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Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu
This book tells the fascinating history of the life of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu -- Japan's most famous Shogun. Since its initial appearance, A.L.Sadler's imposing biography of the Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu has been recognized as an outstanding contribution to the knowledge of Japanese history. It is also considered the standard reference work on the period that saw the entrenchment of feudalism in Japan and the opening of some two and a half centuries of rigid isolation from the rest of the world. In the course of Japanese history, there have been five great military leaders who by common consent stand out above the others of their type. Of these, two lived in the twelfth century, while the other three, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, were contemporary in the latter half of the sixteenth century. The last of these three, with whose life Mr. Sadler deals, may well be described as having perfected the shogunate system. Not only did Ieyasu found a dynasty of rulers and organize a powerful system of government, but also he rounded off his achievements by contriving before his death to arrange for his deification afterward. As Mr. Sadler notes, "Tokugawa Ieyasu is unquestionably one of the greatest men the world has yet seen," and this fascinating account of Ieyasu's life and times is presented in a thoroughly absorbing narrative in which dramatic highlights abound. Japan's feudal age came to a close in 1868 with the downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the restoration of the Emperor to political power. The event marked the end of the powerful regime that Ieyasu established at the beginning of the seventeenth century. That it did not at the same time mark the eclipse of Ieyasu's greatness is sufficient testimony to the major role he played in his country's history. It is to A. L. Sadler's lasting credit that he has brought this eminent but often ruthless military leader so vividly to life.
418 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1937
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
May 31, 2024
We have been watching the excellent Shogun miniseries. I highly recommend it to everyone. The FX website also has in-depth articles of the history and culture behind each episode, which I also highly recommend. I have learned a huge amount about samurai culture and Japanese history since we started watching.
I am still on hold for the Shōgun audiobook (I was warned the book is long and tedious), so I listened to this 1937 work of the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu, on whom Shogun was based. It is quite the scandal in my opinion that this is the latest popular history book in English on the subject. Written in 1937, it lacks the standards of modern historians, and it is infused with the sexism and racism of the time.
Sadler was largely translating and compiling Japanese historical sources, but did not attempt to evaluate their historical reliability or bias, thus while overall his account is correct, the details are suspect. He writes one continuous story without references to his sources, and relates many details, dialogue and anecdote as fact, much of which is likely legend or rumor. It does make for a good listen though, as he injects his own sly and often colorful phrases, and practically worships Ieyasu.
The book has detailed descriptions of many battles, political intrigues, and lots of Japanese names, but very little cultural background. Since by this time I have done much reading on the FX website and Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugaw...), I could understand much of the context and some of the names. If you have no background, I suspect much of this is very hard to follow, but you could simply read and look up things as you go.
The best part of the book is the detailed picture of Ieyasu. He was an incredibly skilled politician, warrior and diplomat. He was down-to-earth and no-nonsense, ruthless when he needed to be, merciful when it suited him. He was very patient and bided his time; but could also move with great swiftness and decisiveness. There were many stories of his wisdom, fairness, and forgiveness. He had a great judgment of people, and his retainers were fiercely loyal. He himself was absolutely loyal to the previous Taiko (military ruler) until his death, but had no compunction putting the Taiko's heir out of his way later, nor sacrificing his own son to gain power. Sadler includes his will, which is a great insight into his thinking.
Hiroyuki Sanada plays this complex character to perfection in the series.
This is a niche book. Recommend if you want to know more about the Shogun's history and are willing to do some additional research.
I am still on hold for the Shōgun audiobook (I was warned the book is long and tedious), so I listened to this 1937 work of the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu, on whom Shogun was based. It is quite the scandal in my opinion that this is the latest popular history book in English on the subject. Written in 1937, it lacks the standards of modern historians, and it is infused with the sexism and racism of the time.
Sadler was largely translating and compiling Japanese historical sources, but did not attempt to evaluate their historical reliability or bias, thus while overall his account is correct, the details are suspect. He writes one continuous story without references to his sources, and relates many details, dialogue and anecdote as fact, much of which is likely legend or rumor. It does make for a good listen though, as he injects his own sly and often colorful phrases, and practically worships Ieyasu.
The book has detailed descriptions of many battles, political intrigues, and lots of Japanese names, but very little cultural background. Since by this time I have done much reading on the FX website and Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugaw...), I could understand much of the context and some of the names. If you have no background, I suspect much of this is very hard to follow, but you could simply read and look up things as you go.
The best part of the book is the detailed picture of Ieyasu. He was an incredibly skilled politician, warrior and diplomat. He was down-to-earth and no-nonsense, ruthless when he needed to be, merciful when it suited him. He was very patient and bided his time; but could also move with great swiftness and decisiveness. There were many stories of his wisdom, fairness, and forgiveness. He had a great judgment of people, and his retainers were fiercely loyal. He himself was absolutely loyal to the previous Taiko (military ruler) until his death, but had no compunction putting the Taiko's heir out of his way later, nor sacrificing his own son to gain power. Sadler includes his will, which is a great insight into his thinking.
Hiroyuki Sanada plays this complex character to perfection in the series.
This is a niche book. Recommend if you want to know more about the Shogun's history and are willing to do some additional research.
March 6, 2017
Reading this biography of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the great conqueror of feudal Japan, is looking into both the career of the ruthless Ieyasu -- and the mind of the author, a smug Oxford-educated Oriental studies professor whose 1937 biography of the great shogun has the racism and sexism one might expect from the Thirties, along with a pro-fascist sensibility that reminded me fascism wasn't yet a failed ideology when the professor was writing.
Seeing Ieyasu through A.L. Sadler's eyes was illuminating in ways a modern biography might not have been, in that a modern sympathetic biographer might have elided or excused some of Ieyasu's more heartless traits and actions (he didn't hesitate to sacrifice even his own children in his rise to total power), while Sadler celebrates the age's barbarities (for instance, relating as an amusing anecdote how Ieyasu's eldest son murders a priest in a snit because of a failed falconry expedition).
Ieyasu may never be definitively portrayed in a biography because he was a man of iron self-control whose every public behavior and statement was designed to build and maintain the power of the house of Tokugawa. There is nothing to tell us of the man inside; all we see is the behavior of a man who would do anything at all, and does -- from faithful alliance to ruthless betrayal, from straight-up battle to backroom diplomacy, from piety to blasphemy -- to ascend to absolute power. His personality, if any, is beside the point, since he'll sacrifice any aspect of himself or anything else to take the next step to the throne -- he's a plodding, boring, unstoppable success machine.
Since Ieyasu has left no proof of the man inside (and lots of contradictory evidence), I suppose every biography of him must at some level be a reflection of the biographer. The reflection of Sadler that this factually accurate biography gives is not flattering by 21st Century standards, but I prefer to think of this as a feature of the book rather than a flaw -- it gives us a view of two different historical periods for the price of a single book.
Seeing Ieyasu through A.L. Sadler's eyes was illuminating in ways a modern biography might not have been, in that a modern sympathetic biographer might have elided or excused some of Ieyasu's more heartless traits and actions (he didn't hesitate to sacrifice even his own children in his rise to total power), while Sadler celebrates the age's barbarities (for instance, relating as an amusing anecdote how Ieyasu's eldest son murders a priest in a snit because of a failed falconry expedition).
Ieyasu may never be definitively portrayed in a biography because he was a man of iron self-control whose every public behavior and statement was designed to build and maintain the power of the house of Tokugawa. There is nothing to tell us of the man inside; all we see is the behavior of a man who would do anything at all, and does -- from faithful alliance to ruthless betrayal, from straight-up battle to backroom diplomacy, from piety to blasphemy -- to ascend to absolute power. His personality, if any, is beside the point, since he'll sacrifice any aspect of himself or anything else to take the next step to the throne -- he's a plodding, boring, unstoppable success machine.
Since Ieyasu has left no proof of the man inside (and lots of contradictory evidence), I suppose every biography of him must at some level be a reflection of the biographer. The reflection of Sadler that this factually accurate biography gives is not flattering by 21st Century standards, but I prefer to think of this as a feature of the book rather than a flaw -- it gives us a view of two different historical periods for the price of a single book.
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September 29, 2018Most of my knowledge of Japan’s pre-eminent conqueror comes from the book Shogun, which it turns out wasn’t 100% accurate, so this was a useful corrective. I’m not sure I would recommend it more than any other book written on the subject, but it’ll give you an overview.
December 20, 2020
Bought on November 30, 2013, this remarkable biography by Prof. A. L. Sadler has long perched on my bookshelf till I thought I wouldn't finish reading it due to its 44 chapters in 320+ pages. Whenever I picked it up to try to read, the best I could do was that I could go so far as a few pages as scribbled on page 6 (2019.2.18), then on page 18 (2020.11.7); indeed, in various year-long bouts of insufficient motive totaling more than five years. However, I kept reading on him in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugaw...) as well as other related texts since his fame and character amazed me, I couldn't help admiring his greatness as the third warlord/ Shogun who wisely and famously helped unifying the 16th-century Japan. The first "Great Unifier" of Japan was Oda Nobunaga. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nob...) and the second was Toyotomi Hideyoshi. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyotom...)
AS for those newcomers interested in these three Unifiers of Japan, they may start with the epic-like novel entitled Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan (Kodansha 2001) by Eiji Yoshikawa. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...)
To continue . . .
AS for those newcomers interested in these three Unifiers of Japan, they may start with the epic-like novel entitled Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan (Kodansha 2001) by Eiji Yoshikawa. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...)
To continue . . .
June 4, 2018
Sadler ist a great admirer of Japan's great uni-fier, the shogun Ieyasu. This continuing admiration, even passion, for his subject carries this book and makes it fun to read, albeit not being an easy read. The author expects you to be very familiar with time and space and the peculiar surroundings of 16th century Japan. Although I believe myself to be rather well versed on this subject, I still had to look up quite a number of things to follow suit. If you are able to surmount this great obstacle, you are rewarded with outstanding in depth military-tactical battle analysis that you won't find for any other battle before the american civil war, with an ardent study of this shrewd diplomat and statesman. My only complaint is that the quality of the maps might suffice for its original publication in 1937 but ought to be updated and additional footnotes would be most desirable.
July 5, 2011
The information was fascinating and the research was thorough and first rate. Anyone needing information about the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu should definitely have this book. That said, the book itself could have used a good editing. The author has a problem with pronoun reference. Sometimes I'd have to read a sentence two or three times to be sure of which of several names the author was referring to when the pronoun "he" popped up further along the sentence. Not to mention, every now and then (ok, pretty often) I was stopped dead by a word that didn't mean what the author apparently thought it meant. Minor quibbles in a book of this type, but it would have been a better book without them.
September 26, 2023
Interesting book into one of the most important characters of Japanese history. However, you do need a lot of pre-knowledge to make the best use of the book.
March 27, 2011
It's a thorough description of the life and times of Ieyasu Tokugawa. I didn't find it particularly engaging which is why it took so long to read it. Still, I wanted to learn more about the man as I've seen several Japanese historical dramas that included him. So, I persisted and finally toward the end, it dealt with the actual personality and his legacy. I'd like to read more.
October 22, 2015
Shogun Tokugawa was an amazing man. Unlike his predecessors Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi Toyotomi, he did not really have definitive traits of a genius. He was an ordinary conservative Japanese shogun but his ordinariness was what made him so extraordinary.
This book was very detailed work about the life of Shogun Tokugawa and how he managed to leave so big an impression that lasted hundreds of years, even after the fall of his house (for those who did not know him, Ieyasu Tokugawa was the man responsible for uniting feudal Japan and establishing what came to be known as the traditional way of Japanese life). There might be some confusion related to things such as seppuku (better known as harakiri) which needed readers to have more knowledge about Japanese culture and history, but overall this book was beautifully written and easily understandable.
This book was very detailed work about the life of Shogun Tokugawa and how he managed to leave so big an impression that lasted hundreds of years, even after the fall of his house (for those who did not know him, Ieyasu Tokugawa was the man responsible for uniting feudal Japan and establishing what came to be known as the traditional way of Japanese life). There might be some confusion related to things such as seppuku (better known as harakiri) which needed readers to have more knowledge about Japanese culture and history, but overall this book was beautifully written and easily understandable.
April 16, 2024
Filled with a lot of information but very dry.
I wouldn't class this as popular history. I was not aware the date of publication when i started. Not really for beginners like myself that have an interest but not really too sure on many of the points raised in this book. The author expects readers to have a lot of understanding already (not his fault) but did make it a bit of a struggle.
List of names, name changes, locations, events and so on, which make following a bit difficult.
this is my fault for not being able to follow non-western names. The multitude of historical characters that deserve their mention on the long road of this period just helped to make the road a bit harder to follow 400 years later by someone that was not born a part of the culture, thousands of miles away.
When concentrating on the characteristics, personality of Tokugawa Ieyasu, this is fascinating. But events descried are wordy and for me confusing. I had to go back and read several times.
I do not judge historical figures on modern day sensibilities. Times were different, events were different, hard and often bloody and it's easy to judge from a position of hindsight and from Ivory towers. The book is very Pro- Ieyasu and although i can admit i admire the man and there is no denying that he was a great man. One of the 3 unifiers of Japan, He seems almost too perfect. The author imbues with a sense of destiny rather then historical events just unfolding as they did. I don't know if there could have been another Shogun if not Ieyasu or another figure in his place, because he was successful. However his form of government like Augustus's of the Roman Empire endured for over 260 years and had deeply impacted Japanese history and character. Good or ill.
Although i will not rush to pick this book up again, it will sit on my shelf as a point of reference, for as I have mentioned it to be very dry, one cannot deny it was well researched by someone with a passion for this era.
I wouldn't class this as popular history. I was not aware the date of publication when i started. Not really for beginners like myself that have an interest but not really too sure on many of the points raised in this book. The author expects readers to have a lot of understanding already (not his fault) but did make it a bit of a struggle.
List of names, name changes, locations, events and so on, which make following a bit difficult.
this is my fault for not being able to follow non-western names. The multitude of historical characters that deserve their mention on the long road of this period just helped to make the road a bit harder to follow 400 years later by someone that was not born a part of the culture, thousands of miles away.
When concentrating on the characteristics, personality of Tokugawa Ieyasu, this is fascinating. But events descried are wordy and for me confusing. I had to go back and read several times.
I do not judge historical figures on modern day sensibilities. Times were different, events were different, hard and often bloody and it's easy to judge from a position of hindsight and from Ivory towers. The book is very Pro- Ieyasu and although i can admit i admire the man and there is no denying that he was a great man. One of the 3 unifiers of Japan, He seems almost too perfect. The author imbues with a sense of destiny rather then historical events just unfolding as they did. I don't know if there could have been another Shogun if not Ieyasu or another figure in his place, because he was successful. However his form of government like Augustus's of the Roman Empire endured for over 260 years and had deeply impacted Japanese history and character. Good or ill.
Although i will not rush to pick this book up again, it will sit on my shelf as a point of reference, for as I have mentioned it to be very dry, one cannot deny it was well researched by someone with a passion for this era.
October 30, 2024
I wanted to learn more about the Japanese feudal time period, and this book promised to relate how it started off and continued, which was around the years of 1580 - 1850. Ieyasu was a great man that I had never heard of, and yet never knew I needed to learn about. A lot of the first half of this book goes into details of his battles and how he rose to become Emperor and Shogun, and the second half (and especially the last few chapters) details his personal thoughts, beliefs, and laws for the future. I especially thought the last chapter which translates Ieyasu's written "Legacy" was particularly interesting, as he truly had some great philosophical ideas.
However, the way Sadler wrote this text is severely cumbersome, even considering this is a purely historical text. Ironically, the older prose in Ieyasu's "Legacy" is far more easily read than Sadler's. His long paragraphs which detail many different things at the same time grew tiresome for me, and I had trouble following along. For example, Sadler uses pronouns such as "he" and it is not at all clear which of the many persons under discussion is being referred to. Sadler also keeps changing the way he refers to key people mid-chapter, expecting me to know what Ieyasu was called during a particular time frame. This latter may just have been for some textual flavor, and I did notice Sadler threw in a few gems like this occasionally (History Buff Humor?). Maybe I needed a map and secondary sources out alongside this book to truly grasp every little thing (the included maps seemed unhelpful), but I ultimately ended up rushing through the details just to get through it. Sadler did not write a screenplay for a movie here, that's for sure. I learned a lot though, and probably will want to pick up more on this subject.
However, the way Sadler wrote this text is severely cumbersome, even considering this is a purely historical text. Ironically, the older prose in Ieyasu's "Legacy" is far more easily read than Sadler's. His long paragraphs which detail many different things at the same time grew tiresome for me, and I had trouble following along. For example, Sadler uses pronouns such as "he" and it is not at all clear which of the many persons under discussion is being referred to. Sadler also keeps changing the way he refers to key people mid-chapter, expecting me to know what Ieyasu was called during a particular time frame. This latter may just have been for some textual flavor, and I did notice Sadler threw in a few gems like this occasionally (History Buff Humor?). Maybe I needed a map and secondary sources out alongside this book to truly grasp every little thing (the included maps seemed unhelpful), but I ultimately ended up rushing through the details just to get through it. Sadler did not write a screenplay for a movie here, that's for sure. I learned a lot though, and probably will want to pick up more on this subject.
March 2, 2025
Full disclosure before the review starts. I did not finish the book
Everyone has a special interest and mine is this specific period of Japanese history. I'm no expert but I'm confident I know more than 99% of people. I could easily give a presentation of the events of the Sengoku period. So with that in mind I picked this book up as it had been recommended to me as one of 'the' books about this period focused on it's most famous historical figure
However if you're interested and want to pick it up I have to provide a warning first. The book's first edition was written in 1937. I find the prose extremely difficult to parse. I can't explain but for some reason the way the text is written I just cannot retain the information. It feels like reading a translated historical document. It's very dry too which doesn't help. I was also surprised that it takes the mythical interpretation of events. For example, the Battle of Okehazama is described in it's storybook way rather than the hard facts of what happened
That's a minor complaint however. The real reason for me is that it's a brick of a book and each sentence is a slog to get through. I'm not sure what other books are out there about Tokugawa Ieyasu or the Sengoku period but I recommend you try and find something more modern. I just don't think it's worth bashing your head against this one
Everyone has a special interest and mine is this specific period of Japanese history. I'm no expert but I'm confident I know more than 99% of people. I could easily give a presentation of the events of the Sengoku period. So with that in mind I picked this book up as it had been recommended to me as one of 'the' books about this period focused on it's most famous historical figure
However if you're interested and want to pick it up I have to provide a warning first. The book's first edition was written in 1937. I find the prose extremely difficult to parse. I can't explain but for some reason the way the text is written I just cannot retain the information. It feels like reading a translated historical document. It's very dry too which doesn't help. I was also surprised that it takes the mythical interpretation of events. For example, the Battle of Okehazama is described in it's storybook way rather than the hard facts of what happened
That's a minor complaint however. The real reason for me is that it's a brick of a book and each sentence is a slog to get through. I'm not sure what other books are out there about Tokugawa Ieyasu or the Sengoku period but I recommend you try and find something more modern. I just don't think it's worth bashing your head against this one
April 6, 2023
Great biography of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Sadler wrote it in the 40s, so the work has a definite old school Great Man feel to it which was refreshing. I once heard someone say that the Roman Republic was a machine for producing men of ability and ambition, and gave them a path to act on them. Things come to a head when the social and political order breaks down and the Civil Wars begin, which provide the perfect playing field for these ambitious men to rise to the top and play for the highest stakes possible. In an incredibly short span of time we see titans like Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, Antony, Augustus pop up to shape the course of history. Japan in the warring states period was much the same - political order had collapsed, and the resulting chaos and war allowed titans of ambition, ability and will to rise to the top. Ieyasu was one such man, alongside Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. Ieyasu worked his way to the position of Shogun - supreme military dictator - through military prowess, political manoeuvring, and energetic diplomacy. The biography can drag at times, and those unfamiliar with Japanese names will be left scratching their head at times, but Sadler’s admiration and dedication to his subject bleeds through and makes it a worthwhile read.
June 23, 2023
3.5 stars rounded up. I have been interested in Tokugawa Ieyasu for many years, probably from the first time I read SHOGUN, the great novel by James Clavell. After reading that fascinating book, I was determined to find out more about the man Lord Toranaga was based on. I have now read several books, but this one is probably the most detailed, however, it is probably more confusing because of a lack of footnotes. It has footnotes, but they do not seem to explain the sources for many things which are quoted.
The narrative up through the battle of Osaka in 1615 is probaby the most interesting. After that, some of the book seems to be padding, and could have been condensed. Personally, I find Ieyasu's talent in 'keeping his head' in more ways than one is a balancing act worthy of great praise. His rivalry with Hideyoshi, and then with Ishida leading up to Sekigihara is the most interesting. I suspect that's why Clavell concentrated on it with his story about Blackthorne (Will Adams).
After Osaka, this book becomes more of a look at Ieyasu's philosophy and how he felt about his military life. As Shogun and the power behind the Empire after his abdication, he made sure that his family would remain strong, and in power for 265 years, a remarkable achievement.
The narrative up through the battle of Osaka in 1615 is probaby the most interesting. After that, some of the book seems to be padding, and could have been condensed. Personally, I find Ieyasu's talent in 'keeping his head' in more ways than one is a balancing act worthy of great praise. His rivalry with Hideyoshi, and then with Ishida leading up to Sekigihara is the most interesting. I suspect that's why Clavell concentrated on it with his story about Blackthorne (Will Adams).
After Osaka, this book becomes more of a look at Ieyasu's philosophy and how he felt about his military life. As Shogun and the power behind the Empire after his abdication, he made sure that his family would remain strong, and in power for 265 years, a remarkable achievement.
April 28, 2025
“Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu” by A.L. Sadler is an absolute masterpiece. Sadler brings Tokugawa Ieyasu’s life to the page with incredible detail and depth, making a complex era of Japanese history vivid and accessible. I felt like I was walking alongside Ieyasu through every challenge and victory, witnessing firsthand the strategic brilliance and patience that allowed him to unify Japan. Sadler’s writing is clear, engaging, and deeply respectful of the subject. If you value leadership, resilience, and understanding how true legacy is built, this book is essential reading. Highly recommend.
February 21, 2024
A brilliant read detailing the life and career of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu (1542-1616). It’s astonishing how much he achieved and how long he lived considering the turbulent and chaotic age he was born into, but through patience, cunning, and subtlety he outlived his more dramatic contemporaries, including Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, to become the most powerful man in the land, reuniting the country and establishing a dynasty that lasted almost three centuries. One of history’s great figures and a founding father of modern Japan.
January 21, 2025
I was inspired to pick up this book after reading James Clavell's Shogun to better understand the real history behind Clavell's amazing characters. I find the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu to be incredibly fascinating and this book goes very in-depth. However, I think that for an amateur historian like me, the Wikipedia page covered the majority of what I wanted to know using much more brief and understandable language.
August 27, 2020
there is very little scholarship in English on the Sengoku Jidai. This book is one of the few; however, it is severely lacking. It lacks important footnotes. Rarely does Sadler ever reference where he got his information from making it a nightmare to try to find the original sources.
Also due to the age of this book, the way Japanese is romanised is quite different to modern romanisation.
Also due to the age of this book, the way Japanese is romanised is quite different to modern romanisation.
January 2, 2024
Ieyasu was a badass. Charasmatic leader, strict, strong, and logical. Also loved to hawk.
Loved hearing about such a different time and culture from us.
Imagine gunpowder not working well because it would always be rainy.
Feuds, ego, seppuku, political dealings, honor, along with the other bloody horrors of a different era.
Gives cool context with Nobunaga and Hideyoshi as well.
Loved hearing about such a different time and culture from us.
Imagine gunpowder not working well because it would always be rainy.
Feuds, ego, seppuku, political dealings, honor, along with the other bloody horrors of a different era.
Gives cool context with Nobunaga and Hideyoshi as well.
October 11, 2025
This was an awesome read. As mentioned in the foreword, this book came from a different era of scholarship and the author draws from a myriad of accounts, both contemporary of Tokugawa’s era and long well after it. The effect is that this feels very biblical in its account of the life of the Shogun, adding a sort of aura of legendary to both the realistic and the factual.
November 29, 2019
Entirely possible a more patient me would have finished this, but I found the bibliographical elements pretty dull, the strategy/war parts equally dull and the historical/sociological side of things missing too often. More that I chose the wrong book then it was bad of course.
October 10, 2020
There is a sorely lacking hole for any educational material on Sengoku Jidai but even so this book doesn't make up for it. Often circumstances are left unexplained and the quality of the editing is shoddy.
May 30, 2024
A solid place to start when wanting to learn more about Tokugawa Ieyasu, but due to how old it is, there are more accurate scholarly works that can now be found covering the subject, and I appreciate that the intro acknowledged that.
May 7, 2025
Very informative. The author's lack of introductory commas makes the book a little bit more difficult to read.
Very detail oriented without giving a good cohesive full picture. I would have enjoyed fewer details with a more cohesive storyline.
Great as a reference book, not a compelling read.
Very detail oriented without giving a good cohesive full picture. I would have enjoyed fewer details with a more cohesive storyline.
Great as a reference book, not a compelling read.
December 26, 2025
He goes out on a lot of irrelevant tangents and the relevant parts are practically incomprehensible without a lot of maps and wikipedia. But then, it probably was not meant to be an account of the unification of Japan for the laymen, but rather an in-depth scholarly work for the already initiated.
October 24, 2020
The writing style was very hard to get through, but the appendices and description of Tokugawa legislation was very appreciated.
November 6, 2023
Важке наукове чтиво, якому в сучасній інтерпретації не вистачає мап і інфографіки.
June 11, 2024
I don't think that giving this book anything less than 5 stars is unfair as it's a extremely well researched book from a 16th century Japanese warlord. It couldn't have gotten any more detailed than it did. I admit that it was often hard to follow because of the Japanese names (not just are they long and unfamiliar to my Western brain, but also the switch between first name and last name and also people changing names as they age) but that's an inevitable component if you were going to document the history of Japan.
June 25, 2024
What the actual F? For me, this book is unreadable and incomprehensible, like a very confusing first draft of The Bible.
October 2, 2024
Very comprehensive. Some parts it goes rather quickly and are missing some info, but in general is good! 3.5/5⭐
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews