About the Library

What This Is

The Bushidō Samurai Library is a free, independent reference on the history of the samurai — Japan's warrior class from the Heian period to the Meiji Restoration.

Every entry cites its sources. Every claim is labelled: [history] for documented fact, [legend] for traditional accounts that can't be verified, [contested] for interpretations historians disagree on. No claim is left unlabelled.

Methodology

Content is built from scholarly sources — academic histories, primary source translations, and peer-reviewed research. Popular histories are used where they accurately represent the scholarly consensus. Where sources disagree, the disagreement is noted.

The minimum standard is three independent sources per entry. Factual claims with only a single source are noted as such. Numerical claims about battles and military forces are always noted with [chronicle figures] to indicate that such figures come from period chronicles whose accuracy is uncertain.

What This Is Not

This is not a site about pop-culture samurai mythology. The black-clad ninja, the samurai whose sword cuts through anything, the universal code of honour that governed all warriors at all times — these are addressed as the later constructions they are, alongside the genuine history that underlies them.

It is not affiliated with any museum, publisher, university, or government body. It is editorially independent.

Key Sources

The reference works most frequently used across the library include:

• Totman, Conrad. A History of Japan. 2nd ed. Blackwell, 2005.
• Turnbull, Stephen. Samurai: The World of the Warrior. Osprey Publishing, 2003.
• Jansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan. Harvard University Press, 2000.
• Hall, John Whitney. Japan from Prehistory to Modern Times. Delacorte Press, 1970.
• Friday, Karl F. Hired Swords. Stanford University Press, 1992.
• Berry, Mary Elizabeth. Hideyoshi. Harvard University Press, 1982.
• McCullough, Helen Craig, trans. The Tale of the Heike. Stanford University Press, 1988.

Individual entries list their specific sources at the foot of each page.

Content Status

The library is actively growing. Current coverage focuses on the Sengoku and Edo periods, with warriors, battles, arms, and topical questions about samurai daily life. Coverage of the Heian and Kamakura periods is developing.

Errors and corrections are welcome. Use the feedback mechanism at the bottom of any page to flag an issue.