Tag - samurai

 
 

SAMURAI

Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 9, 2016
Exploring Tabaruzaka's idyllic but forgotten samurai battleground
The gray spring clouds have given way to a gentle drizzle by the time I pull my car into a spacious parking lot bordering the Tabaruzaka battlefield. It's fitting weather, considering the massive battle that took place here in 1877 in this rural corner north of Kumamoto city was fought in similar conditions....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 3, 2016
Japan's epic samurai dramas are in a tight spot
Japanese can roughly be split into two camps: those equipped with an encyclopedic knowledge of history and those who have only a vague idea of who the samurai were or that a Shogun once lived in what is now the Imperial Palace. The history geeks on one side and those who couldn't care less on the other....
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 31, 2015
Katana swordplay exercise is a hit with Tokyo women
Samurai may be known as a man's pursuit, but feudal Japan produced a number of legendary female warriors who took to the battlefield with a sword that still holds a high cultural position today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2014
Punk author Kou Machida on his offbeat samurai story
You wouldn't expect a punk musician to write decent novels, any more than you'd expect a boxer to be good at darning. The talents prized by the former vocation — restlessness, insouciance, hard-wired disregard for authority — don't lend themselves to the rigors of the author's life: all those long,...
JAPAN / History
Mar 22, 2014
The sloughing of Japan's corporate skin goes on
"Man is born free and is everywhere in chains."
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 17, 2014
Knights vs. samurai: It's the ultimate crossing of swords
Is the samurai blade swift enough to outsmart the knight's sturdier sword? Japan's first Armored Battle is about to find out.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 6, 2013
Hats off to Chiyoda's rice-field rites
I can't quite believe we're getting up just after dawn on a Sunday morning for an event that doesn't start till lunchtime. But our Japanese friends all assured us we'd regret it if we didn't arrive early.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 14, 2010
"Ryomaden" romanticizes (and monetizes) history
It's official. Japan is in the throes of what's bound to be a long-term romance with a certain rebel samurai named Ryoma Sakamoto.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 22, 2004
Following the way of the samurai in Akita's Kakunodate
For the Hollywood view of what life was like for the old warriors of Japan, go down to the video shop and take out "The Last Samurai." But for a more accurate glimpse of how the samurai lived and the kind of world they inhabited, take a trip to Kakunodate.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji