Is Hagakure an accurate depiction of the samurai's way of life?

NO!!!!!

It is Tsunetomo's view on the IDEAL samurai way of life. First it is one mans view, not the collective view of an entire class. Second you must remeber the time frame upon which it was written and understand what was going on in Japan and with the Samurai during the Tokugawa era. A samurai 200 years early would definately see things from a different perspective. An ideal is rarely an accurate depiction. An ideal represents what is aspired to, not so much what is.

Tsunetomo was a real samurai, but he lived in a time of relative peace. During this era of japans history the samurai took on a more administrative and managerial role. Ironically this is the era which Bushido, refinement of many martial arts and the increace of reverence for the sword took place. What most of us think of as samurai philosophy, tactics and culture flowered during these peaceful years. With no wars to wage they needed to devote their time to something, they became introverted and collectively refined themselves lifestyle, thought and practice.

The way I've always looked at it was in the light of the fact that it is a collection of writings regarding the Samurai. Every Daimyou did things slightly different in their own way so I'm betting that not every Samurai followed that exact example written in Hagakure.

Most of it does follow a straight example, but it's still taken from other people. Tsunetomo was more on the scholar side of things, understanding a lot on Zen Buddhism, and so he had a lot of depth regarding tradition even among other scholars like Ishida Ittei. Ishida himself was exiled for 8 years just because he had a different opinion from his Daimyou.

William Scott Wilson, a translator for Hagakure, described the book as not a "well-thought-out philosophy", but containing "an anti-intellectual or anti-scholastic bent throughout, and being a record of a seven-year-span of conversations."

I would say that the Hagakure is an accurate depiction, but you also need to keep in mind that they are human and subject to emotion just the same regardless on how much they revere the aspect of death. Everyone's different, even the ones Tsunetomo talked to and Tsunetomo himself. He wasn't nobility which is the only reason why he wasn't well known. To call him a Samurai wannabe would be like calling a foot soldier a wannabe captain. He was just on the bottom of the ladder just as countless people are today. Few ever make it to the top.

Yes, they are translations.

Hagakure, meaning In the shadow of Leaves or hidden leaves is a practical and spiritual guide for a warrior, drawn from a collection of commentaries by the samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo, former retainer to Nabeshima Mitsushige, the third ruler of what is now the Saga prefecture in Japan. Tsuramoto Tashiro compiled these commentaries from his conversations with Tsunetomo from 1709 to 1716; however, it was not published until many years afterwards. Hagakure is also known as The Book of the Samurai, Analects of Nabeshima or Hagakure Analects.

The book records Tsunetomo's views on bushido, the warrior code of the samurai. Hagakure is sometimes said to assert that bushido is really the "Way of Dying" or living as though one was already dead, and that a samurai retainer must be willing to die at any moment in order to be true to his lord.

After his master died, Tsunetomo himself was forbidden to perform junshi, a retainer's ritual suicide, by an edict of the Tokugawa Shogunate combined with his master's disapproval of the tradition. Hagakure may have been written partially in an effort to outline the role of the samurai in a more peaceful society. Several sections refer to the "old days", and imply a dangerous weakening of the samurai class since that time.

The Hagakure was written approximately one hundred years after the start of the Tokugawa era, a time of relative peace. With no major campaigns to fight, the samurai were transforming from a warrior to an administrative class. His work represents one approach to the problem of maintaining military preparedness and a proper military mindset in a time when neither has much practical application.

For a look at the history, consider looking up some Japanese Edo period movies with english subtitles.

Love and Honor is a pretty good period drama on the era of feudalism in Japan.

In Japan, the way to follow Bushido was constantly in a state of debate and in fighting. It started up as "which way is the right way" (each dojo and lord had their own idea) and then progressed into "Westernization or tradition". So there's a lot of arguments about a lot of things, said in Japan as the time went by.

Then there was the more modern interpretation, found in the letters (tegami) sent by the members of the Special Attack Forces in WWII (known as kamikaze popularly).

Then there was the post-war interpretation, or rather reinterpretation to remove the death cult mythology which also resulted in the Occupation Authority from banning all martial arts being practiced in Japan. For awhile, at least. There were some interesting arguments on that, at the time, I am sure.