The "Bushido" role-playing game was originally published in 1979 by Tyr Games (which quickly went out of business) but was more widely released in 1980 by Phoenix Games as a boxed set. This edition included a map of Nippon, a tri-fold screen, a character sheet, "Book I, The Heroes of Nippon", the Players Guidebook and "Book II, The Land of Nippon", the Gamesmaster's Guidebook. All illustrations in the original boxed set are copyright by Robert N. Charrette. The game is now sold as a single book in which the two original books are combined (otherwise unaltered).