Publisher's Synopsis
West and East, two answers to one question. With 'words' and 'sword', what will I open my life to? This book examines what drives human history to move out of the bondage of the Middle Ages to modern times through the two symbols of Nicolo Machiavelli's 'WORDS' and Oda Nobunaga's 'SWORD'. In addition, it is the first book to compare Machiavelli and Nobunaga.In order to keep Italy from falling behind the competition for supremacy of the European centralized countries that emerged in the process of transition from the Renaissance to the modern world, the 'words' that Niccolo Macchiavelli wrote with all his might and the confusion of the Warring States era, At the same time as the modern era, in an attempt to establish a new centralized state, Nobunaga Oda's 'sword' that he swung at the risk of his life. Each of them lived in the midst of the turbulent era of the turning point of history, and each had a profound influence on opening up the modern times in Europe and Japan. He had questions by observing the world around him, and to get the answer, he opened his own life with a thought that was not in the world. Also, both of them are people who are being reevaluated and re-examined in modern times.On the one hand, history also shows a paradoxical aspect: Europe, which was later evaluated as a 'dark middle age' and slumped by the warring of the rulership beyond the kingship, and Japan, which was dizzy by the fights of the samurai beyond the kingship under the name of the 'warring states period'. In contrast, 'China' and 'Joseon(Korea)', which led another historical trend as the center of the world and its change, walked through a recession from the late 15th century to the 16th century. On the contrary, however, Europe and Japan began to fumble during this period and achieved a new era, a transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. It drew a completely different trajectory from China and Joseon(Korea).In this book 《WORDS&SWORD》, the author summarizes the drama of this reversal vividly and clearly. It began with Zheng He's large-scale overseas expedition during the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China. The author analyzes this case in depth. This is because Europe's 'Renaissance' is a big variable in ending the Middle Ages and transitioning to the modern era. The author explains that Zheng He's expedition and the immediate seclusion were projected onto the image of Europe "awakening from sleep" and China "in hibernation". It also introduces an exciting story about how Zheng He became Sinbad, the protagonist of "The Adventures of Sinbad" in Arabian Nights. Then, the European continent that was divided after the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire is described in terms of "the rift of the Middle Ages." Thus, the story is connected by two characters, the West and the East.The author explains that Machiavelli and Nobunaga were 'scapegoat' due to the 'imitational desire' of the times in which they lived and later people. The leading forces that made the two of them such an image were the "Pope" and "Emperor of Japan," and became scapegoat by the so-called "high priest" of the day. Those who had not yet deviated from the medieval framework, who had exceeded the standards of value judgment of the time, were demonized from the group.By looking at what questions Machiavelli and Nobunaga asked in their times, what they set as a task to find an answer, and how they acted to achieve that task, we all need to pay attention to today beyond physical time and space. You will be able to remember the value of life.
