Books by Karl F. Friday

Western scholars are generally far less familiar with the samurai in his original role as warrior and master of arms than in his other functions as landowner, feudal lord, litterateur, or philosopher. Karl Friday examines samurai martial culture from a historical and worldview in this study.

Tracing the evolution of state military institutions from the seventh to the twelfth centuries, this book challenges much of the received wisdom of Western scholarship on the origins and early development of warriors in Japan.