This text chronicles the evolution of premodern (early A.D. to 1850), modern (1850-1945), and postwar (1945-1989) Japanese civilization from imperial rule through the death of Emperor Hirohito. Professor Reischauer, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, expl
In Tokunaga-era Japan, a new government has just taken power and the land is disarray. Amidst the turmoil, a young man sets out on a journey seeking spriritual enlightement by way of the soword, prepared to slay anyone who gets in his way. Adapted from th
Shinmen Takezo is destined to become the legendary sword-saint, Miyamoto Musashi--perhaps the most renowned samurai of all time. For now, Takezo is a cold-hearted killer, who will take on anyone in mortal combat to make a name for himself. This is the jou
In Tokunaga-era Japan, a new government has just taken power and the land is disarray. Amidst the turmoil, a young man sets out on a journey seeking spriritual enlightement by way of the soword, prepared to slay anyone who gets in his way. Adapted from th
They were the two most feared swordsmen of their age: Miyamoto Musashi, mysterious and introspective, and Sasaki Kojiro, a man of arrogance and ambitious. In a nation divided between East and West, each warrior is thrust forward as a hero of bitterly oppo
In the tempestuous closing decades of the sixteenth century, the Empire of Japan writhes in chaos as the shogunate crumbles and rival warlords battle for supremacy. Warrior monks in their armed citadels block the road to the capital; castles are destroyed
