Samurai Wisdom Stories

Tales from the Golden Age of Bushido

By Pascal Fauliot
Translated by Sherab Chodzin Kohn

$17.95
SKU
9781611804133
- Paperback
Available
Shambhala Publications
03/06/2017
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781611804133
Details

This book is also included in our Reader's Guide on The Samurai and Zen where you will find other important Zen classics.


This collection of twenty-eight traditional samurai stories illustrates all the facets of wisdom and knowledge that a true samurai must embody: martial, spiritual, psychological, ethical, philosophical, artistic, strategic, and political. Retold by martial artist and scholar Pascal Fauliot, these tales are set in the golden age of bushido and represent the pinnacle of traditional Japanese culture in which aristocratic tastes, feudal virtues, and martial skills come together with the implacable insights of Zen. They feature military leaders and strategists such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu; sword masters such as Yamaoka Tesshu; ronin; the warrior monk Benkei; and the ninja-samurai Kakei Juzo; among many others. Pithy and engaging, the collection includes tales of battle, strategy, loyalty conflicts, court intrigues, breakthroughs in a warrior’s development, and vengeance achieved or foregone. Each tale reveals a gesture or an outcome that represents greater insight or higher virtue—a hallmark of the samurai era.