maybe these best describe who a samurai is;
Dr. Carl Steenstrup used these words;
"....reckless bravery, fierce family pride, and selfless, at times senseless devotion.."
Kato Kiyomasa told his men, "...a warrior's only duty in life was to grasp the long and the short swords and to die, a brave and manly death..."
Yamamoto's Hagakure best-known for his saying "The way of the Samurai is in desperateness. Ten men or more cannot kill such a man."
Takeda Shingen in the Hagakure related his execution of two brawlers, "not because they had fought, but because they had not fought to the death."
Their code is seppuku (or hara kiri), which allowed a disgraced samurai to regain his honor by passing into death.
(I've just added 'kasazuri' thigh/groin protection tassles...very un-PM, I know, but now they look less naked
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