Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke Hardcover – September 15, 1999

Great book for anyone that is interested in Sanurai!

Modern life offers many gadgets, progress, conveniences, yet, the century tested Bushido of living with one's environment and nature does not change one bit. It still provides solid guidance to enjoy simple, yet, most important things in life money cannot buy.

This translation is easy to read, and straightforward. It is mainly concerned with how a good samurai shouldface life, death, and how one should conduct themselves in general. Unfortunately, it is not as applicable to modern lifeas I believed it would be, but that is a not a criticism of the book itself. The introduction/preface providesthe necessary historical context that helps to explain why this code was written in the first place. Overall, the bookis also helpful in understanding what has influenced the modern Japanese culture and mindset.

If you're even sort of interested in samurai morality and ethics, stop reading my dumb review and buy this book immediately.

I am somewhat at a loss as to why this book, Code of the Samurai, fascinates me. I liked it enough that I bought a copy for my husband and would consider giving it as a gift to several friends who have interests in "courtly behavior," "chivalry," and "medieval" Japanese history in general (all are members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, like I am).I have never made it through an entire reading of The Art of War and quite frankly The Book of Five Rings was no better as a shortened form thereof. Code of the Samurai is really neither of these books and shares little more than a common Asian ancestry. Instead, it reads rather like one of the pre-1600s Western culture books of proper behavior (for members of recreation organizations, think books like The Babees Book and the Book of Courtesey). Instead of Western Europe, however, this one is set in Tokugawa-era Japan (if I am remembering my history correctly).The book very clearly addresses the actual life of a samurai. Thankfully, the book does not heavily focus on the martial aspects of the samurai's life (though these are touched upon) nor the esoteric, philosophical ideals that might be expected of a book on "Bushido." Instead, the examples of this book simply show you the proper and improper behavior of samurai in a variety of situations as they were viewed in classical Japan.Unfortunately, I cannot speak for the accuracy of the translation because this book includes only the modern English (and I don't read classical or modern Japanese). The text as a whole, despite the lack of original manuscript versions, is rendered in an easy-to-follow style that you can read straight through or only a chapter at a time, at your leisure.

I keep this book on me wherever I go now I’ve read a decent portion of it and it’s exactly what I was hoping my music teacher from high school recommended the book to me after I mentioned to him that I was struggling in motivation and self health and I will personally be using this as a recommendation for anyone else needing help with self discipline and better health

I would have liked if this book got a little more into the reasons and practice of the codes in a more modern way. It is just an English translation of the codes they way they were originally written with very brief explanations. Still a good basic time held way to live with honor in a deeper sense.

I have read this book multiple times over my life. Great code to live by. If you like ethics you will love this.