Legacies of the Sword: The Kashima-Shinryu and Samurai Martial Culture

Western scholars and educators are generally far less familiar with the samurai in his original-and, ostensibly, primary-role as warrior and masters of arms than in his other functions as landowner, feudal lord, literature, or philosopher. Yet, any attempt to comprehend fully the samurai without considering his military abilities and training (bugei) is futile. With verve and wit, Karl Friday combines the results of nearly two decades of fieldwork and archival research to examine samurai martial culture from a broad perspective: as a historical phenomenon, as a worldview, and as a system of physical, spiritual, and moral education.

• Karl F. Friday, Author

• Seki Humitake, Author

• This study is refreshingly free of jargon and inscrutable or pretentious philosophizing. Instead, Friday presents this history of the samurai in cool, clear terms that will appeal to more than a select band of academics.... An excellent book.
  —Daily Yomiuri