Yamamoto Tsunetomo

(1659 - 1719)

As a boy living on the Japanese island of Kyushu, Yamamoto Tsunetomo received traditional samurai training by studying sword fighting, calligraphy, and poetry. After serving as a scribe for many years, Tsunetomo became a Buddhist priest and withdrew to a hermitage in the woods. His disciple took notes of his teachings and turned them into the Hagakure, a text concerned with how samurai should behave in a highly militaristic society that had created a peaceful regime. “Men with contriving hearts are lacking in duty,” the Hagakure says. “Lacking in duty, they will have no self-respect.”