Oh yes, extensive studying of the Sengoku Era will result in that knowledge. Sanada-san fascinates me with him might and bravery.

He wasn't able to kill Ieyasu because in the end he lacked the man power or the strength to push through all the way to Ieyasu. He died in the main camp of his foe.

Not only do I read it, but I play Samurai Warriors 1&2 as if it was a religion. ^_^ So I just retain the knowledge. I know very few other warriors of that period this well.

i would like to point out that there were also some samurai who took on the role of the ninja. they are easily identified by the type of sword they use. all those straight single edged "ninja" swords you see in movies, are actually the type of sword used by such samurai. all ninja blades are DOUBLEedged, meaning they have an edge on both sides of the blade.

also...hmm...does that mean Budo could be called the Tao of Sword?

have you covered Uesuagi(not sure i spelled that right) Kenshin yet? the guy upon which Samurai X's Himura Kenshin is based? like Miyamoto Musashi, he was both a swordsman and a swordsmith. they practiced distinctly different styles, however, with Musashi's being predominently twin-swords

yeah, that's him. i think it is, anyways. i wonder if i can find anything on any scottish/irish warriors that were nearly as famous, aside from the mythical ...uh...crap, i can't remember how to spell his name...i know it's not spelled like it sounds, but it sounds like Cuu Culain....

I thought I would point out that some of the information you have posted is inaccurate. Although ninja originated from samurai to some extent, there is no such thing as a samurai-ninja. They are seperate types of warriors, whose philosophies conflicted each other so strongly that there was a significant feeling of animosity between them. Also, the ninja's greatest weapon was indeed the sword, but it was NOT double-edged; that is a myth. The ninja-to (or shinobi-gatana) was actually a katana that was almost straight and slightly shorter than the katana.

As for Himura Kenshin from Samurai X (and Rurouni Kenshin), Nobuhiro Watsuki, the creator of Rurouni Kenshin, has said himself that the model for his protagonist was a man named Kawakami Gensai, not Uesugi Kenshin. Like Kenshin in the anime and manga, Kawakami Gensai was a hitokiri, or assassin. He also was said to be one of the most feared among the four-man hitsquad who used the alias of "hitokiri," and was rumored to be rather effeminate (sound familiar? ^_^; ). Unlike Kenshin, however, Gensai was arrested on alleged charges and executed several years before the story of Rurouni Kenshin takes place.

i never said samurai-ninja...i said samurai who took missions similar to those a ninja would have taken. and i am indeed accurate as far as the sword. because a ninja does NOT use a katana. their sword is entirely different. as for the kenshin thing, that's interesting...i had been told it was based on a man with the same last name