It even comes with a special shoulder strap that allows you to carry it over your shoulder. It retails for 4800 yen (about $50 USD)

Unfortunately I’m on the other side of the country, but am definitely adding this museum to things I’d want to see if I make it out to California.

Even more so your recommendations to friends, family and pastors is also appreciated.

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Note: You won’t be able to print or copy text from this edition, but it should work on most PDA’s and of course any computer with Adobe Reader.

If you want a print copy, you can order it here.

You can find the video on Hulu.com by clicking here or using the player below. The samurai sword segment starts at 14:42.

A brief story on the life of Mitsuo Fuchida, flight commander of the attack on Pearl Harbor in WWII, who later converted and became a Christian evangelist.

Seven Samurai Remake - Expectations are low, for the original is considered one of the 10 best movies of all time. To be honest, it’s been remade several times over in other genre’s already, one example being The Magnificent Seven. However, expect lots of hype and an epic advertising campaign.

Afro Samurai - Samuel L. Jackson stars in this anime movie.

Samurai Jack - A movie version of the Cartoon Network cartoon.

My Samurai - Apparently a culture-clash comedy about a homeless man who pledges loyalty to an American businessman who saves his life, in the manner of the samurai.

The Samurai of Strongsville, Ohio - High School girls imagine they are powerful samurai (sorry,that’s all I get from IMDB!)

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior 2 - Ok, whole other culture, but Good Soil star Shin Koyamada is reprising his role in this Disney made-for-TV movie.

Ninja Assassin - Produced by the Wachowski brothers, this film is taking influence from anime films such as Samurai Champloo.

We’ll probably see more show up, but even now, this looks promising for a samurai-filled 2009!

It seems even if we are not headed into a depression financially, many of us are in the midst of a psychological depression due to the recent bad news on Wall Street.

Isn’t this one of those things that are outside our control? Even if you are not religious, aren’t we all supposed to act, not react?

All fear is anticipation of loss. In this case, loss of money, financial security. I’m not sure financial security is all that secure; even if you hold onto cold hard cash it can be stolen, lost, or become worthless due to a fluctuation in the market - or the government. Someone once told me that the retail price of soap has increased more in the past 100 years or so than gold; ‘precious’ substances, in the end, are less valuable even in monetary value than non-perishable necessities.

If, while you are holding onto something (in this case money) and are so afraid of losing it you cannot function, there is something wrong with the way you are living. I’m not trying to be preachy. This has nothing to do with faith or religion. If you are getting emotionally sick over something you have no control over, do something that you can have control over. For one thing, I’ll hazard a guess that despite the credit crunch we are going to see a surge in small businesses in the next 6 months.

I’m not going to quote a Scripture here, but rather a pagan Samurai warrior:

“If you are full of anxiety and constantly fret about this and that, you will never be able to handle anything well… Samurai were trained as a matter of course to live simply with a minimum of possessions. It is much better to be free of attachment to things and events; when one has attained a high level of insight, he is unconcerned with the ceaseless flow of activities and objects” (Yamaoka Tesshu, quoted in the Way of the Christian Samurai

It may seem odd to consider that these samurai - which we see flooding our television and movie screens - as models of the Christian life. They were, after all, soldiers of a pagan world who gave their lives entirely to an earthly master, trained from young ages to kill. On closer inspection, however, there is much we can learn from the example of the samurai as Christians - and not only those who have been recognized as blessed.

One of those beatified is a samurai named Zaisho Shichiemon, who accepted baptism despite the express prohibition of his master. According to www.chiesa, when the priest reminded him that such defiance of his lord could be punished by death, Zaisho replied, “I know, but I have understood that salvation lies in the teaching of Jesus, and no one can separate me from Him.” Four months later, he was ordered to reounce his faith. Zaisho replied, “I would obey in any other matter, but I cannot accept any order that is opposed to my eternal salvation.” He was then executed in the street in front of his house.

Even though it became a matter of life and death, Zaisho and other samurai knew the importance of service and obedience to one’s lord. Samurai lords, called diaymo, literally heald the lives of their servants in their hands. However, Zaisho was aware that in the case of his soul and salvation, he could not disobey his Lord, Jesus, even at the command of his earthly master - despite the fact that the man he disobeyed provided all his worldly needs, including home, food and wages, and evenhad the power to have him executed on a whim.

In the Hagakure, a book of the samurai’s ideals and instruction, it states:

“Being a retainer [samurai] is nothing other than being a supporter of one’s lord, entrusting matters of good and evil to him, and renouncing self-interest… when it comes to throwing away one’s life for his lord all get weak in the knees. This is rather disgraceful. The fact that a useless person often becomes a matchless warrior at such times is because he has already given up his life and become one with his lord.”

and also:

“The way of the samurai is found in death… This is the substance of the way of the samurai. If by setting his heart right every morining and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the way. His whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.”

Zaisho understood, like all samurai, that he lived for the sake of his lord, and that he must live as already dead for his lord’s sake. He therefore realized, perhaps better than we can, that in baptism he was dying in Christ. From then on was dead to the world, and free in the Way of Christ. Although he wsa still in the employ of his diaymo, it was clear to Zaisho that no other man - be it his employer, political ruler or neighbor could compromise his service to his Lord. After all, the very title of “samurai” literally means “one who serves,” and as a samurai Zaisho’s service, self-sacrifice, and resolve were the very definition of his honored position.

In the Western world, we do not honor service, but independence and individualism. We have lost the perspective of what it means to serve, to wholly give oneself to our Lord. Fear of losing status, job security, economic stability often compromise our judgment when we are faced with the choice of following in our Lord’s footsteps, or succumbing to the way of our world. The idea of living as dead to the world is foreign to us, even though Christ has called us to “take up our cross” and follow him.

Remember, the cross was not a symbol of salvation in Jesus’ time. It was the means of a torturous execution reserved for criminals. Jesus did not spare his followers the fact that following Him would mean the losing of one’s life - “For whoever want to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it.” (Mt 16:25)

Other samurai in Zaisho’s time may not have accepted Jesus, but they did understand the self-sacrifice that service demands, and many of them literally gave their lives for worldly lords, choosing death over disobedience even to human masters who could be corrupt, cruel, unforgiving and bloodthirsty. How is it then, that these pagan servant-warriors could better serve fallen human lords better than we Christians can serve an infinitely good, merciful, and eternal Lord?

May we keep in mind the example of Blessed Zaisho Shichiemon, who knew both the way of service and the Way of Jesus. As it says in the Hagakure:

“If one were to say in a word what the condition of being a samurai is, its basis lies in seriously devoting one’s body and soul to his master.”

Or, as we have heard it proclaimed so many times before,

“Love the Lord your God with your heart and all your soul and all your mind.” (Mt 22:37)