The Samurai Warrior: The Golden Age of Japan's Elite Warriors 1560–1615

by Ben Hubbard

During Japan’s Warring States period, centuries of strife had left the country divided and leaderless. Those who filled the power vacuum were the daimyo, warlords who ruled over the clans and provinces of Japan. Serving their daimyo, the samurai were the ultimate warriors at a time when military prowess won out over hereditary power and position. The nature of warfare itself changed—romantic ideas of mounted duels and battlefield decorum became as rare as aristocratic samurai leaders. Marching in to replace them were the common foot soldiers, the ashigaru , armed with pikes and matchlock rifles. The Samurai Warrior examines the fighting men of this key period in Japanese history. Divided into six chapters, the book describes the unification under the Tokugawa bakufu , the major battles of the era, the weapons and armour used, the social structure of Japanese society, myths about the samurai, and finally the decline of the samurai amidst the modernization of the Meiji period. Including more than 200 photographs, illustrations, paintings, and maps, The Samurai Warrior is a colorful, accessible study of Japan’s famous but often misunderstood warrior elite.

Genres: Japan, History, Nonfiction, Asian Literature

224 pages, Hardcover

First published August 19, 2014

About the author

Ben Hubbard is an accomplished non-fiction author of books for children and adults. He has more than 160 titles to his name and has written on everything from Space, the Samurai and Sharks, to Poison, Pets and the Plantagenets. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and can be found in bookshops, libraries and schools around the world.

Reviews

[Jed Leishman · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all a very readable retelling of some very interesting historical events! It was quite repetitive at points being the major downside.

Learned some random niche facts from this book: Japan's feudal system placed Samurai as landlords who collected taxes in the form of Koku. 1 Koku was the equivalent rice that 1 man could eat in a year. The major issue with this was that the landlords (dāimyo) were constantly wanting to increase their profits and land, resulting in centuries of war.
At some point around the 16th century a Portuguese ship was washed up, bringing the arquebus (a musket). This allowed non- samurai to rise up and take control, eventually resulting in Nobunaga to become the Shogun (true ruler or Japan) and first unifier of Japan. Following him were his trusted generals Hideyoshi and Tokugawa, leading to two hundred years of peace.
The peace ended when US gunboats forcibly opened trading ports and installed US settlers. This created discord between the people and the Shogun, who's role was originally designed to get rid of the indigenous barbarians and now it seemed he wasn't doing his job. This resulted in the overthrow of the Shogun and the start of Meiji empire.
The last samurai was Takamori, the general who had helped the emperor take back control. He died in one final charge of his 300 samurais, swords versus rifles and gattling guns.

[Etienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book not only on the samurais, but also about the Japanese culture at the time. I learn a lot, it was well done, easy to understand and with great pictures, some were very useful, but some, especially the portraits were too many and too similar to really add something. There were some repetitions that were a bit irritating at some time and that was because of the overall chapter organization, that, being by themes, sometimes cover the same period but talking about something else, so some events, persons and stuff like that could be repeated. I would say that the organization wasn’t the best part of the book, but at the same time, it isn’t easy to find a way to do it properly. If you go by theme, you will have repetition. If you only go chronologically, you will just bounce around themes in every period and that could become confusing. So that being said, I consider that they did a decent job even if not perfect. I wouldn’t mind recommend it to people who are interested in that subject!

[Ronald Otong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ini menjelaskan secara rinci tentang kemunculan samurai dan akhir kejayaannya. Dari mulai senjatanya (salah satu yang terkenal yaitu katana) hingga pakaian yang mereka gunakan. Penggunaan gambar juga sangat membantu walau yang kurang adalah penempatannya yang kurang tepat.

[Blanaiddd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved learning more about the culture, inspired by my new found obsession with the rest is history podcast

[Noreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Link between Jodo-Shinshu Buddhism and Warrior Monks:

Page 27: Indiscriminate Slaughter: In 1571, 30,000 of Nobunaga's samurai marched on the monastery at Mt Hiei. In the dead of night , the warriors encircled the fortress and put all to fire and sword. Recorded by Luis Frois a Portuguese missionary. After beheading every man, woman and child, the complex of 2000 buildings were burned to the ground.


Between 1570-1573 Nobunaga went to war with 6 Samurai houses. Askura, Asai, Takeda, Rokkaku, Miyoshi and Matsunga. Page 18: The Ikko-ikki were from the commoner class, tired of being exploited, followers of JodoShinshu. they first overthrew the Samurai of the Kaga province.

One of the allies of the Ikko-ikki were an older group of warrior-monks, the Enryaku-ji sohei from Mt Hiei. The Enryaku-ji had a well established history of agitation and rebellion against ruling factions, including the Oda.

The Ikko-ikki had temples and fortresses in Owari, Kaga, Echizen and other strategic locations around Kyoto. Ikko-ikki were allied with almost all of Nobunaga's enemies and there was a Ikko-ikki stronghold near almost every major trade route.

Is this the basis for the Zatoichi movies?

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has quite a bit of detail, but the chapters bounce around and can get convoluted. I was slightly disappointed overall but only because I had high hopes.

The discussion of the Samurai in film and their legacy was probably the most interesting parts of the book.

[Noreen]

Already reviewed. Just wanted to add a photo of cover.