History of Japan in Manga: Samurai, Shoguns and World War II

by kanaya shunichiro, Zack Davisson (Translator)

The entire fascinating story of Japan told in one exciting manga-style volume!

A History of Japan in Manga tells the action-packed saga of Japan from its misty origins up to the present day. Epic battles, noble Samurai and duplicitous leaders are all portrayed in modern manga fashion! The lively stories in this book

The Dawn of The Birth of Buddhism and the transition from hunters—gatherers to agricultural societies of ancient timesThe Genpei Wars: Davage battles between the Taira and Minamoto clans that led to the powerful warlord Minamoto no Yoritomo naming himself Japan's first ShogunThe Onin Wars: A decade-long struggle for domination of Japan in which thousands of Samurai fought and tragically lost their livesThe 47 Ronin: Loyal Samurai who vowed to avenge the death of their master, choosing honor over surrender and being forced to commit mass ritual suicide as a resultThe Satsuma Rebellion: A dramatic last stand by Samurai loyal to the Shogun who revolted against the new Meiji government and its plans to finally modernize JapanAnd many more!
This ebook edition is a larger file size than most as it is full of dozens of indelible portraits, manga stories, maps and info-sidebars bring the full sweep of Japanese history to life in one easy-to-read book!

Genres: History, Manga, Nonfiction, Japan, Graphic Novels, Comics, Historical

324 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 7, 2023

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an effective learning tool although it's rather light on the uncredited manga and heavy on reitearting the same facts in multiple different ways. The author is a high school teacher, so that's not really a surprise. The translation needs so serious proofreading. There are dozens of obvious errors, inconsisten spellings of names (A reference to Claude Monet is spelled "Money" in the next sentence, let alone Japanese names, and there is "tea master tea master," which isn't even dialogue. Personal names are generally given in traditional surname-first format, but there are a lot of inconsostencies as well. As an overviewd, it is extremely selective. It has almost nothing to say about the 18th century, for example, and skips from the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate to its corruption and downfall in the 19th century, 265 years after it began. In The Japanese Film: Art and Industry , Joseph L. Anderson and Donald Richie notes that it was rare for Tokugawa period films to side with the shogunate and against the emperor. While Kanaya does make some attemopt to show conflicts from multiple sides, he does seem to go with mainstream narratives. For example, he never questions the Western notion that Japan surrendered as a direct result of the atomic bombs, which William Chafe debunks with declassified documents in his A History of Our Time , which makes it hard to discern propaganda from fact, again as one would expect a secondary school text might.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, why would you not credit the manga artist! Honestly, the promise of a history told through manga, combined with the art being very very nice, makes the absence of a credit even more inexcusable.

That being said - this book is very ambitious, but doesn't really succeed. Sure, I now know a lot more about the history of Japan, and like I said, the art is very appealing. But the sheer amount of careless mistakes such as typos (also when listing important years), odd text placements and fumbled translations is extremely grating, and the frequency of these mistakes increases dramatically after you pass the halfway mark. It's such a shame that this book didn't get more attention and care from the publishers, because the idea, ambitious scope and art deserve better.

[Farhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many things crammed into a small space. Even the manga format could not salvage it.

[Dakota Clayton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Filled with many careless typos, leaving historical dates off by a hundred years, incorrect names given making things confusing, or reporting rumors and myths as facts. I spent as much time fact checking this book as I did reading it. In addition, this book is not in manga format (read right to left) and instead formatted like an American comic book. I assume it was originally formatted R-L and might account for why things are structured so poorly, leaving information bubbles in strange order. If that is so, I don’t understand why that choice was made

[Megan Jelinski · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF: This is a history book I do not wish on my worst enemy. I put this down awhile ago I thought I was getting burnt out from all the info. The concept of it is good, the graphics are fun but my lord I cannot focus on the text. I was under the assumption that this is “easy to read” and after taking some time and going back, I had to forfeit. The layout is so bizarre and there is so much going on that my brain is seizing with keeping up on different concepts in tandem with the overload of information. There is 0% flow.

[Sully (sully.reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A History of Japan in Manga By Shunichiro Kanaya, Translated by Zack Davisson #2024Reads #SeptemberReads

My journey into the world of Japanese literature has not come to its end. 😅 I’ve picked up more English-translated Japanese books (other than Murakami) with a purpose of being further entertained and find my reason why I am drawn to it so much. 😂

Anyways, what I adore most about this book is its straightforward yet captivating storytelling approach, detailing Japan’s history even after the Tokugawa Shogunate era and World War II. The author skillfully uses diplomatic language to reframe terms, opting for “commoners” instead of the more charged “peasants.”

The book brings to life pivotal moments, like the さつま Satsuma Rebellion—the dramatic end of the samurai era. Through my readings, I’ve found that many interpret this rebellion as a sign of the samurai losing their status. Yet, the narrative uncovers a deeper truth, revealing the differing perspectives of two close companions: Saigo Takamori, a low-ranking samurai, and Okubo Toshimichi. While Saigo leads the Interim Government during a crucial period, Okubo is off in Europe as part of the Iwakura Mission.

Going back to the manga, as the narrative unfolds, we witness the last stand of the samurai, an important moment in history. Tragically, after the rebellion, Okubo is assassinated by those who viewed him as a traitor. This event catalyzes the new Meiji Government’s mission to “unify” the nation, pushing for rapid modernization and a military presence.

(This review was sought as an excuse to post facts about Japan that I didn’t include in my Japan report. 😂 )

Overall, I love how this book got me out of my reading slump. Plus, it adds another count to my reading total this year. Mehehe 🤣

#sullybookreviews

[ribbonknight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Riddled with typos including writing dates that are off by centuries, the careless editing job on this translation at times makes this nigh unreadable. And yet, as a history it covers many time periods with which I’m unfamiliar.

It barely mentions the role of the Shinsengumi in the Meiji Restoration, and its simplistic telling of WWII sheds light on just how spotty this history is overall; and yet, the lessons on Japanese history prior to the 1860s were useful for me.

[I A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good history of Japan from ancient days to the present. The manga format keeps it appealing. Being unfamiliar with Japanese names, I sometimes has trouble keeping track of all the historical figures mentioned.

[Ovidiu Rosu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good & digestible way to quickly learn a bit of Japanese history. The selected events are summarized well and the manga complements them nicely.
If you plan to visit Japan and want to know a little more about its past, this is a good starting point. Because it's a mix of summaries and manga, it's easy to go through its chapters and learn about the Japan's main historical events. This in term helps connect the stories you hear from the places you visit and their place in history.

[S.Q. Eries · Rating 1 out of 5]

In Summary
A History of Japan in Manga has the ambitious goal of presenting that nation’s entire history in 320 pages. While its collection of mini-manga does a decent job of bringing historical figures to life, the book falls short as an introductory resource for Western readers. Parts of the text are difficult to read, the narrative assumes a minimal knowledge of Japanese history, and the English translation is unfortunately rife with grammatical and other errors.

The Review
Presenting the entire history of Japan a single book is a tall order, but that is the goal of A History of Japan in Manga. Originally written for a Japanese audience, this book has been translated into English, and the format switched to read left to right. The content is organized into ten chapters:

Chapter 1: The Dawn of Japan
Chapter 2: Buddhism and the Birth of a Nation
Chapter 3: Buddhist Policies and the Rise of the Aristocracy
Chapter 4: The Establishment of a Samurai Government and the Kamakura Shogunate
Chapter 5: The North-South Imperial Court and the Onin War
Chapter 6: The Dawn of the Warring States Period
Chapter 7: The Coming of Peace
Chapter 8: The Meiji Restoration and the End of the Samurai
Chapter 9: The Birth and Modernization of Imperial Japan
Chapter 10: The Advance of Modern Japan

Each chapter opens with a timeline of events, then presents one or two short manga stories that profile historical figures. These figures range from the Shaman Queen Himiko of Yamatai to Oda Nobunaga to poet Matsuoka Shiki. Each manga story is followed by 4 to 6 pages of text presenting detailed facts about the era in which that character lived. Chapters conclude with a map showing the locations of significant events of that time period and a one-page article on a cultural aspect of that era.

The book, which is printed in black and red ink, contains a total of 17 mini-manga. Each is a standalone story, and they are rendered by different artists. For instance, Toyotomi Hideyoshi appears in both “The Dream of National Conquest” and “The Battle of Sekigahara,” but each story draws him differently.

The back cover blurb touts the book as “easy-to-read,” but that’s not quite accurate. The text portions of the book are extremely dense. While I respect the creator’s desire for completeness, the way that complex timelines, family trees, and government organization charts get crammed onto the pages is often confusing. Historical notes include pictures of monuments, ancient documents, and artistic renditions of significant events to give a sense of the era, but the images are usually too small to truly appreciate.

While the manga portions are easier to digest, even they pose issues for a Western reader. As mentioned, this was originally written for a Japanese audience. Thus, it assumes a certain familiarity with Japanese history. As such, the narrative for “The Dream of National Conquest” depicts the Honnoji Incident without really explaining what it was, and the dialogue throws in Hideyoshi’s “Monkey” nickname without explaining that either. In “Chapter 8: The Meiji Restoration and the End of the Samurai,” the Shisengumi are not depicted in either of the chapter’s two manga nor are they defined in the text even though the group is mentioned a couple times in the chapter.

Original content aside, my biggest issue with this history book is the translation. Verb tense keeps shifting between present and past tense. Moreover, it is full of errors ranging from misplaced punctuation to missing words. On page 236, the captions for its two images are switched. The worst problem is the misspelling of proper names. It’s hard enough to keep track of historical figures, especially ones with extremely similar names, without misspelled names muddying up the narrative. “Satsuma” gets misspelled “Sumatra,” “Choshu” gets misspelled “Chosha,” and “Monet” gets misspelled “Money” to name a few.

There are also number errors. On page 19, the historical notes make a reference to 50,000 years when it actually means 500 years, and I caught at least three dates that were clearly wrong. Page 54 includes a photo of an ancient painting depicting the beheading of Soga No Iruka with a caption stating, “Iruka’s head flew almost a kilometer away.” Given all the other errors, I’m left scratching my head as to whether the distance is a mistake or something legendary.

Presenting facts accurately in a historical text is critical. As such, this book can give a general sense of the history of Japan but be cautious about using it as a reference to look up specific details.

Extras include the appendix “Concise Chronology of Japanese History.”

For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!

[John Driscoll · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really love the idea of this book, but the reality just doesn't live up to its promise. A history of Japan told in manga? Awesome! Unfortunately, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

For starters, a LOT of information is repeated. It's not uncommon to read the same fact 3 times in the span of 4 pages.

Second, for a manga history of Japan, there's an awful lot of blocks of text. I can forgive the constant charts and family trees, but just pages of prose do not belong in a work like this.

Third, the art is pretty underwhelming. The drawings are serviceable but not in any way exceptional. Characters and settings look generic, there's not even a full color palette at play, and it just doesn't stand out at all in the art department.

Finally, the pace is glacially slow, which I'm sure is at least partly due to the frequent repetition of information. I struggled with this for weeks and didn't even make it to the Heian period (~1000 AD), much less more exciting time periods like the warring states period of the 15-1600s, the Meiji Restoration of the 19th century, or World War 2. I admit that some of the information about Japan's early roots was pretty fascinating, especially its connections to China, but the presentation was extremely dry.

Overall, I can only recommend this to the most hardcore of Japanese history enthusiasts, and even then there's probably a better way to consume this information. I had such high hopes for this, but it's just not very engaging to read.

[Christian T · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say that the concept is brilliant—making the history of Japan easy to understand and enjoyable to learn. As the Japanese title suggests, Manga de ikki ni yomeru Nihonshi ("Read Japanese History in One Go with Manga"), the book promises an engaging approach. The beginning is particularly promising… but then things become too crammed together. Thankfully, each chapter concludes with different summaries—some visualised on maps, which is helpful—but overall, the book oversimplifies history.

In some areas, it delves into depth, while in others, it barely scratches the surface. The proofreading is barely done, with numerous typos and factual errors. Furthermore, it almost entirely omits the 20th century. I understand that it is a sensitive subject, but compared to other historical periods, it is condensed into just a few pages.

Why is the book not as good as it could have been?

At the beginning, the author states that he has been a history teacher for just over a year. A year… I have been a history teacher for over six years now, and I would still think twice before attempting to write a book.

The book is intended for a Japanese audience, who have most likely already encountered these historical concepts, figures, and events—something that is not the case for non-Japanese readers.

The balance of topics is inconsistent: some aspects are covered in too much detail, while others receive only a cursory mention.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned some stuff I didn't know before, but overall I can't recommend this book to anyone who doesn't know about Japanese history and wants to learn about it. Reads kind of like a textbook, so it makes me wonder if this reflects the history curriculum in Japan. I would hope that a real history textbook would be better organized. Most of the diagrams are kind of confusing, even if you look past the occasional mistranslations, typos, and other errors. Something else I found confusing is that the book doesn't use dates on every page. I get that a lot of dates can be intimidating, but you really need to see them in a history text, so that you can follow the chronology. This is especially true if the events are not being told in strict chronological order. Adding to the confusion is all the typos throughout the book. It's especially bad when names are typoed or when the caption is put in the wrong place in a chart or illustration. Often a name would be spelled two different ways on the same page. The manga aspect isn't particularly well used, with occasional manga vignettes tying in (more or less) with long stretches of text and (confusing) diagrams. The Cartoon Introduction to Philosophy, the Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling, and The Black Panther Party A Graphic Novel History, are a few examples of dedicated history comic books that actually use comics to illustrate the concepts involved. Maybe I should have just read the History of Japan wikipedia page instead.

[Gareth Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although an interesting concept, it is poorly executed.

The manga is interspersed with more traditional ‘textbook’ pages, summarising the history with maps and diagrams. However, these two features rarely complement one another - they either state the same information twice (almost word for word), or else refer to people and events not covered in the other, but without any extra explanation. I’ve read a fair bit of Japanese history before this, and ended up more confused as a result of this book.

That is not to even mention the typos and mistakes - one such egregious example is that the book says battle of Sekigahara (perhaps the most consequential battle ever fought on Japanese soil) took place in 1900 (not 1600, as in history). Elsewhere, words are repeated, names are spelled several different ways, some names get an erroneous ‘the’ in front of them, images of one castle are clearly pictures of others.

I would have liked more effort to have gone into the execution of this volume - it’s an excellent idea, but either done too quickly or without a sufficient amount of thought or care.

[Terry Munson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up in a bookstore in Tokyo's Ginza District over the golden week holidays. I respect the author's efforts to encapsulate a complex history of conflicts and intrigue among emperors and samurai, but there are too many distracting typos and errors to fully enjoy and appreciate his efforts.

A few memorable examples--when summarizing the Kamakura Period events in the 1300s, page 127 explains 'In 1927, the shogunate issues the Einin Tokuseirei Debt Cancellation Order...' (numbers likely transposed and should read 1297). There are gems like (page 232): 'All unknown ships are bombarded on site.' And (page 274): 'One such Japonzuri is French artist Claude Monet. A pioneer of impressionism famous for his vibrant colors, Money painted the Water Lilies...'

It wasn't time wasted, but I was embarrassed for the writer/translator lauded as 'award-winning' on the back of this book. He needed more support from his editors and several sets of eyes going over drafts before Tuttle Publishing took this piece to press. The lack of quality and polish makes me reluctant to pick up another Tuttle book in the future.

[Carlos Filipe Bernardino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several colleagues here on Goodreads have written very valid and insightful reviews. I would like to point out that this is a work written with the intention of informing young people with studies at secondary school level, and it fulfills that function. It would be fair to say that it lacks detail and historical approximations, but compressing the history of Japan into 300 pages is not an easy project.
There are good examples of the use of comics to address historical themes, it can be said that this manga works and respects Japan.
Finally, for some of the flaws and errors in the work, we should hold the editors accountable; these works require quality and professional work on the part of the editor.

[Qazedcrfvtgbyhnujlp' · Rating 3 out of 5]

was good, accept the part when the book gets to WW2 and accept pearl harbor fully forgets to mention anything Japan did...
no mention of the millions of people they killed, no mention of unit 731 and their horrific experiments and no nothing...
just talking about how the us bombed downtown Tokyo and dropped the atom bombs without talking about everything in the middle...
the boom talks about the hundreds of thousands of dead Japanese people who died because of the attacks and atom bombs (which is a huge number don't get me wrong) but fails to mention that Japan has killed millions upon millions of civilians in horrifying ways, and tortured and injured millions more.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick, overview hisotry of japan. It highlights many of the country's major figures and events with a combination of information pages and manga storytelling. I thought it does present the basics of the history effectively, though there are numerous typographical/spelling errors. I suspect some of these occurred in the translation from the original Japanese. While this is by no means thorough in its coverage of detail, I do think it is an effective informatino to the history of Japan.

[Sarah Litteral · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited about this one, but quickly lost interest. It may be a translation issue, because some sections were really repetitive while others really made no sense. Feel like I have a vague idea of the history of Japan tho, so when I go into my next history book this will hopefully help lay a basis for me.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree that this book reiterates the same facts multiple times, which seemed at times helpful for digesting information, but then became annoyingly repetitive, particularly given that it often felt like *additional* information would’ve been more helpful to understand whatever historical vignette was being described.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s much more interesting than the usual dry history books. The focus is from the Japanese point of view, so it’s very different from other Japanese history books. It’s Japan-centric, so it’s eye-opening.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The political maneuverings of centuries is laid out in great detail through beautiful flow charts, graphics, and maps. The manga/comic style stories added to the appeal of this in-depth and entertaining book about Japanese history.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a Lot

This is a fantastic way to learn about Japan's amazing and intense history.

I highly recommend giving this manga a read, and you too will learn a lot about Japan.

The art and the history are both worth the read!

4.4/5

[Viola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lieliski zīmējumi, bet visai haotiskais pasniegšanas veids, ortogrāfiskās kļūdas, faktu atkārtošana, padarīja šo lasīšanu visai sarežģītu. Ja interesē Japānas vēsture, noteikti ir labākas grāmatas ko lasīt.

[Mina O · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive book of the overview history of Japan. Manga portion isn't as much as expected, but there are a lot of useful charts and diagram as supplements, making it easy to read and digest. I hope they fix all the typos (and there were a lot) in the next edition.

[Maddie Little-Ghose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did I learn things? Yes.
Was there manga? Also yes.
Did I learn things in a coherent or educational way? No.
Did the manga help in any way with the history education? Also no. In fact I think it confused me after the informative sections.

[Catherine McSorley · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rounded down. Translation is poor (lots of typos). It’s clearly written for a young Japanese audience so it provided context to me that I didn’t need, and left out the context I did not know / would have actually been interested in.

[Harrison Large ラージ • ハリソン · Rating 3 out of 5]

i thought it was very good for a brief overview, but it's very much a highlights reel. The manga format was great for visualising certain characters from eras and I overall recommend this as a starter book: anyone with some degree of familiarity with Japanese history will find very little new here.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book. Might be confusing to keep all figures separated as many have similar sounding names as well as many generations of a family/clan.