Stephen Turnbull, the world's leading authority on the samurai, goes beyond the battlefield to paint a picture of the samurai as they really were.

This book explores the samurai within the context of an all-encompassing warrior culture that was expressed through art and poetry as much as through violence.

Using themed chapters, Turnbull illuminates the samurai through their historical development and their relationship to the world around them – relationships that are shown to persist in Japan even today.