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I've been fortunate enough to meet the author of this week's recommendation in person.

Dave Barry is, to my mind, one of the funniest men who has ever lived, and Dave Barry does Japan,

is definitely the best book about Japan ever written by someone who knew nothing about it before getting off the plane. It's funny, it's insightful, and the chapter on Hiroshima is quite possibly one of the most moving things I've ever read.

Go to audible trial.com slash Japan to claim your copy. Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast.

Episode 77, Hidden by the Leaves.

This week, we're going to discuss one of the most influential works of Edo period Japan

that almost no one during the Edo period actually read.

It's time to talk about Hagakure.

Now we've dealt with this book in passing in previous episodes,

both the ones on the Edo period and the one on Bushito. dealt with this book in passing in previous episodes, both the ones on the Edo

period and the one on Bushido.

Still, this book is influential enough that it's worth considering in its own right.

Hagakure is a series of anecdotes written by Yamamoto Tinetomo, a samurai from Saga Domain.

Sometimes, by the way, saga domain is called Hezen Domain, a name it takes from the older

Rutsaryo Province system set up during the Taika reforms.

We're just going to call it Saga domain here for consistency, and because the former Saga

domain is now more or less modern Saga prefecture, making it nice and easy

...