For decades, people have been fascinated by the Samurai. Now, with THE LAST SAMURAI, a major film starring Tom Cruise set for release in January 2004, interest in the Samurai will be at its peak. But who are the Samurai? And what is it about the Samurai that sparks such enduring fascination? For more than 700 years Japan was dominated by a military caste - the samurai. To the Western mind these fearsome warriors - the masterless ronin and the assassin ninja - have always been a source of mystery and wonder, combining the idealism of chivalry with military fanaticism. THE WAYS OF THE SAMURAI digs beneath the myth and reveals a truth even more amazing about the men who practiced a discipline drawn from Zen and Confucian ethics - bushido, the way of the warrior. THE WAYS OF THE SAMURAI presents all aspects of a Samurais life: from training and culture to armour and weapons.It also recounts the greatest warriors including Oda Nobunaga a man of humble birth who at the time of his death in 1582 controlled thirty of Japans sixty-eight provinces and had earned the distinction in Japanese history of being the first of the three great unifiers of Japan; and Takeda Shingen, a warrior whose reputation was so great that, in order to keep rival clans from launching a war against the Takeda clan, news of his death was kept secret for more than a year. THE WAYS OF THE SAMURAI also includes accounts of the epic battles that raged during the 100-year period in Japanese history known as Sengoku-jidai, Age of the Country at War.