Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Hagakure (Ky?jitai: ??; Shinjitai: ??; meaning In the shadow the Leaves or hidden leaves.),is a practical and spiritual guide for a warrior, drawn from a collection of commentaries by the samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a former retainer to Nabeshima Mitsushige, the third ruler of what is now the Saga prefecture in Japan. Tsuramoto Tashiro compiled these commentaries from his conversations with Tsunetomo from 1709 to 1716 and recorded Tsunetomo's views on bushido, the warrior code of the samurai. Hagakure is sometimes said to assert that bushido is really the "Way of Dying" or living as though one was already dead, and that a samurai retainer must be willing to die at any moment in order to be true to his lord. Note: There is no existing text for Chapter 5.