Legends of the Samurai

Legends of the Samurai PDF Author: Hiroaki Sato
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1468301373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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Book Description
This authoritative history of Japan’s elite warrior class separates fact from myth as it chronicles centuries of samurai combat, culture, and legend. In Legends of the Samurai, Hiroaki Sato examines the history of these medieval Japanese warriors, as well as the many long-standing myths that surround them. In doing so, he presents an authentic and revealing picture of these men and their world. Sato’s masterful translations of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports, and arguments are accompanied by insightful commentary. With incisive historical research, this volume chronicles the changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai's historical origins to his rise to political power. A fascinating look at Japanese history as seen through the evolution of the samurai, Legends of the Samurai stands as the ultimate authority on its subject.

Legends of the Samurai

Legends of the Samurai PDF Author: Hiroaki Sato
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1468301373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 562

Get Book Here

Book Description
This authoritative history of Japan’s elite warrior class separates fact from myth as it chronicles centuries of samurai combat, culture, and legend. In Legends of the Samurai, Hiroaki Sato examines the history of these medieval Japanese warriors, as well as the many long-standing myths that surround them. In doing so, he presents an authentic and revealing picture of these men and their world. Sato’s masterful translations of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports, and arguments are accompanied by insightful commentary. With incisive historical research, this volume chronicles the changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai's historical origins to his rise to political power. A fascinating look at Japanese history as seen through the evolution of the samurai, Legends of the Samurai stands as the ultimate authority on its subject.

American Samurai

American Samurai PDF Author: Craig M. Cameron
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521441681
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
A study of the cultural dynamics of ground combat.

Sengoku Basara

Sengoku Basara PDF Author: Yak Haibara
Publisher: Udon Entertainment
ISBN: 9781926778334
Category : Comic books, strips, etc
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"First published in Japan in 2007 by ASCII Media Works." -- Colophon.

Japanese Legends and Folklore

Japanese Legends and Folklore PDF Author: A.B. Mitford
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462920713
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Japanese Legends and Folklore invites English speakers into the intriguing world of Japanese folktales, ghost stories and historical eyewitness accounts. With a fascinating selection of stories about Japanese culture and history, A.B. Mitford--who lived and worked in Japan as a British diplomat--presents a broad cross section of tales from many Japanese sources. Discover more about practically every aspect of Japanese life--from myths and legends to society and religion. This book features 30 fascinating Japanese stories, including: The Forty-Seven Ronin--the famous, epic tale of a loyal band of Samurai warriors who pay the ultimate price for avenging the honor of their fallen master. The Tongue-Cut Sparrow--a good-hearted old man is richly rewarded when he begs forgiveness from a sparrow who is injured by his spiteful, greedy wife. The Adventures of Little Peach Boy--a tale familiar to generations of Japanese children, a small boy born from a peach is adopted by a kindly childless couple. Japanese Sermons--a selection of sermons written by a priest belonging to the Shingaku sect, which combines Buddhist, Shinto and Confucian teachings. An Account of Hara-Kiri--Mitford's dramatic first person account of a ritual Samurai suicide, the first time it had been reported in English. Thirty-one reproductions of woodblock prints bring the classic tales and essays to life. These influential stories helped shape the West's understanding of Japanese culture. A new foreword by Professor Michael Dylan Foster sheds light on the book's importance as a groundbreaking work of Japanese folklore, literature and history.

Samurai Rising

Samurai Rising PDF Author: Pamela S. Turner
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing
ISBN: 1580895859
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Minamoto Yoshitsune should not have been a samurai. But his story is legend in this real-life saga. This epic warrior tale reads like a novel, but this is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history. When Yoshitsune was just a baby, his father went to war with a rival samurai family—and lost. His father was killed, his mother captured, and his surviving half-brother banished. Yoshitsune was sent away to live in a monastery. Skinny, small, and unskilled in the warrior arts, he nevertheless escaped and learned the ways of the samurai. When the time came for the Minamoto clan to rise up against their enemies, Yoshitsune answered the call. His daring feats and impossible bravery earned him immortality.

Sword of the Samurai

Sword of the Samurai PDF Author: Eric A. Kimmel
Publisher: Turtleback Books
ISBN: 9780613337311
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Eleven adventure stories set in the exciting and fascinating period of ancient Japan

The Way of the Samurai

The Way of the Samurai PDF Author: Inazo Nitobe
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
ISBN: 1398806072
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
"Chivalry is a flower no less indigenous to the soil of Japan than its emblem, the cherry blossom; nor is it a dried-up specimen of an antique virtue preserved in the herbarium of our history. It is still a living object of power and beauty among us" To many people, the word samurai conjures images of menacing masks, long blades and elaborate armour. However, this classic text by Inazo Nitobe reveals the greater depths to samurai culture - they were not simply warriors but an aristocratic class who practiced literary and military arts in equal measure. Essential to this way of life was the samurai's moral code and the quality of bushido, roughly translated as chivalry. The Way of the Samurai provides an intriguing exploration of bushido and other valued qualities such as rectitude or justice, courage, politeness, veracity, honour, loyalty and self-control. It also explores the Samurai's more violent traditions, such as the chilling act of hara-kiri or self-immolation. This mixture of chivalric principles with brutal warfare is fascinating. While many aspects of Samurai culture have disappeared, its principles still have resonance in modern Japanese society and around the globe.

Legacies of the Sword

Legacies of the Sword PDF Author: Karl F. Friday
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824863321
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Western scholars and educators are generally far less familiar with the samurai in his original-and, ostensibly, primary-role as warrior and masters of arms than in his other functions as landowner, feudal lord, literature, or philosopher. Yet, any attempt to comprehend fully the samurai without considering his military abilities and training (bugei) is futile. With verve and wit, Karl Friday combines the results of nearly two decades of fieldwork and archival research to examine samurai martial culture from a broad perspective: as a historical phenomenon, as a worldview, and as a system of physical, spiritual, and moral education.

Samurai Women 1184–1877

Samurai Women 1184–1877 PDF Author: Stephen Turnbull
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1780963335
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
From when the Empress Jingo-kogo led an invasion of Korea while pregnant with the future Emperor Ojin, tales of female Japanese warriors have emerged from Japan's rich history. Using material that has never been translated into English before, this book presents the story of Japan's female warriors for the first time, revealing the role of the women of the samurai class in all their many manifestations, investigating their weapons, equipment, roles, training and belief systems. Crucially, as well as describing the women who were warriors in their own right, like Hauri Tsuruhime and the women of Aizu, this book also looks at occasions when women became the power behind the throne, ruling and warring through the men around them.

Katsuno's Revenge and Other Tales of the Samurai

Katsuno's Revenge and Other Tales of the Samurai PDF Author: Asataro Miyamori
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486149900
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
These eight compelling stories offer valuable insights into Japanese culture. Recounted by a distinguished scholar, they feature scenes from samurai life that embody the concept of Bushido, the "way of the warrior." Their portrayals of loyalty, romance, passion, and heroism offer a true reflection of the values of the Japanese knighthood. Largely fact-based, these fables originated among the traditional storytellers of Japan and were later adapted into romances and historical dramas. Asataro Miyamori, a professor of English at the Oriental University in Tokyo, drew upon authentic sources in compiling this volume, which first appeared in 1920. In the preface, Miyamori observed, "It is true the samurai class has gone forever along with feudalism; but fortunately or unfortunately the Japanese at large are samurai in a sense. . . . European civilization has revolutionized Japanese society, both for better and for worse. . . . yet it may safely be said that the sentiments, motives and moral principles of the samurai in some measure remain in the bedrock of their character, in their subconsciousness, so to speak. The Japanese of today are intellectually cosmopolitan, but emotionally they are still samurai to no small degree."