(no subject)

Found three books that are translated texts which were designed to
instruct samurai in various matters. They were in the "Sports"
section of the bookstore, of all places! LOL! I didn't know being a
samurai could be considered a "sport"! While you certainly wouldn't
want to follow ALL of they're suggestions, I suppose some of this
would be helpful to modern martial artists if for no other reason
than to help them better understand the history of their sport.

I'll list a brief description of each book, along with the info
needed to track down a copy for yourself:

Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. Translated
by William Scott Wilson. Kodansha America, Inc. (First paperback
edition, 1983. New hard-cover edition, 2002) ISBN# 4-7700-2916-0

This one is more or less a collection of thoughts and very short
stories that were meant to be used as guidance in making decisions
that reflected the true spirit of Bushido. Offers good insight into
the way they viewed the world. Here is a typical example of the sort
of entries you'll find: "Shame and repentance are like upsetting a
pot of water. When a certain friend of mine listened to the way that
a man who had stolen his sword ornament confessed, he felt
compassion. If one will rectify his mistakes, their traces will soon
disappear." Then there are others like: "The master took a book from
its box. When he opened it there was the smell of drying clovebuds."



The Life-Giving Sword: Secret Teachings from the House of the Shogun
(The classic text on Zen and the No-Sword by Musashi's great rival)
by Yagyu Munenori. Translated by William Scott Wilson. Kodansha
America, Inc. (First edition, 2003) ISBN# 4-7700-2955-1

This one is a MUST HAVE!!! Gives Great detail on actual sword
techniques! Plus there are some fantastic isllustrations in the back
to illustrate a few of them. Some of these drawings show a man
(persumably Yagyu Munenori) facing off with a tengu! Explains such
things as No-Mind. (Remember that from The Last Samurai?) Definitely
worth owning!!!


Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu
of Taira Shigesuke. Translated by Thomas Cleary. Tuttle Publishing
(1999). ISBN# 0-8048-3190-4


A bit more straight-forward guide to samurai behavior than the first
book. Gives advice on such things as Familial Duty, Horsemanship,
Facing Death, Vassalage, and Escort. Then there are instructions
regarding things such as Big Talk and Criticism, Warning Against
Backbiting (guess Katsura, Okubo, and Saigo missed this one somehow),
and Lazines.


There was one other both on Iai sword-drawing techniques I wish I had
gotten now. I can't recall the name, but it was from Tuttle and had a
whole section on seppuku. -sigh- I'll try to find it later. Hopefully
it will still be there! In the meantime, I'll repost the names of
these books to the messageboard later.

-MissBehavin