Product details
- ISBN 9780750955898
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 02 Jun 2014
- Publisher: The History Press Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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The true nature of the Japanese samurai warrior is an elusive and endlessly fascinating enigma for those in the West. From their inauspicious beginnings as barbarian-subduing soldiers, the samurai lived according to a code known as bushido - or ‘way of the warrior’. Bushido- advocated loyalty, honour, pride and fearlessness in combat. Those who broke the code were expected to perform seppuku, or suicide through stomach-cutting. By its very design, seppuku aimed to restore honour to disgraced warriors by ensuring the most painful of deaths. However, the bushido- virtues of loyalty and honour fell into question as the samurai grew powerful enough to wrest control from the emperor himself. Accompanied by vivid colour illustrations, The Samurai offers a complete, concise account of samurai history and culture. It tells the story of the rise of the samurai as a martial elite, the warriors’ centuries long struggle for power and their long slide into obsolescence.
