How long does it take to read The Taming of the Samurai?
Eiko Ikegami
The Taming of the Samurai by Eiko Ikegami takes about 8 hours 13 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 8 hours 13 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1995. 448 pages, about 123,200 words.
17 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 13 hours 41 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 8 hours 13 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours 8 minutes |
The page count is the median across 4 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
This book demonstrates how Japan's so-called harmonious collective culture is paradoxically connected with a history of conflict. Ikegami contends that contemporary Japanese culture is based upon two remarkably complementary ingredients, honorable competition and honorable collaboration. The historical roots of this situation can be found in the process of state formation, along very different lines from that seen in Europe at around the same time. The solution that emerged out of the turbulent beginnings of the Tokugawa state was a transformation of the samurai into a hereditary class of vassal-bureaucrats, a solution that would have many unexpected ramifications for subsequent centuries.
Subjects: Conduct of life, Bushido, Samurai, Civilization, Ethics, History
