The Book of Bushido

The Book of Bushido is the go-to volume on bushido ("the way of the warrior"), drawing on a wide range of historical sources to paint a vivid picture of the samurai in action and separating the truth from the myth of samurai chivalry. It offers a long-overdue update to the attractive but inaccurate portrait of the samurai painted in Bushido: The Soul of Japan, which has been a bestseller ever since its publication in 1905, and the equally idealistic Hagakure (c.1716).

In The Book of Bushido, Antony Cummins explores the reality of warrior behaviour versus the idealistic depiction created for an Edwardian audience by the author of Bushido: The Soul of Japan. He reveals the truth of how the samurai really behaved and what they considered to be a warrior ethos. He replaces the image of the perfect eastern warrior with the much more interesting reality of hardened, bloodstained military leaders with human failings and a complex set of ideas about the world.

These were individuals who engaged in ritual, magic, and ceremony, who led their followers in war and peace, and who, above all, were fighting a battle between addiction to power and morality. This is the story of bushido—the way of the samurai.

Dive into Japanese history and discover who the samurai really were in this fascinating study that reveals the flawed human warriors behind the idealistic myths.