The Samurai: The Philosophy of Victory

by Robert T. Samuel

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Genres: Philosophy, History, Japan, Martial Arts, Nonfiction, Asia, Spirituality

156 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2004

Reviews

[untitled lullaby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Putting on samurai armor was interesting and so was a couple of the stories especially the gay lover one. It’s like an ugly coffee book otherwise. The art in it is cool but the cover imo is ugly. The writing is a bit dull and is a beginners guide but I’m not sure if anyone reading this would get into it.

[Chapters_and_chai_books]

3.5
I really enjoyed this one!

[Jordan Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up in Barnes & Noble's, enticed by the beautiful and epic looking cover, and read it in the cafe. I loved it! I have read many books about Japanese history and culture, but never one that ingrained the samurai so well into present-day culture and relevance.
Concentrating on bushido, the rigorous Samurai code of honor that translates literally as "the way of the warrior," this book also includes a lot of history, philosophy, and military strategy.
I also loved all of the colorful Japanese art on every page.
If you are interested in Japanese culture, history, or enjoyed Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," you should read this book.

[Adrianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion "The Samurai: The Philosophy of Victory" is an introductory book to the philosophies, fables, stories, and values of the Samurai. Snippets of literature and Samurai manuals make it interesting reading for the newcomer to the philosophy of the Samurai. Colorful stories, lovely illustrations and the manner it was presented made me feel I was seated at the feet of a wise man relaying bits of stories. This book has accomplished the task for which I purchased it and will be added to my shelf.

[Alicia Franklin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous in this book and the most interesting part was reading about the 18 steps a samurai took to get dressed in his armor! The whimsical stories were entertaining and the account of seppuku was gut wrenching. Other than that, I found this book to be repetitious. The premise of the book was promising, but I was hoping for a stronger focus on the samurai, detailing what they believed and highlighting important samurai and how they left their mark in history.

[Lee]

So help me God, I only bought this because it was on special and I wanted the pictures and some of the buke-sho hatto. It's fun, all right, but on absolutely no planet is it serious scholarship. You really want to get most of your information from Stephen Turnbull or Kure Mitsuo or Sato Hiroaki or someone else.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Because it includes a small collection of excerpts from prominent texts on the subject, I gave this 2 stars. I get the feeling this book was put together by someone who hangs out at Renaissance festivals in a kimono and loves the movie "The Last Samurai".

[Yosep · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had a lot of interesting information. However it was extremely redundant and explained things in great detail that did not need explaining. I really feel like 80% of the text in this book was filler to make it long enough to constitute it being a book.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were quite a few sections in the book that can be translated over to modern life & living. I plan on trying to embrace quite a lot of the philosophies of the Japanese Samurai ideologies.