"Tracing the evolution of state military institutions from the seventh through the twelfth centuries, this book challenges much of the received wisdom of Western scholarship on the origins and early development of warriors in Japan. This prelude to the rise of the samurai, who w…
This book demonstrates how Japan's so-called harmonious collective culture is paradoxically connected with a history of conflict. Ikegami contends that contemporary Japanese culture is based upon two remarkably complementary ingredients, honorable competition and honorable colla…
"The word samurai suggests the colorful figure of a lightly armored, mounted archer attended by two or three foot soldiers engaging in ritualized one-on-one combat, the aristocratic fighting man of the Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1333). Although some historians have considered the …
"The word samurai suggests the colorful figure of a lightly armored, mounted archer attended by two or three foot soldiers engaging in ritualized one-on-one combat, the aristocratic fighting man of the Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1333). Although some historians have considered the …
For 700 years Japanese civilization was dominated by a single warrior caste. This project looks at arms, armor and costumes of Samurai men and women over the centuries with specially commissioned photography of reenactors wearing museum-quality clothing.
Samurai: An Illustrated History brings the violent, tumultuous, and, at the same time, elegant world of the medieval Japanese samurai to life. This book of Japanese history traces the story of a unique historical phenomenon: a period of 700 years - equivalent to the entire stret…
Japan was ruled by warriors for the better part of a millenium. From the twelfth to the nineteenth century its political history was dominated by the struggle of competing leagues of fighting men. This paperback volume, comprised of chapters taken from volumes 3 and 4 of The Cam…
In 1543 three Portuguese merchants entered a turbulent Japan, bringing with them the first firearms the Japanese had ever seen: simple matchlock muskets called arquebuses. They proved a decisive addition to the Japanese armoury, as for centuries the samurai had fought only with …
In 1543 three Portuguese merchants entered a turbulent Japan, bringing with them the first firearms the Japanese had ever seen: simple matchlock muskets called arquebuses. They proved a decisive addition to the Japanese armoury, as for centuries the samurai had fought only with …