“Chivalry, Stoicism, and the Way of the Samurai in Modern Japan”
Sarah Thal (UW-Madison, Department of History)
The Way of the Samurai (bushido) is often seen as a centuries-old traditional code of Japan’s elite warrior class. However, not only did the idea of a distinct Way of the Samurai only originate around 1600, but proponents also reinvented it in the 1890s and early 1900s, decades after the samurai had ceased to exist as a social group, and when Japan had become a modern, constitutional monarchy. In this talk, we examine how and why many Japanese reimagined and promoted a Way of the Samurai by comparing it to medieval European chivalry and ancient Greek and Roman Stoicism.
Professor Sarah Thal is a historian of early modern and modern Japan with particular interest in the interplay of religious, social, and political dynamics. Her research and teaching interests include: Shinto, kami worship, and Japanese religion; the Meiji Restoration; samurai and bushido; local and place-based history; the modernization of the Japanese aristocracy; natural resources and the environment; and historical research methods.
Sponsored by: UW-Madison Department of History