Samurai Books

The Samurai Books section of our website is dedicated to all kind of literature materials related to the Samurai subject. We will keep updating this section as the site grows and add more reviews for the samurai books. We will try to cover all possible genre of the samurai books and you will find that range will vary from comics and manga books to novels and dramas and to reference and research books about samurai, their weapons and arms, their life, and their influence to Japanese culture and history.

Samurai was a term used for elite warriors in feudal Japan. The Samurai were first mentioned around the 10th century in one of the sets of imperial poems. The Samurai word originated in China and means "somebody who's following his master" and that's what the Samurai were. They have adapted and followed the rules of Bushido ("Way of the Warrior"), which became their code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, focusing and stressing on frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honour until death. By the middle of the 12th century, Samurai accumulated enough manpower, resources, and political influence to become a dominant power. And by the end of the 12th century, after the superiority of the samurai over aristocracy was established, the Shogunate era (rule of samurai) had begun. Samurai ruled Japan until the end of the 19th century when the Meiji Restoration period had started and preference was given to more modern, western-style, conscripted army. By the end of the 19th century, the samurai class was abolished and the last samurai conflict happened in 1877, in the battle of Shiroyama (which has inspired the final scenes of the movie, "The Last Samurai").

Among other samurai books, there're a few that probably require an extra attention. One of them is "The Book of Five Rings" by Miyamoto Musashi, who was one of the most famous swordsmen and samurai in the history of Japan. The book is considered a classic treatise on military strategy, just like Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". Another one worth mentioning is "Hagakure", or "the Book of the Samurai" written in the 18th century by Tsuramoto Tashiro and based on commentaries of the samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo. The book is a practical and spiritual guide for a warrior and a samurai.

You can see current listings for Samurai Books below: