Code of the Samurai

Book excerpt: Learn the ways of the Japanese Bushido Code with this very readable, modern translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu. Code of the Samurai is a four-hundred-year-old explication of the rules and expectations embodied in Bushido, the Japanese Way of the Warrior. Bushido has played a major role in shaping the behavior of modern Japanese government, corporations, society, and individuals, as well as in shaping modern Japanese martial arts within Japan and internationally. The Japanese original of this book, Bushido Shoshinshu, (Bushido for Beginners), has been one of the primary sources on the tenets of Bushido, a way of thought that remains fascinating and relevant to the modern world, East and West. This handbook, written after five hundred years of military rule in Japan, was composed to provide practical and moral instruction for warriors, correcting wayward tendencies and outlining the personal, social, and professional standards of conduct characteristic of Bushido, the Japanese chivalric tradition. With a clear, conversational narrative by Thomas Cleary, one of the foremost translators of the wisdom of Asia, and powerfully evocative line drawings by master illustrator Oscar Ratti, this book is indispensable to the corporate executive, student of the Asian Culture, martial artist, those interested in Eastern philosophy or military strategy, as well as for those simply interested in Japan and its people.