To portray a serene assassin in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, he studied Eastern and Egyptian philosophy and samurai meditation.

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However, it also squandered much of the prestige it had enjoyed for upholding a spirit of public service that dated all the way back to the glory days of the samurai era in the 17th-19th centuries.

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The "way of tea" had become an essential part of the samurai-influenced code of upper Japanese behavior.

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