The Chrysanthemum and the Bat by Robert Whiting. 1977. Avon Books
This is yet another book dealing with Japan that my dad recommended. I was in need of a nonfiction and I enjoy baseball and Japanese culture, so this book seemed like a nice fit. Though a bit dated, this book still offers an interesting look at Japanese culture through the game of baseball. The title is a play on words which alludes to a book entitled The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, which was a book which presented studies on Japanese culture.
The subtitle of the book is "Baseball Samurai Style," which made me laugh at first, but it actually makes sense. The sport is played in a completely different style that can be related to the ways of the samurai. There is an incredible sense of honor in Japanese baseball. After a terrible defeat or finishing last in the division, managers, coaches, and sometimes players will resign from their position rather than accept defeat and live in shame. This makes one think of the way samurais used to commit suicide when defeated because they could not live in shame. There are quotes from players cited from Japanese newspapers which convey this extreme sense of honor. I will touch on these in the next blog.
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A fiction book of the same subject that I enjoyed was Samurai Shortstop by Allan Gratz (sp?). It's a quick read, if you're interested.
Your chosen quote and comments on SL were interesting and insightful--keep asking the good questions.
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