India, Feb. 14 -- We're going to bet you didn't know that.

- about half of Japan's samurai were, at one point, women.

- a number were Christian.

- none were really honour-bound.

- there's a strong link between the samurai and Star Wars.

Let's take that last one first.

The ancient, monastic Jedi order that drives so much of the action in George Lucas's Star Wars films, he has often said, has drawn deeply from Japanese culture.

The emphasis on discipline, loyalty and selflessness, in fact, can be traced directly to Bushido (Japanese for Way of the Warrior), an unwritten and largely romanticised idea of the samurai code that emerged in modern Japan and spread and was further romanticised in the West. The flowing robes, helmets and vis...