About book Ways Of The Samurai From Ronins To Ninja (2003)
A nice cursory book about Samurai in general. A good brief historical perspective. This book's strength is in it's brevity and the author's ability to condense and explain in simple terms the essential basics. There is contained an interesting discussion of martial arts, definitions of terms...always helpful...and an interesting detailed description of sengoku-jidai battles. I think of this book as a good introductory "pamphlet" for anyone who is thinking of studying pre-industrial Japan. I have found this amazing history to be reletively scattered in many small sources such as this one...a comprehensive and detailed history of ancient to Meigi Period is sorely lacking in the English Language, so far as I can find. A whole lot happened in the last 1000 years in the rest of the world, but such details seem lacking comprehensiveness in a single English work...yet, I believe that infirmation is there for some future scholar to write. In the mean time, we may rely on good cursory sources such as this one to give us some sense of histrionics in Pre-Meigi Japan.
My assumptions about Samurai included bad ass looking warriors who were fierce and strong. However, this book has demonstrated that as much as these warriors were fearless, they also conducted great respect, even to enemies, and religious views in their own unique ways. Although they are the bad ass warriors I thought they were, the Ways of the Samurai from Ronins to Ninja exposed me to different aspects of the ways of the Samurai that led me to further respect who they once were. From folklore, to myth, to legend, and to real events, the Samurai were once Japan's most honorable and deadly warriors in their time. Still, their ways are being studied today. Their influence may have been halted by the influence of Western culture, like gun powder and guns, but their legacies and footsteps are still being followed to this day. Read this book to gather a more deep understanding of this fine warriors' culture and how they carried themselves. Ari Gato (Japanese for "Thank You").
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