About
Samurai Archive is a bilingual archive of the lives, battles, and legacy of Japan's warriors — from the Sengoku and Edo periods through the Bakumatsu. We write from primary Japanese sources, with the goal of giving English-speaking readers a faithful, deeply researched look at the world of the samurai.
Mission
To give English-speaking samurai fans — readers drawn in by Shōgun, Ghost of Tsushima, the Total War series, or any other modern doorway into Japanese history — a reliable English-language path back to the primary Japanese sources, the standard academic biographies, and the institutional archives that are taken for granted in Japan but rarely surfaced abroad.
Editorial Standards
Every subject page cites three layers of provenance: (1) a primary text (e.g. Shinchō Kōki, Kōyō Gunkan, Go Rin no Sho, Azuma Kagami, Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba); (2) a definitive academic biography (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan's Jinbutsu Sōsho series, Chūkō Shinsho, Iwanami Shinsho, KADOKAWA scholarly imprints); and (3) the institutional archive holding the original documents (National Diet Library, National Archives of Japan, Imperial Household Agency Sannomaru Shōzōkan, prefectural museums, dedicated clan archives). All three are listed in the Reference Materials section of each page.
Use of AI, and Its Limits
Large language models are used to assist with drafting and structuring. Factual claims — dates of birth and death, battle chronologies, titles and offices, family relationships, place names — are verified by a human against the primary text and the academic literature before publication. Legends and post-mortem traditions that cannot be confirmed are explicitly marked as such, and distinguished from documented history. Unverified AI-generated material is not published.
Editor
Samurai Archive is run as a side project by a software engineer with a long-standing interest in Sengoku and Bakumatsu history — not by a credentialed academic historian. The editorial method is built around always citing the source so that any reader can verify a claim independently. Corrections, factual disputes, and editorial feedback are welcome via the Contact page.
Scope and Roadmap
The archive currently covers 29 samurai-related figures: Sengoku daimyō (Oda Nobunaga, Takeda Shingen and others), the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, Bakumatsu reformers (Sakamoto Ryōma, Saigō Takamori), women of the warrior class (Hosokawa Gracia, Hōjō Masako, Tomoe Gozen), and figures from the Genpei, Kamakura, and Nanboku-chō eras (Minamoto no Yoritomo, Kusunoki Masashige, Ashikaga Takauji, Hōjō Tokimune). Coverage will expand to battles, castles, weapons, and cultural topics over time.
Affiliate Links and Ads
To cover hosting and operating costs, this site participates in the Amazon Associates Program and Google AdSense. Affiliate links are limited to the recommended-reading book card in each subject's Reference Materials section, and have no influence on editorial content. See the Privacy Policy for details.