Japanese Sword

Introduction The katana is more than a weapon—it’s a legacy etched in steel, sharpened by centuries of discipline and spiritual resolve. For many, it is a breathtaking display piece, admired from behind glass and revered as a relic of a bygone age. But to truly understand the katana is to realize it was never meant to simply sit still. It was designed to move—to cut, to defend, to honor. In the hands of a samurai, it embodied character, code, and courage. This book is a journey through time, metallurgy, philosophy, and technique. We’ll explore how the katana came to be, how it was ...

Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange's best-selling Miracle at Midway, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement. Shattered Sword makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida's Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle.

Essential for anyone interested in Japanese culture, this unsurpassed masterwork opens an intriguing window on Japan. The World War II-era study by the cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict paints an illuminating contrast between the people of Japan and those of the United States. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword is a revealing look at how and why our societies differ, making it the perfect introduction to Japanese history and customs. 

Ryōma! tells the life story of Sakamoto Ryōma, one of the great figures in the turmoil that engulfed Japan in the years before the 1868 Meiji Restoration. The novel is a masterwork by the prolific historical novelist Shiba Ryōtarō and has sold more than 24 million copies in Japan since publication in 1966--and still counting! The novel has everything: a winning main character, an action-packed plot, swordfights, and romance, but it is also a fascinating, easy-to-digest history lesson about Japan's response to the shocking arrival of United States Commodore Matthew Perry's "Black Ships" ...

The follow-up to Ebony Gate, the critically acclaimed debut of Vee and Bebelle's Phoenix Hoard series. IT TAKES A KILLER TO CATCH A KILLER Emiko Soong, newly minted Sentinel of San Francisco, just can't catch a break. Just after she becomes the guardian for a sentient city, a murder strikes...

"Ryōma!" tells the life story of Sakamoto Ryōma, one of the great figures in the turmoil that engulfed Japan in the years before the 1868 Meiji Restoration. The novel is a masterwork by the prolific historical novelist Shiba Ryōtarō and has sold more than 24 million copies in Japan since publication in 1966—and still counting! The novel has everything: a winning main character, an action-packed plot, swordfights, and romance, but it is also a fascinating, easy-to-digest history lesson about Japan’s response to the shocking arrival of United States Commodore Matthew Perry’s “...

Ryōma! tells the life story of Sakamoto Ryōma, one of the great figures in the turmoil that engulfed Japan in the years before the 1868 Meiji Restoration. The novel is a masterwork by the prolific historical novelist Shiba Ryōtarō and has sold more than 24 million copies in Japan since publication in 1966--and still counting! The novel has everything: a winning main character, an action-packed plot, swordfights, and romance, but it is also a fascinating, easy-to-digest history lesson about Japan's response to the shocking arrival of United States Commodore Matthew Perry's "Black Ships" ...

If the Way of the warrior is the soul of Japan, their magnificent swords were the tools utilized to form the nation and forge their spirit. You’ll find an abundance of information in this special two-part digital anthology in support of this thesis. Kimberly Taylor wrote four chapters, the first being an interview with 7th dan Matsuo Haruna. Haruna offers great advice for practitioners based on his firsthand experience. Taylor’s two highly researched chapters give overviews of two major iaido schools. Excellent photos and descriptions of katas accompany the text. Taylor’s finale is a ...

The famed samurai sword (nihonto) represents the pinnacle of bladed weaponry in the Japanese warrior’s arsenal. This book addresses the sword’s intrinsic historic, monetary, military, and artistic values.The seven chapters for this particular anthology were selected from materials published in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts. Tharp’s chapter details aspects of the nihonto that make it unique in the world as a valued objet d’art, protected by law codes specifically written to preserve these cultural relics even when made by contemporary master smiths. DiCristofano writes on sword ...

Sword, Spirit & Samurai presents a complete journey through the moral, spiritual, and ageless wisdom of Japan’s warrior tradition. Bringing together bold new translations of four foundational texts: The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi (including Dokkado), Bushidō: The Soul of Japan by Inazō Nitobe, Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (including the restored fifth book), and Chūshingura (The Forty-Seven Rōnin), this modern reflective translation edition restores their clarity and depth for the modern reader. From Musashi’s disciplined awareness to Nitobe’s architecture of virtue,...

An ancient love story that spans a millennium. A god in love with a human girl. As a trusted member of the Samurai Rebels, it is up to Mikomi to gather the information that will stop her father from creating a kami army. Katsu’s constant interference impedes her progress, and she is torn between her duty to the world and her love for one very reluctant rebel. Unfortunately, more than one party is interested in using the kami army for their own malicious purposes. Mikomi’s enemies quickly multiply as a plot far more devious in nature is unearthed. Though Musubi works to prepare her for ...

What did the samurai in Japan do? How did they begin? And what was so typical or different about them? These and many other questions will be answered in this quick guide that will cover all the basics of the famous samurai warriors in ancient Japan. You will learn about shoguns, bushido, the Meiji time period, Ronin warriors, the Genpei war in 1180, the Kamakura period, the infamous suicide methods for honor (hara-kiri), and much, much more.

This unique book combines Japanese warrior techniques with ancient Zen practices for mental clarity and physical agility, giving listeners a Samurai edge that will carry them through life. Blending Japanese Samurai wisdom with ancient Zen practices, this book will take you on a metaphysical journey to becoming a swordsman. Sharpen the mind, hone the senses and control the body to achieve clarity, drive and peace.

If the Way of the warrior is the soul of Japan, their magnificent swords were the tools utilized to form the nation and forge their spirit. You’ll find an abundance of information in this special two-volume ebook anthology in support of this thesis. Kimberly Taylor wrote four chapters, the first being an interview with 7th-dan Matsuo Haruna. Haruna offers great advice for practitioners based on his first-hand experience. Taylor’s two highly researched chapters give overviews of two major iaido schools. Excellent photos and descriptions of katas accompany the text. Taylor’s finale is a...

"Ryōma!" tells the life story of Sakamoto Ryōma, one of the great figures in the turmoil that engulfed Japan in the years before the 1868 Meiji Restoration. The novel is a masterwork by the prolific historical novelist Shiba Ryōtarō and has sold more than 24 million copies in Japan since publication in 1966—and still counting! The novel has everything: a winning main character, an action-packed plot, swordfights, and romance, but it is also a fascinating, easy-to-digest history lesson about Japan’s response to the shocking arrival of United States Commodore Matthew Perry’s “...

On a rain-lashed night Matajuro Yagyu loses the duel that should have proved his worth and is banished from his father’s estate. Desperate to reclaim his honor, he sets off to find Banzo, the reclusive sword saint rumored to cut steel with silence itself. What Matajuro discovers is not the clash of blades but years of hauling water, splitting logs, and fending off his master’s sudden wooden-sword ambushes. Each bruise strips away pride, each chore hones awareness, until the young samurai’s spirit becomes keener than any forged edge. When Matajuro finally draws his katana he learns the...

The sharpest steel cuts the soul first. To reclaim his family’s honor, Daniel Takeda must sever his own humanity. Inside the hallowed Nippon Budokan, Daniel battles his dead father’s ghost and the scorn of a nation that deems him an unworthy outsider. Desperate to prove he possesses true *kokoro*, he ignores the warnings of the living to seek the "place where iron weeps"—a forbidden path to a supernatural edge. But the tournament has drawn monsters in human skin. After witnessing a rival dismantle a veteran with inhuman brutality, Daniel realizes technical perfection is a hollow ...

Heroes, Like Swords, Are Forged In Blood! From the steaming jungles of Southeast Asia, to the neon-lit streets of Miami, SUPER NINJA is a saga fifty years in the making, yet, its roots reach back billions of years. This first volume, THE SWORD OF HEAVEN, fuses the lives of two young boys with boundless imaginations, a heroic Vietnam vet lost in his pain, a beautiful thief searching for meaning with her skills, and the quest for a mystical sword forged from the stars that binds them all. A race against time unfolds in a bloody tapestry woven with a master ninja assassin; a genius billionaire...

From his deathbed, Hero-King Inglis, the divine knight and master of all he surveys, gazes down on the empire he built with his mighty hand. Having devoted his life to statecraft and his subjects' well-being, his one unfulfilled wish is to live again, for himself this time: a warrior's life he'd devoted himself to before his rise to power. His patron goddess, Alistia, hears his plea and smiles upon him, flinging his soul into the far future. 

Set in a mythical, feudal, Japanese land, a world both beautiful and cruel, the intense love story of two young people takes place against a background of warring clans, secret alliances, high honour and lightning swordplay. Lian Hearn's stunningly powerful bestseller, Across the Nightingale...