Michael Zomber Essay

“The Last Samurai” is an epic war film, inspired by the events of the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion led by Sagio Takamori. In the film, a traumatized civil war veteran by the name of Nathan Algren is hired to train soldiers in the Imperial Japanese Army and aid their suppression of the Satsuma Rebellion. During their first battle, Algren is captured by samurai and after avoiding execution begins to learn their way of life before helping them defend against the Imperial Army. While the film keeps true to some aspects of the period, several facts including the reason for the rebellion, Japanese relations with the United States and the warriors experience with firearms are all portrayed in a manner inconsistent with the time period.

Michael Zomber is passionate about samurai swords. As a well-respected antique arms collector and seller, he is regarded as an expert on the subject of ancient weaponry and the samurai sword.

However he immediately wants to break down the myths that samurai were much more than warriors with some social status and the ninja were not black clad “enemies of the samurai” but were instead, “ a specialist branch of the samurai warfare and were and integral part of the Japanese war machine” (Cummins 82). In his chapter about samurai, he talks about various samurai fighting techniques, fortresses and camps and how shinobi fit in and what their roles were as a samurai class member. Moreover, in this section he attests to some of the causes of the Samurai and in turn ninja mystique, and the true origins of ninja within the Iga and Koga clans and how warriors of the clans jizamurai came to be. Some parts of this text have translating from other Sengoku period war texts. The third chapter focuses on much of the same things with more focus on partial historical ninja texts/scrolls translated by Antony

'Twilight Samurai" is situated in Japan throughout the time of the Meiji Restoration, circa 1868 - the same period as Kurosawa's incredible "The Seven Samurai" and Edward Zwick's exquisite "The Last Samurai." The three movies bargain in distinctive routes with a period when samurai still attempted to live by the Code of Bushido, even as they confronted destitution or unemployment in an evolving pop culture. "The Last Samurai" is about samurai contradicting the head's moves to modernize Japan; unexpectedly, we discover that the saint of "Sundown Samurai" battled and kicked the bucket in that insubordination - after the story of this film is over.

Maurits Cornelis (M.C.) Escher (1898-1972) was a Dutch graphics artist who specialized in many printmaking techniques, mainly lithographs as well as mezzotints. Like many famous artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, and Holbein, M.C. Escher was left-handed. His trade was not limited to printmaking / graphics artist, he was also known for his book illustrations, tapestries, postage stamps as well as murals. What makes Escher’s works so intriguing is the mathematical nature that leaves the viewers in awe, looking for reason and ways that the pieces “work”. His work can be described as “meticulous realism with enigmatic optical illusions” (Encyclopædia Britannica However, a lot of his works focus on physical impossibility,

The Samurai’s tale was an exciting novel by Erik Christian Haugaard that managed to fit romance into the brutal conflict of the struggle for the title of Emperor. This story was very hard to put down but in the end, was very satisfying.

Many famous artists emerged from the renaissance, including artists such as da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, Titian, and so on. An interesting thing to note about artists like these is that not many of them painted landscapes; they mostly painted religious, war, and mythological characters and scenes. However, there was one artist who showed a particular interest in landscape painting during this time, and is considered by many to be the “first landscape painter in the modern sense.” (“Albrecht Altdorfer”) That artist was a German man named Albrecht Altdorfer. He was an incredible painter (“Albrecht Altdorfer”) who left a considerable impact on the world of art, and deserves far more recognition

Today all the samurai swords that are made cherish the memories of these brave warriors. It is believed that the samurais believed that their souls were in their swords. Some of the samurai have passed their tradition along with their swords to their sons and their grandsons.

Introduction Samurai’s were the Japanese warrior noblemen who dominated Japan from the 10th to the 19th century. They held a special position in society where they were the only people who were allowed to carry a sword and followed a code of honour called Bushido which is best translated to “the way of the warrior”. It was a strict set of rules where one rule was broken, a suicide ritual must be taken place and is called harakiri. Samurai’s wore an elaborate armour and fought with three different weapons: A lance A bow  Samurai’s were excellent archers  Their bows had the length of seven to ten feet long with the materials of bamboo, wood, cane and leather 

The samurai, the knight of feudal Japan and wielder of the world’s most iconic weapon, the Katana. From the rise of the samurai caste and their use of the bow, sumo and katanas, we will explore the long and highly honoured position of the Japanese warrior.

Over the past couple of days have been doing a lot of research on the History of Ninjas and Samurais. There were a lot of Ninjas that were trained to do it for the audience and show and also in movies. The Ninjas would use what is called a Samurai sword and that would be a weapon they would use to be stealthy and silent. There's a lot of Ninja stuff remembered because all the crazy stuff they did and how they did it for the audience and how they would do it to be sneaky.

Now let’s learn about the samurai. Samurai were top of the line, powerful mercenaries who were the highest ranking caste of the Edo Period (1604-1867) and had a reputation for their strict code of honor called the bushido (Samurai). The bushido incorporates many Confucian elements such as loyalty to one’s master, self-discipline and respectful, ethical behavior (Samurai). Much like the ninja, samurai had a wide array of weapons including, but not limited to, bows and arrows, spears, guns, and their main weapon; the sword

Throughout the many years, many have studied medieval Japan have pondered about the question, ‘’What were the 8 virtues of the samurai?’’. Today, I will talk about the studies of one primary and one secondary source that provides evidence to answer the question. The Samurai were warriors of medieval Japan that served and protected the land of their master from invasions under the command of the Shogun that provide them with rice allotments and land for payment. The Samurai were a group of fearless men that could ride horses and fight with or without weapons. Samurai wore metal plates with leather as armour, attached together with strings. These experienced groups were the only class that had the right to hold a Katana or any other sword.

During the ancient period of Japan there existed a time of war and power struggles. There were many people who followed the Bushido code or way of the warrior. These people were called samurai. Of the countless men who devoted their lives to the Bushido code there were none greater than Miyamoto Musashi. Musashi was one of if not the most famous samurai to ever walk the lands of medieval Japan. He was a legend in his own time.

The films were set during the Tokugawa era, where, except for some samurai that were under government service, the rest of the samurai were forbidden to carry any weapon. It was the reason Zatoichi carries his sword disguised as a cane, a rather popular weapon at that time, named