The following tales of the samurai, the knights of old Japan, are based largely on real facts. They have been adapted from among traditional stories related by kōdanshi , story-tellers, who nightly delight large audiences with romances and historical stories, especially the noble deeds of the samurai. There are also numerous Japanese books and magazines devoted to stories of this description, which are read with keen interest by all classes of our countrymen, in particular by young people.