This book about samurais is a fun, chill way to learn about some of the most iconic warriors of all time. Everyone knows what a samurai is, even if they don't actually know how to articulate it. This little book, aided by a bunch of vivid images, does a good job of helping you do just that: articulate what you know a samurai is. It covers everything from origins to the daily life of a samurai to the Bushido code to their eventual downfall. As sparse as the text is, it's actually really comprehensive, and I enjoyed this light introduction into the subject. I felt like a learned a few things without being buried by an avalanche of information. I also feel prepared to read other, more in-depth books about samurai because I have a foothold in the subject now.

The only thing I found a bit odd about the book was its structure. In between each chapter, the author selects a couple of notable samurai to highlight. Personally, I would've preferred these folks be grouped together, but that's just me. A couple other points that ended up lowering the rating for me was the constant assumption that all samurai were men. Yes, most samurai were men, but women samurais existed and were mentioned several times. Plus, I would've really appreciated a spotlight on Tomoe Gozen, who's one of the few samurai I've actually heard of and a woman to boot.

Honestly, if you're even mildly curious about samurais, this is a good place to start. It doesn't shy away from the more gory aspects of the profession like sepukku and bundori (suicide and head mounting), but it also doesn't exploit them. It just presents them as aspects of the profession. Overall, I found this book fun, engaging, and a quick read. ( )

The samurai were the most skilled elite group of combatants the world has ever seen. Their name means 'one who serves.' Years of training, discipline, and self-sacrifice combined with advanced weaponry and unprecedented tactical acumen created a force unmatched over centuries of Japanese history.

Samurai explores the essence, truth, and wisdom of these remarkable warrors. It features renowned samurai warriors, their weapons armor, and military strategies and illuminates their unwavering Bushido philosophy-the strict code of honor requiring absolute loyalty to their master above all else, and ritual suicide in preference to dying a dishonorable death.

This book explores the spirit, body, and minds of these sublime paladins who long ago passed into legend, but still live on today.

Contents

Introduction
Timeline
Chapter 1 Rise and fall of the samurai
Chapter 2 Samurai daily life
Chapter 3 Samurai armor and clothing
Chapter 4 Samurai weaponry
Chapter 5 Samurai at war
Epilogue
Glossary

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Part of my reason for purchasing this book was my involvement with certain samurai martial arts, including kenjutsu. It's also a pretty book with decent information, though sometimes questionable, and not particularly in-depth. ( )

This is a nicely bound book filled with tidbits and trivia for the samurai fan-boy or -girl. It is organized into short sections that cover important people and events in the history of the samurai culture, as well as giving detailed descriptions and diagrams of the weaponry, battle tactics, and daily lives of a person of samurai class. Nearly every page has a full-color illustration or photograph, making this book very enjoyable to just sit and flip through. Obviously designed to be something of a coffee-table book, this volume succeeds admirably.

Overall the information seems fairly accurate, but one thing really bothers me about this work: the names. They never clarify whether they are using the Japanese (surname first) or Western (surname last) style of names, and indeed they seem to switch back and forth between the two styles often. It can be distracting, and if you were using this book as a resource for some reason, I can only imagine that it would be very confusing. ( )