A gory set of manuals, one dating to the 17th century, advised Japanese warriors in the secret ways of seppuku. By Franz Lidz In 1970, the celebrated novelist Yukio Mishima committed seppuku, a ...

Seki Nobuhide Sensei, a martial arts and katana instructor, rates portrayals of samurai battles in movies and TV shows. He explains why samurai employed different types of spears in battle in "Shogun.