"Highly recommended for undergraduates through faculty" --Choice, January 2003

"Fills a glaring lacuna ... Zen and Philosophy is highly accessible and thus highly useful as a textbook for courses in Japanese and comparative philosophy." --Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 30 (2003) (Download full review)

"Yusa draws a vivid picture of a man whose intellect, intensity, and persistence allowed him to overcome personal tragedies and meet historical challenges." --Journal of Japanese Studies 31 (2005)

"An incredibly impressive work. Particularly noteworthy is the author's ability to combine biographical details with a grasp of philosophical ideas. It is important as well in removing the stain that Nishida nurtured militaristic and pro-facist leanings.... A philosophical biography of high caliber." --Fred R. Dallmayr, Packey J. Dee Professor of Political Theory, University of Notre Dame

"At long last a standard reference work on the first and greatest of Japan's twentieth-century philosophers" --James W. Heisig, Director, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture

"This is a magnificent intellectual biography of one of the great philosophers of the twentieth century. The scholarship is meticulous and the writing engaging. It promises to be the definitive life of Nishida for the foreseeable future." --Graham Parkes, University of Hawai'i

"As the study of Nishida continues to develop in the West, Zen and Philosophy will be admired for the way it defined for us the historical, cultural, personal, and existential context out of which Nishida (and ultimately the whole Kyoto School) arose. The portrait of Nishida that Yusa depicts for us is so rich in its humanity that it has brought the philosopher back into the philosophy." --Buddhist-Christian Studies 24 (2004)

This is the definitive work on the first and greatest of Japan's twentieth-century philosophers, Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945). Interspersed throughout the narrative of Nishida's life and thought is a generous selection of the philosopher's own essays, letters, and short presentations, newly translated into English.

Michiko Yusa is professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and the Center for East Asian Studies at Western Washington University.

Read the introduction (PDF).