The Chrysanthemum and the Sword
Encyclopedia
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture is an influential 1946 study of Japan by American anthropologist Ruth Benedict
written at the invitation of the U.S. Office of War Information in order to understand and predict the behavior of the Japanese in World War II
by reference to a series of contradictions in traditional culture. The book was influential in shaping American ideas about Japanese culture during the occupation of Japan, and popularized the distinction between guilt cultures and shame cultures
.
Although it has received harsh criticism, the book has continued to be influential. Two anthropologists wrote in 1992 that there is "a sense in which all of us have been writing footnotes to [Chrysanthemum] since it appeared in 1946". The Japanese, Benedict wrote, are
The book also affected Japanese conceptions of themselves. The book was translated into Japanese in 1948 and became a bestseller in the People's Republic of China when relations with Japan soured.
or wartime Japan. As one later ethnographer pointed out, however, although "culture at a distance" had the "elaborate aura of a good academic fad, the method was not so different from what any good historian does: to make the most creative use possible of written documents." These anthropologists were attempting to understand the cultural patterns that might be driving the aggression of once friendly nations, and hoped to find possible weaknesses or means of persuasion that had been missed.
Americans found themselves unable to comprehend matters in Japanese culture. For instance, Americans considered it quite natural for American prisoners of war to want their families to know they were alive, and to keep quiet when asked for information about troop movements, etc., while Japanese POWs, apparently, gave information freely and did not try to contact their families.
has written: "After some time I realized that I would never be able to live in a decent relationship with the people of that country unless I could drive this book, and its politely arrogant world view, out of my head."
Lummis, who went to the Vassar College
archives to review Benedict’s notes, wrote that he found some of her more important points were developed from interviews with Robert Hashima, a Japanese-American native of the United States who was taken to Japan as a child, educated there, then returned to the U.S. before World War II
began. According to Lummis, who interviewed Hashima, these circumstances helped introduce a certain bias into Benedict's research: "For him, coming to Japan for the first time as a teenager smack in the middle of the militaristic period and having no memory of the country before then, what he was taught in school was not 'an ideology', it was Japan itself." Lummis thinks Benedict relied too much on Hashima, who he said was deeply alienated by his experiences in Japan. "[I]t seems that he became a kind of touchstone, the authority against which she would test information from other sources."
in Japanese popular culture
, and formulating the recommendation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
that permitting continuation of the Emperor's reign had to be part of the eventual surrender offer.
John W. Bennett and Michio Nagai, two scholars on Japan, pointed out in 1953, that the translated book "has appeared in Japan during a period of intense national self-examination — a period during which Japanese intellectuals and writers have been studying the sources and meaning of Japanese history and character, in one of their perennial attempts to determine the most desirable course of Japanese development."
The Japanese social critic and philosopher Tamotsu Aoki said the translated book "helped invent a new tradition for postwar Japan". The book helped increase the momentum of a growing interest in "ethnic nationalism" in the country, shown in the publication of hundreds of ethnocentric nihonjinron
(treatises on 'Japaneseness') published over the next four decades. Although Benedict was criticized for not discriminating among historical developments in the country in her study, "Japanese cultural critics were especially interested in her attempts to portray the whole or total structure ('zentai kōzō') of Japanese Culture", as Helen Hardacre
put it. C. Douglas Lummis has said the entire "nihonjinron" literature stems ultimately from Benedict's book.
Her book began a discussion among Japanese scholars about "shame culture" vs. "guilt culture" which spread beyond academia, and the two terms are now established as ordinary expressions in that country.
Soon after the translation was published, Japanese scholars, including Kazuko Tsurumi, Tetsuro Watsuji
, and Kunio Yanagita
criticized the book as inaccurate and having methodological errors. American scholar C. Douglas Lummis has written that criticisms of Benedict's book 'now very well known in Japanese scholarly circles' include that it represented the ideology of a class for that of the entire culture, 'a state of acute social dislocation for a normal condition, and an extraordinary moment in a nation's history as an unvarying norm of social behavior'.
Japanese ambassador to Pakistan
Sadaaki Numata said the book was a "must reading for many students of Japanese studies".
According to Margaret Mead
(the author's former student and a fellow anthropologist), other Japanese who have read this work found it on the whole accurate but somewhat "moralistic". Sections of the book were mentioned in Takeo Doi
's book, The Anatomy of Dependence
, though he is highly critical of her analysis of Japan and the West as respectively shame, and guilt, cultures.
In a 2002 symposium at The Library of Congress in the United States, Shinji Yamashita of the department of anthropology at the University of Tokyo, added that there has been so much change in post-World War II Japan that Benedict would not recognize the nation she described in 1946.
anthropologist Huang Dao-Ling, and published in Taiwan in April 1974 by Taiwan Kui-Kuang Press.
The book became a bestseller in China in 2005, when relations with the Japanese government were strained. In that year alone, 70,000 copies of the book were sold in China.
Ruth Benedict
Ruth Benedict was an American anthropologist, cultural relativist, and folklorist....
written at the invitation of the U.S. Office of War Information in order to understand and predict the behavior of the Japanese in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by reference to a series of contradictions in traditional culture. The book was influential in shaping American ideas about Japanese culture during the occupation of Japan, and popularized the distinction between guilt cultures and shame cultures
Shame society
In cultural anthropology, a shame society is the concept that, in a given society, the primary device for gaining control over children and maintaining social order is the inculcation of shame and the complementary threat of ostracism...
.
Although it has received harsh criticism, the book has continued to be influential. Two anthropologists wrote in 1992 that there is "a sense in which all of us have been writing footnotes to [Chrysanthemum] since it appeared in 1946". The Japanese, Benedict wrote, are
both aggressive and unaggressive, both militaristic and aesthetic, both insolent and polite, rigid and adaptable, submissive and resentful of being pushed around, loyal and treacherous, brave and timid, conservative and hospitable to new ways...
The book also affected Japanese conceptions of themselves. The book was translated into Japanese in 1948 and became a bestseller in the People's Republic of China when relations with Japan soured.
Research circumstances
This book which resulted from Benedict's wartime research, like several other OWI wartime studies of Japan and Germany, is an instance of "anthropology at a distance," that is, study of a culture through its literature, newspaper clippings, films and recordings, and extensive interviews with German-Americans or Japanese-Americans. These techniques were necessitated by anthropologists' inability to visit Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
or wartime Japan. As one later ethnographer pointed out, however, although "culture at a distance" had the "elaborate aura of a good academic fad, the method was not so different from what any good historian does: to make the most creative use possible of written documents." These anthropologists were attempting to understand the cultural patterns that might be driving the aggression of once friendly nations, and hoped to find possible weaknesses or means of persuasion that had been missed.
Americans found themselves unable to comprehend matters in Japanese culture. For instance, Americans considered it quite natural for American prisoners of war to want their families to know they were alive, and to keep quiet when asked for information about troop movements, etc., while Japanese POWs, apparently, gave information freely and did not try to contact their families.
Criticism
C. Douglas LummisDouglas Lummis
C. Douglas Lummis is a writer, former professor at Tsuda College in Tokyo and former U.S. Marine.-Life:Lummis was born in 1936 in San Francisco. He attended UC Berkeley on a Navy ROTC contract, and later did three years active duty in the Marines - the last year in Okinawa...
has written: "After some time I realized that I would never be able to live in a decent relationship with the people of that country unless I could drive this book, and its politely arrogant world view, out of my head."
Lummis, who went to the Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
archives to review Benedict’s notes, wrote that he found some of her more important points were developed from interviews with Robert Hashima, a Japanese-American native of the United States who was taken to Japan as a child, educated there, then returned to the U.S. before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
began. According to Lummis, who interviewed Hashima, these circumstances helped introduce a certain bias into Benedict's research: "For him, coming to Japan for the first time as a teenager smack in the middle of the militaristic period and having no memory of the country before then, what he was taught in school was not 'an ideology', it was Japan itself." Lummis thinks Benedict relied too much on Hashima, who he said was deeply alienated by his experiences in Japan. "[I]t seems that he became a kind of touchstone, the authority against which she would test information from other sources."
Reception in the United States
Benedict played a major role in grasping the place of the Emperor of JapanEmperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...
in Japanese popular culture
Japanese popular culture
Japanese popular culture not only reflects the attitudes and concerns of the present but also provides a link to the past. Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, manga, and music all developed from older artistic and literary traditions, and many of their themes and styles of presentation...
, and formulating the recommendation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
that permitting continuation of the Emperor's reign had to be part of the eventual surrender offer.
Later reception in Japan
More than two million copies of the book have been sold in Japan since it first appeared in translation there.John W. Bennett and Michio Nagai, two scholars on Japan, pointed out in 1953, that the translated book "has appeared in Japan during a period of intense national self-examination — a period during which Japanese intellectuals and writers have been studying the sources and meaning of Japanese history and character, in one of their perennial attempts to determine the most desirable course of Japanese development."
The Japanese social critic and philosopher Tamotsu Aoki said the translated book "helped invent a new tradition for postwar Japan". The book helped increase the momentum of a growing interest in "ethnic nationalism" in the country, shown in the publication of hundreds of ethnocentric nihonjinron
Nihonjinron
The term literally means theories/discussions about the Japanese. The term refers to a genre of texts that focuses on issues of Japanese national and cultural identity. The literature is vast, ranging over such varied fields as sociology, psychology, history, linguistics, philosophy, and even...
(treatises on 'Japaneseness') published over the next four decades. Although Benedict was criticized for not discriminating among historical developments in the country in her study, "Japanese cultural critics were especially interested in her attempts to portray the whole or total structure ('zentai kōzō') of Japanese Culture", as Helen Hardacre
Helen Hardacre
Helen Hardacre is an American academic and Japanologist. At Harvard University, she is the Reischauer Institute Professor of Japanese Religions and Society....
put it. C. Douglas Lummis has said the entire "nihonjinron" literature stems ultimately from Benedict's book.
Her book began a discussion among Japanese scholars about "shame culture" vs. "guilt culture" which spread beyond academia, and the two terms are now established as ordinary expressions in that country.
Soon after the translation was published, Japanese scholars, including Kazuko Tsurumi, Tetsuro Watsuji
Tetsuro Watsuji
Tetsuro Watsuji was a Japanese moral philosopher, cultural historian, and intellectual historian.-Early life:...
, and Kunio Yanagita
Kunio Yanagita
was a Japanese scholar who is often known as the father of Japanese native folkloristics, or minzokugaku.He was born in Fukusaki, Hyōgo Prefecture. After graduating with a degree in law from Tokyo Imperial University, he became employed as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce...
criticized the book as inaccurate and having methodological errors. American scholar C. Douglas Lummis has written that criticisms of Benedict's book 'now very well known in Japanese scholarly circles' include that it represented the ideology of a class for that of the entire culture, 'a state of acute social dislocation for a normal condition, and an extraordinary moment in a nation's history as an unvarying norm of social behavior'.
Japanese ambassador to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
Sadaaki Numata said the book was a "must reading for many students of Japanese studies".
According to Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
(the author's former student and a fellow anthropologist), other Japanese who have read this work found it on the whole accurate but somewhat "moralistic". Sections of the book were mentioned in Takeo Doi
Takeo Doi
was a Japanese academic, psychoanalyst and author.-Early life:Doi was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1920. He was a graduate of the University of Tokyo.-Career:...
's book, The Anatomy of Dependence
The Anatomy of Dependence
is a non-fiction book written by Japanese psychoanalyst Takeo Doi. It was originally published in Japanese in 1971, and an English translation by John Bester was later published in 1973....
, though he is highly critical of her analysis of Japan and the West as respectively shame, and guilt, cultures.
In a 2002 symposium at The Library of Congress in the United States, Shinji Yamashita of the department of anthropology at the University of Tokyo, added that there has been so much change in post-World War II Japan that Benedict would not recognize the nation she described in 1946.
Reception of the book in Taiwan and China
The first Chinese translation was made by TaiwaneseTaiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
anthropologist Huang Dao-Ling, and published in Taiwan in April 1974 by Taiwan Kui-Kuang Press.
The book became a bestseller in China in 2005, when relations with the Japanese government were strained. In that year alone, 70,000 copies of the book were sold in China.
Further reading
- Kent, Pauline, "Misconceived Configurations of Ruth Benedict," Japan Review 7 (1996): 33-60.
- Kent, Pauline, "Japanese Perceptions of the Chrysanthemum and the Sword," Dialectical anthropology 24.2 (1999): 181.
- Sonya Ryang, "Chrysanthemum’s Strange Life: Ruth Benedict in Postwar Japan," Asian Anthropology 1: 87-116.
- Christopher Shannon, "A World Made Safe for Differences: Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword," American Quarterly 47 (1995): 659-680.