"With his easily readable and entertaining style, Hillsborough does a great job of elucidating the complex customs that ruled Edo Period life and politics. --The Japan Times"

Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps is the true story of the notorious samurai corps formed in 1863 to arrest or kill the enemies of the Tokugawa Shogun. The only book in English about the Shinsengumi, it focuses on the corps' two charismatic leaders, Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo, both impeccable swordsmen. It is a history-in-brief of the final years of the Bakufu, which collapsed in 1867 with the restoration of Imperial rule. In writing Shinsengumi, Hillsborough referred mostly to Japanese-language primary sources, including letters, memoirs, journals, interviews, and eyewitness accounts, as well as definitive biographies and histories of the era. The fall of the shogun's government (Tokugawa Bakufu, or simply Bakufu) in 1868, which had ruled Japan for over two and a half centuries, was the greatest event in modern Japanese history. The revolution, known as the Meiji Restoration, began with the violent reaction of samurai to the Bakufu's decision in 1854 to open the theretofore isolated country to "Western barbarians." Though opening the country was unavoidable, it was seen as a sign of weakness by the samurai who clamored to "expel the barbarians." Those samurai plotted to overthrow the shogun and restore the holy emperor to his ancient seat of power. Screaming "heaven's revenge," they wielded their swords with a vengeance upon those loyal to the shogun. They unleashed a wave of terror at the center of the revolution--the emperor's capital of Kyoto. Murder and assassination were rampant. By the end of 1862, hordes of renegade samurai, called ronin, had transformed the streets of the Imperial Capital into a "sea of blood." The shogun's administrators were desperate to stop the terror. A band of expert swordsmen was formed. It was given the name Shinsengumi ("Newly Selected Corps")--and commissioned to eliminate the ronin and other enemies of the Bakufu. With unrestrained brutality bolstered by an official sanction to kill, the Shinsengumi soon became the shogun's most dreaded security force. In this vivid historical narrative of the Shinsengumi, the only one in the English language, author Romulus Hillsborough paints a provocative and thrilling picture of this fascinating period in Japanese history.

Christians are called to be both servants and soldiers of Christ. As this book demonstrates, there is much to be learned from the teachings and example of the Samurai, legendary servant-warriors of Japan, in order for believers respond to Gods call as Christian Samurai. (Christian)

Assassination--in Japanese, ansatsu or "dark murder"--was instrumental in the samurai-led revolution known as the Meiji Restoration, by which the shogun's military government was overthrown and the Imperial monarchy restored in 1868. The ideology and moral philosophy of the men behind the revolution--including bushidō or "the way of the warrior"--informed their actions and would become the foundation of the emperor-worship of World War II. This first-ever account in English of the assassins who drove the revolution details one of the most volatile periods in Japanese history--also known as "the dawn of modern Japan."

Set in Meivi Restoration Era (mid-19th century Japan) during the last years of Tokugawa Shogunate, this is the first English language literary biography of samurai Sakamoto Ryoma, a founder of modern Japan.

Soul of the Samurai contains modern translations of three classic works of Zen & Bushido. In Soul of the Samurai, bestselling author and respected translator Thomas Cleary reveals the true essence of the Bushido code or Zen warrior teachings according to 17th-century Japanese samurai master Yagyu Munenori and his Zen teacher Takuan Soho. The three works of Zen & Bushido translated in Soul of the Samurai are: The Book of the Sword by Yagyu Munenori The Inscrutable Subtlety of Immovable Wisdom by Takuan Soho The Peerless Sword by Takuan Soho Yagyu was a renowned swordsman and chief of the Shogun's secret police, while Takuan was the Zen spiritual mentor to the Emperor. This samurai philosophy book contains the first English translations of their seminal writings on Bushido. Cleary not only provides clear and readable translations but comprehensive notes introducing the social, political, and organizational principles that defined samurai culture--their loyalty to family, their sense of service and duty, and their political strategies for dealing with allies and enemies. These writings introduce the reader to the authentic world of Zen culture and the secrets behind the samurai's success--being "in the moment" and freeing the mind from all distractions, allowing you to react instantaneously and instinctively without thinking. In these classic works, we learn that Zen mental control and meditational training were as important to the Samurai as swordsmanship and fighting skills.

Thomas Glover arrived in Nagasaki in 1859, just as Japan was opening to the West. Within a few years he had played a crucial part in the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate, providing the rebels with war-winning, Scottish-designed warships, and modern arms. Bankruptcy by the age of thirty was barely a setback and he went on to become a pivotal figure in the rapidly expanding Mitsubishi empire, founding shipyards and breweries. As energetic in his love-life as in business and politics, Glover had a string of Japanese mistresses, one of whom inspired Puccini's Madam Butterfly. This 'Scottish Samurai' was to become an adviser to the Japanese government; he also arranged for many Japanese to visit Britain and see the wonders of the industrial revolution, a lesson they enthusiastically absorbed. Today, Glover is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Japanese economic miracle.