As a boy, Eiichi Yamagata was sent away to a local monastery where he studied Zen and the martial arts. It is here that he was trained in the sword progressing to be considered one of the greatest swordsmen of current times, a claim enhanced when Eiichi defeated three opponents at once, using nothing but a steel fan.

Left without a to fend for themselves following either the death or disgrace of their master or their own fall from grace, ronin were itinerant samurai who drifted across feudal Japan. They often made a living as mercenaries or bodyguards.

Samurai are arguably history’s most evocative warriors. Whilst the term Samurai was once applied only to aristocratic warriors (or bushi), it came to denote all members of the warrior class. This warrior is wearing a mino, a traditional raincoat made out of straw