The authors of this fundamental study, well-known American experts in martial arts, talk about the history of the warlike samurai and the practical, technical and strategic aspects of martial arts, the culture, ethics and philosophy of the Land of the Rising Sun. All this information does not seem to be just fragments of the distant past, evidence of material culture and the poetics of the fighting spirit: they pave the bridge to an understanding of today's Japan, in which adherence to tradition does not fetter rapid movement forward. The new edition is supplemented by a rich selection of illustrations made by the famous Oscar Ratti and not included in the previous editions of this cult book; current changes and clarifications have been made to the text.