ABSTRACT
J Apan's confidence in hierarchy’, wrote Ruth Benedict in The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, ‘is basic in her whole notion of %J man's relation to his fellow man and of man's relation to the State_____ The hierarchical arrangements of Japanese life have been as drastic in relations between the classes as they have been in the family. In all her national history Japan has been a strong class and caste society.’ Again, later, remarking that the Japanese scorn the nouveau riche who has no ‘hierarchical right’ to his wealth, she comments, ‘Japan provided a place in her hierarchy for great wealth and kept an alliance with it; when wealth is achieved in the field outside, Japanese public opinion is bitter against it.’ 173
