文学史上的中国武侠与日本武士，都是以勇气和武力开辟社会道路、实现人生价值的英雄形象，凝聚着中日两个民族的情感和想象。武侠小说与武士小说围绕行侠仗义的武侠、忠诚勇敢的武士，书写可歌可泣的英雄形象事迹，蕴含着侠义精神与武士道思想。《水浒传》与《平家物语》均以具体的历史事件为故事背景，以写实与传奇相结合的手法，反映出武侠群体与武士群体在中日历史转型期的命运与遭际，都对后来的武侠小说与武士小说产生深远影响。《水浒传》中的武侠群体与《平家物语》中的武士群体，产生自不同的社会历史土壤，秉承着不同的价值观念体系，被作者寄托着相似的社会理想，体现着共通的文化精神，都在世俗化文学时代中广泛流传开来，表现出相异的审美趣味。在种种相通与相异之处中，二者形成了充分的可比性。

      然而迄今国外学界对于武侠和武士在文学和文化上的比较研究成果较少，国内研究界虽有相关的文章，但大部分基于表层现象的分析，主要是因为缺乏具体文学作品的分析研究而流于空泛，再加上对于作为历史实体的武侠群体认识不清，多将武侠视为文学虚构或精神气质的体现，忽视武侠作为脱离宗法和家族的游民属性。因此，有必要对《水浒传》与《平家物语》进行比较研究，从政治、经济、社会、文化等不同角度考察历史转型时期武侠群体的变迁与武士群体的壮大，及在中日历史及文学史上的意义，以期对“武侠-武士”小说中的人物形象、价值观念等有更为深入全面的认识。

      文学的生成不仅受到社会、经济、文化等外部因素的影响，其内部也会存在独特的审美构成机制。因此本文将运用平行贯通的比较文学研究方法，不止局限于外部的社会历史文化对比，同时也探讨中日不同的文学传统与美学理念对于“武侠-武士”小说创作整体上的影响，力图将历史性与审美性有机结合起来，以此综合考察作家的思想情感与作品的传播接受等问题，如作家的思想意识怎样影响对于历史人物的塑造、文学媒介的更新怎样使文学作品走入普罗大众的世界、文学想象如何促进民族共同想象的凝结、武侠与武士身上共同体现的东亚伦理道德的影响等问题，并且最终将中日两国的类似文学现象比较贯通起来，形成一个相对整一的论述系统。

       Chinese Wuxia and Japanese Samurai in the history of literature are heroic images who blaze a trail in society and realize the value of life with bravery and force, and they embody the affections and imaginations of the two nations of China and Japan.Wuxia novels and Samurai novels focus on chivalrous Wuxia,loyal and brave Samurai,writing the grate heroic images and deeds,containing Chivalrous sprit and Bushido thought.Both Water Margin and Heike Monogatari take specific historical events as the setting of stories and mirror the destiny and experiences of Wuxia and Samurai groups during the transformation period of China and Japan with the technique of combing realism and tales,which have a profound influence on the later Wuxia novels and Samurai novels. Chinese Wuxia groups in the Water Margin and Samurai groups in Heike Monogatari come from different social and historical soil, adhere to different value systems, carry similar social ideals by the authors and embody the universal cultural spirit. In addition, they are spread widely in the age of secular literature and show different aesthetic taste. The two are sufficiently comparable as there are a variety of similarities and differences between them. 

        For various reasons, foreign academic circles so far have yielded few results regarding the comparative study of Wuxia and Samurai in literature and culture. Although domestic research community has published related articles, most of which are analyses of superficies. This is mainly due to the lack of analysis and research of specific literary works, and the lack of understanding of the Wuxia groups as a historical entity. Most Wuxia are considered as a literary fiction or a manifestation of spiritual temperament and overlook their nomadic attribute separate from their patriarchal clan system and family. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a comparative study of Water Margin and Heike Monogatari, and examine the vicissitudes of Wuxia groups and the expansion of Samurai groups and their significance in Chinese and Japanese history and in the history of literature during the period of historical transformation from different aspects, including cultural, economical, societal and cultural aspects, in other to gain a more in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the characters and values in Wuxia and Samurai novels.

The generation of literature is influenced by external factors such as societal, economical, and cultural factors, and there is a unique aesthetic constitution mechanism within it. Parallel comparative literature research method will be used, which is not limited to external social, historical and comparisons, as it also discusses the effects of different literary traditions and aesthetic concepts of China and Japan on the writing of Wuxia and Samurai novels, and strives to combine the historical and aesthetic aspects to comprehensively examine the thoughts and feelings of the authors and the transmission and acceptability of their works, including how the ideology of the authors influence their characterization of historical figures, how the upgrade of literary media enables literary works to enter the world of the general public, how literary imagination promotes common imaginations of a nation, and the influence of common East Asian ethics and morals embodied in Wuxia and Samurai. Moreover, at last, this article links similar literary phenomena of China and Japan and forms a relatively integrated discourse system.