedict was an American anthropologist and folklorist and a leading light in her field. During World War II she was invited by the American Office of War Information to study the Japanese and their culture in order to understand and predict their behavior after their defeat by reference to a series of contradictions in traditional culture. The eventual results of her work was The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture.

As for what one may learn, the answer is: a whole lot. While there are, evidently, things Benedict got wrong, she did get a lot right, seeing the Japanese more clearly as an outsider than as an insider, as it were. She explained several key concepts which were uniquely Japanese, such as importance of hierarchy (“taking one’s proper station”), debt and repayment, the concept of “duty to one’s name” and the seemingly paradoxical situation of emphasizing self-discipline and generosity on physical pleasure. What I find particularly helpful are examples, taken from real life in Japan, pertaining to the concept she wants to explain. This book almost defies categorization, for its stunning discoveries and for the cultural understanding it fostered, much which carries on to the present day.

If the practice of “anthropology” brings to mind picking at dusty ruins, its offshoot “cultural anthropology” might conjure up studying tribal rituals in a native habitat. Remarkably, Ruth Benedict called herself one of this odd breed and her task (begun soon after the empire of Japan was defeated in World War Two) would daunt anyone, regardless of occupational labels: report to the occupying US military how to understand and rehabilitate a defeated nation whose traditions in every walk of life were – by admission on both sides – inexplicably alien to Americans. That Benedict succeeded represents a remarkable achievement and deserves celebration, and not just among anthropologists.