This translation needs no recommendation to the readers interested in martial arts, medieval history or Japanese literature. Security professionals, Fortune 500 executives and those already having it on their must-read list need no recommendation either.Instead, I would like to recommend this book to the reader who might never consider reading it, or worse, who would put it aside after seeing flashy cover and skimming through the Introduction.There is a strong reason for that.To any Westerner unfamiliar with it, Bushido could be best described by using Michel Foucault's terms 'technology of the self' and 'caring for oneself'(epimeleia heautou). It is true art (techne) that provides necessary preparation skills (paraskeue), influenced by the time and field-tested Neo-Confucianism, Zen and Buddhism. However, Bushido resonates familiar to anyone who read Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius. Therefore, in an indirect way, Bushido reminds us Westerners of our own Classical roots, mostly lost and forgotten in the West.That is why Hagakure is timeless, and not limited to martial arts only, if read in a wider context. Jim Jarmusch used Hagakure as a loose framework for 'Ghost Dog', set in a fictional 1990s slum. Kenneth Branagh might use it as well to create another present-day drama, like he did with Hamlet, because, like Yamamoto''s time, ours is also the time of turmoil, when the old ways are becoming obsolete, or so it seems, if attention is not paid to what is 'hidden in the leaves'(i.e. hidden in plain sight).

Here is a suggestion to non-martial artist, one of the ways how to approach Hagakure. First reading provides historical context and information to better understand Japanese society,Yukio Mishima''s writing, Japanese movies or even some better Hollywood attempts (47 Ronin). Subsequent readings should be an idea, one vignette or one chapter at the time, perhaps kept on a phone, read and reflected as an allegorical training manual. 'The Lord' (daimyo) should be understood as the best possible version of the Reader's self, while the 'Retainer' (Samurai) is the Reader''s will to achieve this. Like samurai, the Reader has to struggle with the notion that we do not control things around us, but we do control our actions and reactions, the same way long jumper does not control the wind speed, only his actions, to make the longest possible jump.Like Samurai writing the scroll, the Reader has to keep in mind that hastily written e-mail could end up on the Facebook wall.
Like Samurai, the Reader has to be able to make the right decision within the span of seven breaths. That is how this book comes into perspective of non-martial artist and how to be in the right frame of mind to accept what this gem of a book offers. I guess everyone will benefit differently. A friend of mine gave me Hagakure almost thirty years ago and told me to read it often. Perhaps it was one of the best advice I ever got.

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Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai