The chapters on religion (and "superstition") aren't bad, that on the cult of beauty is worth reading, and the chapter on the emperors might be worth looking at. I suspect the educated layperson of our time is more likely to know about Japan than to have the kind of knowledge of European history needed to made all the analogies comprehensible.Īnyway, to restate: if you want to prepare yourself for Genji, which was my purpose in reading this book, you're better off reading the diaries in any responsible edition. The educated layman (definitely 'man') of his time probably knew all about the Medici, and probably knew nothing about Japan. None of this is really Morris' fault he was writing for a specific audience. Was it like the Medici?ĭon't even get me started on the division he makes between "religion" and "superstition," which would be foreign to the entirety of the world's population outside protestant modernity. Was it like this German Emperor's court? Not really.
And oddly, if you don't have a minimal understanding of history, this book will be infuriating, because Morris feels obliged to explain the Heian period by comparing it to specific moments in European history.
If you have a minimal understanding of history, however, you don't need to read this book. If you think that, this book will be a very useful corrective.
It was first published in 1964, and reads like it was first published in some mythical 1954 when White People (other than Ivan Morris, of course) thought The Nips were all Emperor crazed psychopaths just waiting to Kamikaze down from the skies. Shining Prince is also a real period piece. Morris's book is occasionally interesting, but there's very little here that you can't get better from reading the introductions and notes to the various Heian diaries, as well as the diaries themselves.
There are lots of positive reviews of this on GR, so allow me to present the view for the prosecution.
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