2One of the classics of Japanese culture, which jealously guarded the secrets, philosophy, instruction and values of the samurai. "Merit in martial value lies in dying for the teacher instead of beating the enemy." HAGAKURE This is the most influential of all the treatises on samurai ever published. "Professor Ivan MorrisHagakure (" In the shadow of the leaves ") is a manual for samurai classes consisting of a series of brief anecdotes and reflections that at the same time they provide instrospection and knowledge about the philosophy and the code of behavior that promotes the true spirit of the Bushido - The way of the warrior. You don't have a philosophy book in your hands - as it could be interpreted a priori - but a collection of thoughts and sentences compiled over a period of seven years, and covering a wide variety of topics without a pre-established order.The work represents a attitude very different from our modern pragmatism and materialism, and it has an intuitive rather than rational charm in its assertion that Bushido is a Way to Die, and that a vassal samurai is always ready and willing to die at any moment to be totally Faithful to his lord. Hagakure was a text that was kept secret for many years and was only addressed to the vassal warrior of Hizen's fief, to which the author belonged. Subsequently, this treaty became a classic of Samurai philosophy and thought, and came to influence later generations, including Yukio Mishima. YAMAMOTO TSUNETOMO (1659-1719) was a samurai vassal of the Nabeshima clan - the lords of the province Hizen-, and became a Buddhist monk in 1700, after the Shogunal government banned the practice of tsuifuku - suicide of the vassal at the death of his lord. The book was dictated to a younger samurai during a seven-year retirement of the author, a single guide to live ... and die: a focused life, a death at will .