Overview

During the sixteenth century Japan's medieval period was left behind when the samurai experienced a military revolution that involved the introduction of firearms and the mobilisation of large armies who fought from stone castles. The history of this violent time is perfectly encapsulated in the campaigns waged by five generations of one outstanding warlord family: the HOJO of Odawara Castle. In 1487 their founder attacked a wooden stockade using bows and arrows; in 1590 his great-great grandson defended a huge castle using cannon. Successive H?j? warlords were the contemporaries of famous samurai like Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin and Oda Nobunaga, whose armies they fought and defeated, but their end came at the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi: the “Napoleon of Japan”, who defeated the HOJO in a massive siege of their mighty castle of Odawara This book tells the complete story of a century of warfare for the first time using Japanese sources never before translated. It is spectacularly illustrated with pictures of armour and weapons and uniquely commissioned artwork. Detailed and authoritative accounts of the campaigns show the HOJO samurai using every trick in the book from sea raiding to ninja attacks. There are also many surprises such as the use of dogs as messengers and revelation that the final siege of Odawara in 1590 was no pushover when the Hojo dynasty came to its glorious end and their last patriarch committed hara-kiri. Japan and samurai warfare were changed forever. 47 b/w illustrations, 23 b/w photos, 15 colour illustrations, 5 colour photos, 3 maps

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9781804513538

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Stephen Turnbull took his first degree at Cambridge and has two MAs (in Theology and Military History) from Leeds University. In 1996 he received a PhD from Leeds for his thesis on Japan's 'Hidden Christians'. In its published form the work won the Japan Festival Literary Award in 1998. Having lectured widely in East Asian Studies and Theology he is now retired and holds the honorary positions of Lecturer Emeritus at Leeds University, Research Associate at SOAS and Visiting Professor of Japanese Studies at Akita International University. His expertise, including an extensive picture library, has helped with numerous media projects including the award-winning computer strategy game Shogun Total War, and in 2010 he acted as Historical Adviser to Universal Pictures for the movie 47 Ronin.

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