Customer Reviews
The Original Translation? - By: Terry Tozer, 24 Jul 2007 
This is a really interesting & enlightening read. You get a real feel for the way the mind of the Samurai worked some 400 years ago. It's miraculous & very fortunate for us that copies of such books survived that various warring periods & times of great upheavalin Japan over this time.
This subject is still relatively new to me & there appear to be several different versions of the Bushido around (?). This one by Daidôji Yûzan appeared between 1639 - 1730, which is some years before the one that draws the main amount of interest & my question is who's copying who?
This one seems to be more complete & covers a wider range of subjects that the "other" version by Tsunetomo Yamamoto, sometimes referred to as the "Hagakure". Tsunetomo was born some 20 years after Daidôji & lived between 1659 - 1719.
This book is presentedin 44 short treatises about the proper way a Samurai should live & conduct himself. Whether or not some of these duties have been grouped together I can't yet say, however, either copy of the book are fantastically insightful & interesting.
There is another & later copy of this book by William Scott Wilson called "Budoshoshinshu: The Warrior's Primer of Daidoji Yuzan" ISBN: 0897500962in which he lists 56 such duties of a Samurai.
A great translation which must have been difficult for the authors & a fairly easy read. Although the subject is a little dry it's not at all heavy & would be enjoyed & very useful to anyone practicing any form of [traditional] martial art.
Clear, simple translation. - By: , 11 Dec 2002 
A conduct code for all the "young samurais". It's very helpfull to understand the Japanese way of thinking. Everyone can learn something from it.
The translation isin very simple english, so it's easy to focus on the moral lessons...
Only 4 stars because it's "to much Japanese". I prefer other books more universal, like "Art of War" - Sun Tsu - or "Book of the Five Rings" - Miamoto Musachi
another excellent work from leading author of eastern philos - By: , 15 Mar 2001 Thomas Cleary (and Scott William Wilson) appear to be the leading lightsin any writing on eastern philosophy/religion; particularly here dealing with the Bushido code of the Samurai as Way of Life. Readers will also find Thomas Cleary's translations of Sun Tzu's "Art of War" (Shambhala) the best translation & also should consider all the Shambhala publications as best translations of sought after Eastern strategic classics, including "The Book of Five Rings" & Cleary's "Japanese Art of War" for overview on strategic writingsin a more generalised form.
