Must-read/view Samurai stuff

[hanschristianandersen]

I have to put in a good word for Hiroaki Samura's manga "Blade of the Immortal", especially the later volumes.  It's kind of long at this point (11 volumes, or so,) and the initial volumes are a bit on the ridiculous/over-the-top side...

...but once the series really starts maturing, it's incredible TROS material.  The characters are all individuals who have their own reasons and justifications for being swordsmen, and their motives for killing are pure SA material.  Its core plot, of a swordsman's daughter (who's not really much of a swordswoman herself) seeking revenge for her father's death, perfectly fits Riddle's central questions and themes.

From a research/sourcebook standpoint, it's filled with "street-level" detail about the daily life of a bladesli... er, Ronin in early Tokugawa-era Japan; details like what sort of papers you need to cross province borders, cheap inns, organized crime, law enforcement, little stands by the side of the road selling rice cakes, rival kenjutsu dojo, the way rumors travel in a small community...  I don't know how historically authentic it all is, but as material for making a game *seem* authentic and lifelike, it's excellent.

[Morte]

I second the plug for Hiroshi Inagaki's film trilogy "Musashi Miyamoto", "Duel at Ichijoji Temple", and "Duel at Ganyru Island"; and I'd add two film adaptations of "The 47 Ronin": Kenzi Mizoguchi's from 1941 and Inagaki's from 1962 (usually titled "Chushingura").

Great stuff. Useful for flavour and Japan-centric spiritual attributes.

[6inTruder]

....?! Am I the only one who found the Musashi Trilogy really kinda dull? I mean, I own it and all, but the book was WAY more interesting. The Mifune factor is always nice, and I guess if one is all with the strapped for time... Crump! I really don't mean this to be comming down on other people's movie tastes (my can run REALLY bad) but enough of what I really enjoyed about the book was cut from the film, so please just take this as a differing oppinion ^_^

The '62 Chushingura is beautiful! So I'll second the recomendation there.

And has anyone mentioned Red Beard specificaly?