Review: This most excellent material was written in a time of war and its influence in all probability provided the path taken at war's end that General McArthur took that gave us modern Japan with all that it has to offer. This includes the martial arts and karate.
There are many books on Japanese culture but this one stands out because of its ability to add to those presentations thus cultivating and conditioning the soil they already grow from and that makes for some enhancements toward a better understanding of those who have come before.
I have read the first round of reading and found a plethora of things, feelings and understandings that simply make my philosophical and psychological understanding of that which I have studied and trained for going on over forty-plus years. You can say, although I had my doubts when I first thought to read this book, that the surprise as to its value and contribution to my understanding of those who created and passed on to us karate and other martial disciplines as a great wonderful boon to that study and understanding.
It explains many facets to their cultural philosophical belief system and still I cannot fully fathom the depth and breadth of how well they achieved the achievements they did even in the face of utter defeat in WWII. YOU WILL NOT be disappointed, especially if you have a deep interest in what makes the Japanese/Okinawan mind think, act and believe. You will NOT fully and completely and comprehensively understand that simplistically complex process but you WILL BENEFIT and so will your efforts in the martial arts and karate.
