As was said Eiji Yoshikawa wrote good books.
I would highly reccomend his Shin Heike Monogatari. Yes, this one has been translated into English. Its translation is called The Heike Story.
Eiji Yoshikawa is a more modern writer (The book was written about 50 years ago).
This is a novel based on the Heike Monogatari, an ancient story of Japan that is very popular. Surely you can find an English translation of this too. Probably you should look for book with title The Tale of Heike, the translation of Japanese title. This book is from the years after the fall of the Heike.
These stories are about the Heike clan and the Gempei Wars, which were in early 1100's years. There are samurai in these stories. In fact, it was at this time that samurai became important. Before, they were less so important. They were called by the nobles of the Imperial Court to defend them from enemies such as the warrior monks. The samurai soon became very influential and powerful.
Another good Japanese book from the Heian Era would be Genji Monogatari. It was written by Shikibu Murasaki, a courtlady living at that time. Probably there would be an English translation of it. However, this is not a tale of samurai, but of courtlife of nobles in Heian. This story was written at about the time it takes place.
I hope this helped.
Meiji-Tenno
