NICHINAN, Miyazaki Prefecture—At the age of 99, Joseph Cursor, a former U.S. soldier who lives ... an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army, carried the sword with him when he left Takaharu ...

Trained in the shadow of samurai tradition, these soldiers were taught to fight with unshakable loyalty, brutal discipline, ...

Foot soldiers learned to use traditional samurai weapons such as the bow, while the samurai became adept with the famed katana sword. Although crude Chinese handguns reached Japan by the early ...