The Heart Of The Warrior Chapter Summary

This is my review on "The Heart of the Warrior," written by Catharina Blomberg. In this review I intend to go through each chapter pointing out what the chapter discussed and what I learned from reading this book. I chose this book because it seemed interesting and something that was worthwhile for the time I spent reading it. This book seems to take a more in depth look at what we have touched on in class.

The introduction chapter of this book deals with a brief history of how the samurai or "Bushi" come to exist and how they impact Japan throughout history. The book goes into detail about the many different ethical aspects of bushi (a warrior), and how they should strive to live their lives. Many of these aspects are illustrated
The earliest representations of Japanese warriors are clay figures called "haniwa" which were found on ancient grave mounds around 250-500 A.D. These figures were often wearing suits of armor and armed with swords. The earliest soldiers seem to have belonged to local leaders and guarded the leaders land from invasion from outside forces. Japan was unified and and Emperor took power in 646 A.D, and a government which was modeled after the T'ang dynasty in China now ruled. A centralized military unit was organized which would be called upon when needed (6.) The first set of military guidelines came as the Yoro Code, which were revised later into the Taiho Laws, which set the rules for military guards, palace guards, and the armed personal guards to the Emperor. The term "Samurai" can be traced back to the word, saburahu, and meaning, "to serve a master." The second chapter entitled "Bushi Attitudes Towards the Traditional Religions," deals with exactly what the title states. There were several forms of religion in Japan at this time. This first was Shinto, which is basically an agricultural religion, which focuses on the harvest of rice, as well as cleanliness and purification by means of cold