Author: Romulus Hillsborough
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462913512
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Get Book Here
Book Description
"With his easily readable and entertaining style, Hillsborough does a great job of elucidating the complex customs that ruled Edo Period life and politics. --The Japan Times"
Author: Romulus Hillsborough
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 146291358X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188
Get Book Here
Book Description
Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps is the true story of the notorious samurai corps formed in 1863 to arrest or kill the enemies of the Tokugawa Shogun. The only book in English about the Shinsengumi, it focuses on the corps' two charismatic leaders, Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo, both impeccable swordsmen. It is a history-in-brief of the final years of the Bakufu, which collapsed in 1867 with the restoration of Imperial rule. In writing Shinsengumi, Hillsborough referred mostly to Japanese-language primary sources, including letters, memoirs, journals, interviews, and eyewitness accounts, as well as definitive biographies and histories of the era. The fall of the shogun's government (Tokugawa Bakufu, or simply Bakufu) in 1868, which had ruled Japan for over two and a half centuries, was the greatest event in modern Japanese history. The revolution, known as the Meiji Restoration, began with the violent reaction of samurai to the Bakufu's decision in 1854 to open the theretofore isolated country to "Western barbarians." Though opening the country was unavoidable, it was seen as a sign of weakness by the samurai who clamored to "expel the barbarians." Those samurai plotted to overthrow the shogun and restore the holy emperor to his ancient seat of power. Screaming "heaven's revenge," they wielded their swords with a vengeance upon those loyal to the shogun. They unleashed a wave of terror at the center of the revolution--the emperor's capital of Kyoto. Murder and assassination were rampant. By the end of 1862, hordes of renegade samurai, called ronin, had transformed the streets of the Imperial Capital into a "sea of blood." The shogun's administrators were desperate to stop the terror. A band of expert swordsmen was formed. It was given the name Shinsengumi ("Newly Selected Corps")--and commissioned to eliminate the ronin and other enemies of the Bakufu. With unrestrained brutality bolstered by an official sanction to kill, the Shinsengumi soon became the shogun's most dreaded security force. In this vivid historical narrative of the Shinsengumi, the only one in the English language, author Romulus Hillsborough paints a provocative and thrilling picture of this fascinating period in Japanese history.
Author: Romulus Hillsborough
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476628009
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Get Book Here
Book Description
Assassination--in Japanese, ansatsu or "dark murder"--was instrumental in the samurai-led revolution known as the Meiji Restoration, by which the shogun's military government was overthrown and the Imperial monarchy restored in 1868. The ideology and moral philosophy of the men behind the revolution--including bushidō or "the way of the warrior"--informed their actions and would become the foundation of the emperor-worship of World War II. This first-ever account in English of the assassins who drove the revolution details one of the most volatile periods in Japanese history--also known as "the dawn of modern Japan."
Author: Paul Nowak
Publisher: R.A.G.E. Media
ISBN: 0977223469
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 116
Get Book Here
Book Description
Christians are called to be both servants and soldiers of Christ. As this book demonstrates, there is much to be learned from the teachings and example of the Samurai, legendary servant-warriors of Japan, in order for believers respond to Gods call as Christian Samurai. (Christian)
Author: Romulus Hillsborough
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 652
Get Book Here
Book Description
Set in Meivi Restoration Era (mid-19th century Japan) during the last years of Tokugawa Shogunate, this is the first English language literary biography of samurai Sakamoto Ryoma, a founder of modern Japan.
Author: Peter Tieryas
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0451491017
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Get Book Here
Book Description
The Man in the High Castle meets Pacific Rim in this action-packed alternate history novel from the award-winning author of United States of Japan and Mecha Samurai Empire. NO ONE SURVIVES AN ALLIANCE WITH THE NAZIS. NOT WITHOUT USE OF FORCE. Seattle, 2019. After a severe injury, ace mecha designer and pilot Reiko Morikawa is recruited to a secret organization plotting a revolt against the corrupt governor (and Nazi sympathizer) of the United States of Japan. When their plan to save the USJ from itself goes awry, the mission is only saved from failure because the governor is killed by an assassin known as Bloody Mary. But the assassin isn't satisfied with just the governor. Bishop Wakana used to be a cop. Now he's an agent of the Tokko, the secret police. Following the trail of a Nazi scientist, Bishop discovers a web of weapons smuggling, black market mecha parts--and a mysterious assassin. This killer once hunted Nazis but now seems to be targeting the USJ itself. As the leaders of the United States of Japan come to realize the devil's bargain they made in their uneasy alliance with the Nazis, Bishop and Reiko are hot on the trail of Bloody Mary, trying to stop her before it's too late.
Author: Mitsuo Kure
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 146291490X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 613
Get Book Here
Book Description
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 stretch of Western history between the reigns of the Crusader king Richard the Lionhearted and of Queen Victoria at the height of the British Empire--during which an enclosed civilization was dominated by a single warrior caste. The historical narrative of samurai history is supported by explanations of samurai armor, weapons, fortifications, tactics, and customs, and illustrated with nearly 800 fascinating color photographs, maps, and sketches, including ancient scroll paintings and surviving suits of armor preserved for centuries in Japanese shrines. From the 12th to the 19th centuries the history of Japan was effectively the history of the samurai--the class of professional fighting men. At first, they were no more than lowly soldiery employed by the court aristocracy of Kyoto, but the growing power of the provincial warrior clans soon enabled them to brush aside the executive power of the imperial court and to form their own parallel military government. Though individual dynasties came and went in cycles of vigor and decadence, the dominance of the samurai as a class proved uniquely resilient.
Author: Thomas Cleary
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462900313
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 168
Get Book Here
Book Description
Soul of the Samurai contains modern translations of three classic works of Zen & Bushido. In Soul of the Samurai, bestselling author and respected translator Thomas Cleary reveals the true essence of the Bushido code or Zen warrior teachings according to 17th-century Japanese samurai master Yagyu Munenori and his Zen teacher Takuan Soho. The three works of Zen & Bushido translated in Soul of the Samurai are: The Book of the Sword by Yagyu Munenori The Inscrutable Subtlety of Immovable Wisdom by Takuan Soho The Peerless Sword by Takuan Soho Yagyu was a renowned swordsman and chief of the Shogun's secret police, while Takuan was the Zen spiritual mentor to the Emperor. This samurai philosophy book contains the first English translations of their seminal writings on Bushido. Cleary not only provides clear and readable translations but comprehensive notes introducing the social, political, and organizational principles that defined samurai culture--their loyalty to family, their sense of service and duty, and their political strategies for dealing with allies and enemies. These writings introduce the reader to the authentic world of Zen culture and the secrets behind the samurai's success--being "in the moment" and freeing the mind from all distractions, allowing you to react instantaneously and instinctively without thinking. In these classic works, we learn that Zen mental control and meditational training were as important to the Samurai as swordsmanship and fighting skills.
Author: Alexander McKay
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780857866158
Category : Japan
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book Here
Book Description
Thomas Glover arrived in Nagasaki in 1859, just as Japan was opening to the West. Within a few years he had played a crucial part in the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate, providing the rebels with war-winning, Scottish-designed warships, and modern arms. Bankruptcy by the age of thirty was barely a setback and he went on to become a pivotal figure in the rapidly expanding Mitsubishi empire, founding shipyards and breweries. As energetic in his love-life as in business and politics, Glover had a string of Japanese mistresses, one of whom inspired Puccini's Madam Butterfly. This 'Scottish Samurai' was to become an adviser to the Japanese government; he also arranged for many Japanese to visit Britain and see the wonders of the industrial revolution, a lesson they enthusiastically absorbed. Today, Glover is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Japanese economic miracle.
Author: Victor Milán
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780450413742
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Get Book Here
Book Description
