IDEALS OF THE SAMURAI: ?Writings of Japanese Warriors

Blockbuster movies and top-selling novels, such as ShOgun and Musashi, may try to give us a picture of the Japanese warrior and the principles that guided him through life. But those portrayals are, essentially, outsiders’ views, and although perhaps valid in their own right, do not come from the source. For a more accurate study of the Japanese samurai, we must understand how the warrior saw himself. To paint that picture, translator William Scott Wilson gathered together timeless precepts...