Eugen Herrigel (1884-1955) was a German philosopher who taught philosophy at Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai, Japan, from 1924 to 1929 and introduced Zen to large parts of Europe through his writings.
While living in Japan from 1924 to 1929, he studied kyūdō, traditional Japanese archery, under Awa Kenzô (阿波研造:1880-1939), a master of the art, in the hope of furthering his understanding of Zen. In July 1929 he returned to Germany and was given a chair in philosophy at the University of Erlangen.
According to Gershom Scholem "Herrigel joined the Nazi Party after the outbreak of the war and some of his former friends in Frankfurt, who broke with him over this issue, told me about his career as a convinced Nazi, when I enquired about him in 1946. He was known to have stuck it out to the bitter end. This was not mentioned in some biographical notes on Herrigel published by his widow, who built up his image as one concerned with the higher spiritual sphere only." (wikipedia)
http://www.ideologic.org/files/Eugen_Herrigel_-_Zen_in_the_Art_of_Archery.pdf
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, first published in 1974, is a work of philosophical non-fiction, the first of Robert M. Pirsig's texts in which he explores his Metaphysics of Quality.
The title is an apparent play on the title of the book Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. (wikipedia)
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/zen-motorcycle.pdf
