The Hagakure: AthenianArts.Com By Athenian Arts

Hagakure (Kyūjitai: 葉隱; Shinjitai: 葉隠; meaning In the shadow the Leaves or hidden leaves.), or Hagakure Kikigaki (葉隠聞書) is a practical and spiritual guide for a warrior, drawn from a collection of commentaries by the samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo, former retainer to Nabeshima Mitsushige, the third ruler of what is now the Saga prefecture in Japan. Tsuramoto Tashiro compiled these commentaries from his conversations with Tsunetomo from 1709 to 1716; however, it was not published until many years afterwards. Hagakure is also known as the The Book of the Samurai,Analects of Nabeshima or the Hagakure Analects.

The book records Tsunetomo’s views on bushido, the warrior code of the samurai. Hagakure is sometimes said to assert that bushido is really the “Way of Dying” or living as though one was already dead, and that a samurai retainer must be willing to die at any moment in order to be true to his lord.