BF. William Empson

15. ‘Bushido’. Review of The Way of Deliverance, by S. Hanayama. New Statesman and Nation 50 (September 1955): 337-8.

The work under review is an account of the post-war prison lives of the Japanese condemned to death as war criminals, written by the priest who attended them. Empson is particularly interested in the prisoners’ lack of repentance, and their sense ultimately of having done nothing wrong, since the actions for which they were condemned were intended for the greater glory of Japan and the Emperor.