The word "samurai" is synonymous with a brave warrior who fights for high ideals and puts honor above his life. The influence of the samurai military class, which had long been dominant in Japan, contributed to the transformation of the entire Japanese people into a “nation of samurai.” Wolfgang Akunov’s new book is published in the series “Documents and materials of the ancient and modern history of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem,” for samurai is the Japanese analogue of Christian chivalry, the archetype of which was the Order of the Poor Companions of Christ and the Temple of Solomon.