A Minimalist History of Japan for Teenagers
by Ma Wenrui
About This Novel
Just as the American anthropologist Ruth Benedict used two seemingly completely different images, "Chrysanthemum" and "Knife", to metaphorize Japan's national character in her book "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword". "Chrysanthemum" is the emblem of the Japanese royal family, and "sword" is the symbol of Japanese Bushido culture, one yin and one yang, one soft and one strong. The Japanese national character has such contradictory characteristics of coexistence of femininity and masculinity. The Japanese admire beauty but are also bloodthirsty and aggressive; they like the new but cling to the old; they are patient and obedient but also unruly... This is just like Japanese culture, which has the beauty of the quiet tea ceremony and the domineering and rigid bushido; there are both the beautiful geisha and the mysterious ninja. To truly understand this seemingly complex yet extremely simple island country, we must first understand what happened in this country, how Japan's ancestors came step by step from ancient times, and what twists and turns the development of Japan has in those complicated historical pictures. As the famous Chinese theorist Dai Jitao said, to study Japan, we must know "What are their thoughts? What is the foundation of their country and society? What is the basis of their lives?" Where is the basis for living? Only by knowing his past can we know where his present comes from. No matter how you oppose him or attack him, in short, you must know him. "Starting from each vivid and interesting story, this book shows young people the evolving social form of Japan in various stages of change, taking into account its economy, culture, public mentality and other contents in different periods, and depicts a more three-dimensional and macroscopic colorful Japan for us.
What Readers Think
Rating
Community(0)
Rating
Community(0)
