Fight the Power said:
Starting i guess i would like to understand the ways of the samurai, is anyone here really good at understanding them and such? Any information would be extremly appreciated, thank you
I cannot believe nobody suggested you read
The Book of the Five Rings by Musashi Miyamoto.
You should also read Sun Tzu's
Art of War, because it was read by Japanese warlords the same way Vegetius was read by Europe's medieval aristocracy.
No, modernization should come at its own pace.
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Collapse
Sorry kiddo. It only does so rarely. And that's just how things are.
Mike Cash said:
Nobody else remembers the Suzuki Samurai?
Aaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha! .... That was horrible.
Yoshida Shoin said:
Muromachi - (1300-1570) - The time of the Ashikaga shogunates. Period ends in total disarray. ENd of this time is referred to as Sengoku Jidai. Massive civil war.
The
Sengoku Jidai is an amazing period. It is the heyday of both the samurai and the
ninja. It is difficult to find Japanese histories of that period in English (one of the reasons I want to continue learning Japanese). But you can find very good books on battles like Kawanikajima and Sekigahara from the Osprey Military History series. They have them at Barnes & Noble and Borders in the military history section near me.
For a very interesting conversation about samurai, I'd watch the movie
Ronin, with Jean Reno and Robert DiNiro. There's a scene where DiNiro and Michael Lonsdale where they talk about the
47 Ronin, and how they committed
seppuku when they finished avenging their
daimyo.
"They chose myth," he says. They needed a purpose greater than themselves. It's the only scene in the movie that deals with the title, but the movie's worth renting anyway, especially for the car chases.
Anyway, that's my two pennies.