Content: japan

Summary:

This suicide poem of a Samurai is an attempt to underscore the cultural differences between western culture and eastern culture. The west is largely Christian. In Japan Christians amount to less than 3%. The culture is largely agnostic--Buddhism and Shintoism are the primary 'religions' although they are more philosophies than religions.//Imagine not believing in a supreme being and contemplating the end of your life as an absolute ending, by your own hand?//This poem is the creation of the author's imagination and is not at all authentic. I'm not Japanese but I've lived in Japan for nineteen years over a thirty five year period from the mid fifties to the late eighties. I graduated from a Japanese grade school in 1964.//The Japanese have a deep sense of honor. They are particularly sensitive to anything that reflects negatively on themselves, their family or their company. Most suicides in Japan are over issues of honor.//Personally, I'll never forget receiving a hand delivered wedding invitation on Monday, only to have it have it retrieved the following Monday, because the father of the bride opposed the marriage, and executed his wife, son and daughter with a Samurai sword, and then took his own life. The groom was the President of a large Japanese distribution company.//This poem, and many other cultural differences and nuances, are what inspired me to write the novel Corporate Samurai.

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Summary:

This love letter is from a woman Samurai to her life's only love. She is forced by tradition and 'bushido', (the Samurai's code of honor), to obey her brother's demand that she end this relationship, with an inferior Samurai, forever. Her purpose in this letter is to confirm her undying love and devotion for her lover, while appealing to his sense of honor to understand she has no choice but to comply. This poem is part of the novel Corporate Samurai, which attempts, in part, to provide some insight into the eastern way of thinking.

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