1. An open reprimand for those up-and-coming younger Samurai who may be living too cushy a life of opulent leisure, having lost sight of a true Samurai’s goals and ideals of hard work and servitude to his Lord.
2. A personal journal in which we may see some of the frustrations that a man living in Yamamoto’s time faced concerning the possible disintegration of a way of life he held dear and saw as an integral part of Japanese survival.
3. The thoughts of a respected and learned man of his time, who was trying to sway the lives and opinions of those under him, either through direct oration, indirect writings, or exemplified anecdotes.

When Nabeshima Mitsushige died in early May of 1700, Yamamoto Tsunetomo requested the right to commit Oibaru (Seppuku after the death of one’s Lord, with the intention of following that Lord to the grave) but was denied, as the Tokugawa had outlawed the practice of Seppuku in all forms in 1663. He says in Hagakure, “I feel forlorn to see that no one wants to follow his Lord to the grave. There are no retainers that have followed their Lord since the prohibition of seppuku.” In deference to the Tokugawa ban on seppuku – and to protect his family thereafter – Yamamoto decided that the only way to fulfill his duty to his Lord was to seclude himself – to enter the priesthood, withdraw from society, and relinquish his Samurai duties.

Within a coupe of weeks, the then 42 year old Yamamoto was permitted to do just that, and enter the Kodenji priesthood. His head was shaved at Koden-ji (the Nabeshima clan temple, for which the sect was named), and two days later, he took the Buddhist vows that changed his name to Jocho Kyokuzan. After completing the necessary ceremonies, he moved to Kurotsuchibaru (also near present day Saga City) and remained in semi-seclusion thereafter.

Ten years later, a young scribe named Tsuramoto Motazaemon Tashiro visited Jocho, and requested that his senior recite his thoughts. Tsuramoto spent considerable time writing and organizing all that was set before him – both in the form of scattered scrolls and notes previously worked on, and in the form of oration directly from Jocho’s thoughts. With Jocho’s final approval upon completion, this work became Hagakure.

Two years after Tsuramoto’s departure, the aesthetic priest Jocho Kyokuzan –former Samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo – died of old age, never realizing that his orations would become a staple of study for all interested in the outlook of the Samurai of his time. Perhaps if he had known this, he would have dictated his thoughts differently. Some believe so, but we’ll never really know.

Hagakure is also (perhaps more accurately) known as Hagakure Kikigaki Koho, which is translated loosely as “The writings that were heard from the Shadow of Leaves”, referring to the fact that it is a written account of the orations of Yamamoto to another. Hagakure is – honestly – a convenient truncation of the proper title. The kanji for Hagakure of course has many meanings, among them are intoku (“hidden virtue”), kakushi book (“hidden service”) kakushi toku (“hidden love”). In the metaphysical aspects of our martial training, we often hear of Hagakure Mushi (“non-self”) and Hagakure Muga (“selflessness”)

The original manuscript has unfortunately been lost to antiquity, and in modern translations, there are four differing transcripts. In all, Hagakure consists of thirteen hundred entries in eleven volumes. However, there are many parts that have not been translated into English, so any study of the book in English form will be – unfortunately – truncated as will any real understanding of it’s contents.