Below are a selection of books on Japanese philosophy and religion. As with the same section in Chinese studies it is important to choose good translations. As I'm not much of scholar so I can't gaurantee that the translations I list below are the best, but I select the books on what I know.

A Book of Five Rings
by Miyamoto Musashi, Victor Harris (Translator)

• I have heard from some friends that this translation is not very good, however, I don't know of any other good translations to list here (and there are many to choose from). This is a book allegedly written by Japan's most famous swordsman. It is a book of tactics and sword fighting but both in Japan and elsewhere it has become famous as a book on philosophy. Along with Sun Tzu's Art of War and the Tao Te Ching this is one of the three ultimate "Asian Geek" books that every tom, dick, and Japan-loving harry likes to have on his shelf or quote at parties. However, I guess it is as good a place as any to start a love for asian history and culture. I have to confess, I started that way...

Dogen Studies
edited by William R. LaFleur

• This is a compilation of essays on Dogen and Dogen's zen. This is not a book for the general reader, or even for those who have read widely on Japan or even Japanese religion. I found it required a great deal of familiarty with zen's history and specific issues within. I hope someday to go back and read this work again when I get more familiar with it. Perhaps after rereading Dumoulin's Zen Buddhism: A History again. Until then, it is difficult for me to appreciate the research in this book.

Japan in Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives
edited by Charles Wei-hsun and Steven Heine

• Ok, I admit it, the philosophy department, and even history department at my school wasn't always thrilled with the way people though about things in the psychology department and the English department, but this book is an example of why we get to have those feelings. I came across this book doing my senior thesis on Soseki and almost puked when I read it. Lots and lots of postmodern mumbo-jumbo. I guess I must be stupid, I could honest to goodness not figure out what they were mumbling about half the time in this book. There were about three or four papers in this book that I really did like, including the ones by Masao Abe, Bernard Faure, and Kenzaburo Oe. Those who have had some training in the world of postmodernism might appreciate the other papers more than I did.

Recent Japanese Philosophical Thought 1862-1996: A Survey
Gino Piovesana

• This is the only book I have found in English with a solid overview of the history of philosophy in Japan this century. I'm not well trained in Japanese philosophy and have only done some reading on my own (being as it is often far from the terrain of analytic philosophy that I studied at university) but I really enjoyed it and it gave me a better understanding of the main players. However, the price for this fairly thin 300 hundred page book was pretty steep. The notes are great and have Japanese characters for the sources. However, the selected bibliography was somewhat short.

On Understanding Japanese Religion
by Joseph M. Kitagawa

Religion in Japanese History
by Joseph M. Kitagawa

• I remember that in a discussion with my Japanese professor Yusa, she didn't seem to like Kitagawa's books on Japanese religion much at all. I don't remember her specific comments but for me at the time (a sophmore in college) I found them very interesting. They were very very easy to read and I never felt bogged down by information. While not containing much on the details of the religions of Japan, it discusses in a lot of detail the role religion played in Japanese history and society. It my opinion it is a great book for anyone interested in Japanese society. Great bibliography.

Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School & the Question of Nationalism
edited by James W. Heisig & John C. Maraldo

• My Japanese professor Yusa is published in this collection of essays on the question of Nationalism and Zen in the "Kyoto School" of Japanese philosophers. This is an issue that my professor gets very emotional about for she has taken a strong stance in this debate. There has been the accusation that the Kyoto school of Japanese philosophers, heavily influenced by contemporary German philosophers and Zen, and in particular Nishida Kitaro were in fact nationalists or collaborated too willingly with the nationalist government. There is also the related discussion of the role that Zen played, or perhaps more importantly, did not play, in stifling the rise of nationalism in Japan leading up to WWII. While my professor has convinced me of the merits of her argument as she put them both in this book and in future articles I saw waged on the pages of journals, I did find it somewhat interesting the difficulties the period placed on both ethics within Zen, and ethics for the intellectual class in general in Japan.

Sources of Japanese Tradition: Volume 1
compiled by Ryusaku Tsunoda, WM. Theodore De Bary, Donald Keene

Sources of Japanese Tradition: Volume 2
compiled by Ryusaku Tsunoda, WM. Theodore De Bary, Donald Keene

• While these books aren't only philosophy and religion, I put them here because the compiled selections from documents are mostly from ones of religious or philosophical nature. Like the Sources of Chinese Tradition series, these books contain a huge number of selections from important periods, religions, and social movements in Japan throughout its history. While not that useful on their own, they complement extremely well and books on Japanese history, religion, or thought.

Zen and Japanese Culture
by Daisetz T. Suzuki

• Suzuki is famous as being one of the important characters in bringing Zen to the attention of the west. His books on Zen are extremely readable and serve as a great starting point for understanding the importance of Zen in Japanese culture and getting a taste of, to perfectly honest, how weird and wonderful Zen is. This was one of the books that really got me interested in Japanese culture and religion. It has sections dedicated to showing the importance of Zen in many different aspects of Japanese culture including its warfare and arts.

Zen and Western Thought
by Masao Abe

• I still haven't finished this book, it is really tough reading. I'm not used to philosophy books being written in this style and my analytical approach to reading it means I often get stumbled up on definitions and the way that Masao Abe words his arguments. I really do want to get through it someday though, because it seems to be engaged in a great project: that of showing parralells between Zen and western thought. One of things holding me up though, is an unfamiliarity with the European philosophers that are mentioned frequently in this book, including Heidegger, Nietzsche, and other nihilists. Perhaps I will return to this book when I'm better read on those damn Germans.

Zen and Zen Classics: Volume One OUT OF PRINT
by R. H. Blyth

• This is a tiny thin book that packs a lot of punch. Don't do what I do and read this when you have little or no background on Zen. It contains a discussion of the major Zen classics with translation and a closer examination of some important ones. This is another for my reread pile, lots of wonderful selections of passages from sutras and zen texts.

Zen Buddhism: A History - Volume 2 Japan
by Heinrich Dumoulin trans. by James W. Heisig and Paul Knitter

• While probably a book better for the history section, I put it here because it fits more for those interested in the development of Zen in Japan. All the schools, sects, and masters are discussed here with more notes and detail than you will want. I liked this chunky book a lot though, it gave me a great historical perspective on a way of life that has long fascinated me.

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
compiled by Paul Reps

• A cute little book this is, with 101 amusing zen stories and lots of koan puzzles. The koan paradoxes usually make me react with a, "What the...?" so I don't think I'll ever get much "enlightenment" out of them, but the stories are really great. I suggest this book to anyone mildly interested in Japanese religion and Zen.

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Last Updated: Sun, Sep 12, 1999