Art of the Samurai

Art of the Samurai
Author: 原田一敏
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2009
Genre: Armor
ISBN: 1588393453

"This extensively illustrated catalogue is published in conjunction with the first comprehensive exhibition devoted to the arts of the samurai, including the finest examples of swords - the spirit of the samurai - as well as sword mountings and fittings, armor and helmets, saddles, textiles, and paintings. The works in the catalogue, drawn from public and private collections in Japan, include 34 officially designated National Treasures and 64 Important Cultural Properties, the largest number ever to be shown together at one time. Dating from the 5th to the early 20th century, these majestic objects offer a complete picture of samurai culture and its unique blend of the martial and the refined." "Many of the greatest Japanese swordsmiths are represented in this volume, from early masters such as Yasuie (12th century) and Tomomitsu (14th century) to the Edo-period smiths Nagasone Kotetsu and Kiyomaro. The blades by these and other masters, cherished as much for their beauty as for their cutting efficiency, were equipped with elaborate hilts and scabbards prized for their exquisite craftsmanship and fine materials such as silk, rayskin, gold, lacquer, and certain alloys unique to Japan. Japanese armor is also fully surveyed, from the rarest iron armor of the Kofun period (5th century) to the inventive ceremonial helmets made toward the end of the age of the samurai." --Book Jacket.

Art of Armor

Art of Armor
Author: Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum (Dallas, Tex.)
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Armor
ISBN: 9780300176360

This extraordinary publication presents, for the first time, the samurai armor collection of the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum in Dallas. The Barbier-Mueller has selectively amassed these pieces of armor over the past twenty-five years, ultimately forming one of the largest and most important collections of its kind in the world. It is composed of nearly three hundred objects, several of which are considered masterpieces, including suits of armor, helmets, masks, horse armor, and weaponry. The objects date from the 12th to the 19th century, with a particularly strong focus on Edo-period armor. Offering an exciting look into the world of the samurai warrior, the book begins with an introduction by Morihiro Ogawa. Essays by prominent scholars in the field highlight topics such as the phenomenon of the warrior in Japan, the development of the samurai helmet, castle architecture, women in samurai culture, and Japanese horse armor. The book's final section consists of an extensive catalogue of objects, concentrating on 120 significant works in the collection. Lavishly illustrated in full color, each object is accompanied by an entry written by a scholar of Japanese armor.

Aiki-Jujutsu

Aiki-Jujutsu
Author: Cary Nemeroff
Publisher: Crowood
Total Pages: 807
Release: 2013-06-30
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1847975704

Aiki-Jujutsu: Mixed Martial Art of the Samurai is essential reading for practitioners and instructors of mixed martial arts, the traditional Asian martial arts and those who seek to learn more about the techniques, philosophy and history of the fighting arts of the Samurai. Using easy to follow, step-by-step photography and text, 10th Dan Cary Nemeroff demonstrates how to perform the throws, hand strikes, grappling/groundwork manoeuvres, blocks, break-falls, kicks and sword-disarming techniques of the complete Aiki-Jujutsu system, including Kempo-Jutsu, Aiki-Jutsu and Ju-Jutsu. It also provides a concise history of the concepts and systems surrounding Aiki-Jujutsu's development, such as Budo and Bujutsu, enabling the practitioner to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the art. Essential reading for all practitioners and instructors of mixed martial arts. Covers the hand strikes, throws, kicks and sword-disarming techniques of the complete Aiki-Jujutsu system and provides a concise history of the concepts surrounding Aiki-Jujutsu's development, such as Budo and Bujutsu. Superbly illustrated with around 830 step-by-step photographs. Cary Nemeroff is a 10th Dan in Aiki-Jujutsu (Jujutsu) with thirty-five years of training to his credit.

101 Great Samurai Prints

101 Great Samurai Prints
Author: Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2012-09-21
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0486155226

Kuniyoshi was a master of the warrior woodblock print — and these 18th-century illustrations represent the pinnacle of his craft. Full-color portraits of renowned Japanese samurais pulse with movement, passion, and remarkably fine detail.

The Art of the Samurai

The Art of the Samurai
Author: Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Publisher:
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2018-10-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781627951289

In today's times, with it's plethora of quick-fix self help books, which for the most part seem to excel in non-directive, mundane advice, it is a pleasure to read a book that reaches back through the centuries to offer sound advice on how to live your life. It is this particular aspect that places it above Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' and Musashi's 'Book of Five Rings', all fine books, but more designed for group or individual warfare tactics. This masterpiece of the former samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo is a treatise written 300 years ago, preserved for generations in northern Kyushu by warrior chiefs as moral and practical instruction for themselves and their samurai retainers. Closely guarded as secret teachings and shown only to a chosen few, the manuscript became generally available only in the postsamurai Meiji era (1868 onwards). The Hagakure offers a fascinating insight into Japanese "warrior-ness". This was a culture in which death was embraced rather than feared. Yamamoto tells his readers how to foster courage, how to serve selflessly, how to become a skilled master of your own destiny, and how to infuse life with beauty while acknowledging its transience. Yamamoto's penetrating insights and profound aphorisms reflect important moral principles that still apply to us today. This illustrated edition of the ancient classic will enlighten anyone with an interest in Japanese culture and world literature.

The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai
Author: Helen DeWitt
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2016-05-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0811225518

Called “remarkable” (The Wall Street Journal) and “an ambitious, colossal debut novel” (Publishers Weekly), Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai is back in print at last Helen DeWitt’s 2000 debut, The Last Samurai, was “destined to become a cult classic” (Miramax). The enterprising publisher sold the rights in twenty countries, so “Why not just, ‘destined to become a classic?’” (Garth Risk Hallberg) And why must cultists tell the uninitiated it has nothing to do with Tom Cruise? Sibylla, an American-at-Oxford turned loose on London, finds herself trapped as a single mother after a misguided one-night stand. High-minded principles of child-rearing work disastrously well. J. S. Mill (taught Greek at three) and Yo Yo Ma (Bach at two) claimed the methods would work with any child; when these succeed with the boy Ludo, he causes havoc at school and is home again in a month. (Is he a prodigy, a genius? Readers looking over Ludo’s shoulder find themselves easily reading Greek and more.) Lacking male role models for a fatherless boy, Sibylla turns to endless replays of Kurosawa’s masterpiece Seven Samurai. But Ludo is obsessed with the one thing he wants and doesn’t know: his father’s name. At eleven, inspired by his own take on the classic film, he sets out on a secret quest for the father he never knew. He’ll be punched, sliced, and threatened with retribution. He may not live to see twelve. Or he may find a real samurai and save a mother who thinks boredom a fate worse than death.

Soul of the Samurai

Soul of the Samurai
Author: Thomas Cleary
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2011-07-05
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1462900313

Soul of the Samurai contains modern translations of three classic works of Zen & Bushido. In Soul of the Samurai, bestselling author and respected translator Thomas Cleary reveals the true essence of the Bushido code or Zen warrior teachings according to 17th-century Japanese samurai master Yagyu Munenori and his Zen teacher Takuan Soho. The three works of Zen & Bushido translated in Soul of the Samurai are: The Book of the Sword by Yagyu Munenori The Inscrutable Subtlety of Immovable Wisdom by Takuan Soho The Peerless Sword by Takuan Soho Yagyu was a renowned swordsman and chief of the Shogun's secret police, while Takuan was the Zen spiritual mentor to the Emperor. This samurai philosophy book contains the first English translations of their seminal writings on Bushido. Cleary not only provides clear and readable translations but comprehensive notes introducing the social, political, and organizational principles that defined samurai culture--their loyalty to family, their sense of service and duty, and their political strategies for dealing with allies and enemies. These writings introduce the reader to the authentic world of Zen culture and the secrets behind the samurai's success--being "in the moment" and freeing the mind from all distractions, allowing you to react instantaneously and instinctively without thinking. In these classic works, we learn that Zen mental control and meditational training were as important to the Samurai as swordsmanship and fighting skills.

The Way of the Samurai

The Way of the Samurai
Author: Inazo Nitobe
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
Total Pages: 89
Release: 2017-09-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1788880382

This classic text by Inazo Nitobe defining the moral code of the warrior class or Samurai has had a huge impact both in the West and in Japan itself. Drawing on Japanese traditions such as Shinto and Buddhism, and citing parallels with Western philosophy and literature, Nitobe's text is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the culture and morals of Japan.

The Book of Five Rings

The Book of Five Rings
Author: Miyamoto Musashi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2020-11-12
Genre:
ISBN:

Limited Time Promotional Offer The Book of Five Rings In "The Book of Five Rings," Miyamoto Musashi takes the reader into a world filled to the brim with devotion, self-respect, discipline, honesty and purity of thought. Written originally for warriors and samurai in a completely different time and culture, Musashi's book provides a remarkable source of inspiration for self-development today. His teachings are concise and to the point. He uses phrases like "you must understand this" and "you must practice diligently" and explains only general, but unquestionable and fundamental, concepts of the Way of the Warrior. While some of his guidelines are are not directly applicable in our time and age, those about striving to achieve improvement on the inside as well as the outside couldn't be more on target. Taken literally this book is about how to become an efficient, albeit enlightened, killer. It's value comes from reading between the lines... lines which speak volumes. About Miyamoto Musashi: Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), was a Japanese swordsman and ronin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age. The founder of a style of swordsmanship, he also wrote The Book of Five Rings, a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today. Miyamoto Musashi is widely considered a Kensei and one of the greatest warriors of all time.

Samurai Fighting Arts

Samurai Fighting Arts
Author: Fumon Tanaka
Publisher: Kodansha International
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2003
Genre: History
ISBN: 9784770028983

Introduces the 18 traditional Japanese martial arts and provides readers with a deeper understanding of the styles formulated in the samurai era - both those that are little known and those still being taught today.