Hatamoto: Revised Edition (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781719179287)

American Mishima is the work of author Louis Edward Rosas, the son of Mexican immigrants whose father, Luis Sr., served in the U.S. Army in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Louis Rosas, in his youth, grew up on glamorized war films and military aviation in the sleepy seaside plains of Oxnard California. It was there he watched waves of replica Japanese warplanes fly overhead as they filmed WWII dramas including The Black Sheep Squadron out of the nearby Oxnard Airport. Instilled with an early fascination of the Second World War during the Post Vietnam Era, it was his exposure to Akira Kurosawa's Samurai epic Ran (Toho, 1985) that ultimately changed his views on war while creating a lasting impression of Japanese culture and history. Further inspired by the works of famed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima, Rosas would go on to become immersed in the study of Japanese language, history, and swordsmanship which led him to the practice of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism and Shinto. Rosas has also trained in Shinkendo, the ideal practice of the Samurai Code of Bushido in the modern world under its founder in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles which helped shape the creative force that is American Mishima.