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A recent search on the internet using the keyword “bushido” yielded almost 95,000 hits. A cursory glance at this overwhelming list of websites revealed an equally overwhelming range of topics raised in relation to bushido, “the way of the warrior.” Entries related to bushido addressed everything from martial arts (probably the most common) to early twentieth century Japanese imperialism and wartime aggression, from video games to Japan’s so-called economic miracle in the postwar period, and the list could go on.
With all this information out there, how is one able to make sense of bushido, especially without the ability to look at primary Japanese language sources? With that question in mind, we embarked on this group effort to compile a resource guide for bushido-related documents and works available in English.
But rather than trying to provide a comprehensive explanation of bushido (One soon realizes the difficulty of this task. Numerous books, after all, have been and continue to be written in the attempt to explain bushido.) we have sought to provide basic information about the history of bushido and focus more specifically on some of its key texts. In addition to summaries of these texts we have included details about their authors, their historical background, and their significance. Where applicable we have also provided evaluations of the often strikingly different English translations. We have also compiled and included two bibliographies of bushido-related works available in English and a chronology of Japanese language books about bushido.
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