Product Description

Japan’s great monuments, pagodas and temples are the physical evidence of people steeped in the ways of Buddhism –a stark and fascinating contrast with the famous Samurai warriors and their noble Code of Bushido. Featuring terrific graphic re-creations and animation, this episode of Lost Treasures reveals a traditional society, which, throughout the centuries, has been deeply concerned with balance, calm and order. Features superb 3D graphics, State-of-the-art computer generated animation, all new location footage, and expert commentary and analyses.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74167 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-01-31
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 50 minutes

Customer Reviews

Not what I expected.. But not bad
It is an interesting movie I'd have to say.. But it doesn't talk primarily about the samurais of Japan. It talks more about the history of Japan, how it was introduced to Buddhism and Christianity afterwards; it also talks about its most famous surviving architecture. The movie doesn't quite hold its title; it should be called (the history of Japan) or something like that. So if you were like me, looking for more details about the samurais you will not find this one very informative in some sense.

Excellent AP World History Review
The title "Lost Treasures" may be misleading, but it is a treasure to AP World History teachers and students. The documentary touches on all the major points of Japanese history from Nara/Heian through the feudal period to its opening by America in the 19th century. On the downside, it moves a little slow and does not have a lot of pizazz.

History of Japan
This 50-minute documentary is an overview of Japanese history through the 19th century, with special attention to the samurai and to architectural treasures of Japan.

The filmmakers didn't seem to have a clear sense of what they were trying to do in this film. If you want to learn about Japanese history, this is a decent overview, but you may wish there were somewhat less attention given to the samurai and to individual architectural treasures. If you're particularly interested in the samurai, you'll learn how they fit into Japanese history, and you'll learn about their armor and swords and "the way of the warrior," but you may be disappointed that the samurai aren't actually the focus of the film. And if you're particularly interested in Japanese architecture, you'll learn a bit about that, but again, it isn't the focus of the film.

A better documentary on Japanese history (from the 16th through 19th centuries) is "Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire" from the PBS "Empires" series.