Talk the Talk
Dr Inazo Nitobe wrote a book in English in 1900 called Bushido: The Soul of Japan.
It explained to the Western world exactly what the ‘Way’ of the Japanese warrior of the medieval period was and how the Bushido Code influenced their lives. He stated that;
"Just as the soul of the samurai is the soul of Japan, the sword is the soul of the samurai".
While Nitobe, like so many others before and after him, did have a tendency to over-romanticise when it comes to the samurai and his sword, the poetic language used when it comes to the katana and its wielder reflects just how important the weapon was to the honour codes and culture of the warrior elite in Japan.