I dont knowwhere else to post this question but I one wanted to learn about the Shinobi and the samurai where wouldI start?
I really jsut want to become familiar with that part of history.
Please help or direct me to somebody who can
A few things I drew from for a failed RPG project of mine.
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan is a long-running series, with enormous amounts in the public domain on Google Books.
For more samurai-specific books:
Samurai Armies 1467-1649 by Stephen Turnbull
Taiho-Jutsu: Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai by Don Cunningham
Secrets of the Samurai: The Martial Arts of Feudal Japan by Oscar Ratti, Adele Westbrook
Not being a professional historian (though I did study Japanese for a year), I can't really vouch for the quality of these, but they were helpful to me.
For samurai and sengoku in general, read the 24 pages introduction (at least) of this first, if you can access it. Then see this thread.
I can not in good conscience recommend anything on shinobi since I don't know anything that does not basically crib off of fiction, legends, or just pop-history books in either Japanese or English. The same charge applies to most things Stephen Turnbull wrote not on armor/weapons/castles.