Download or read book Famous Japanese Swordsmen of the Two Courts Period written by William De Lange and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the best-selling Famous Japanese Swordsmen: The Warring States comes more solid sword history in the guise of thrilling narrative. The Two Courts Period was a turning point in Japan's medieval era - a time when an unbridgeable rift appeared in the fragile fabric of Japanese feudal society. On each side stood a separate imperial court, each with its own army and its own agenda. As the schism deepened and the positions hardened, every warrior faced the terrible choice between loyalty and friendship. Two such men were Nennami Okuyama Jion and Chûjô Hyôgo no Kami Nagahide. Jion, an impoverished warrior monk who had lost his father through the treachery of a Bakufu official, joined the side of the loyalists, the forces fighting on behalf of the Southern Court. Nagahide, whose ancestors had stood at the cradle of feudal society and had risen to high rank within the Bakufu, was bound by duty to the Northern Court. Their stories, set against the greater historical backdrop of ruthless political intrigue and vast military campaigns, tell of loyalty, of betrayal, and of seemingly insurmountable setbacks; they describe the tragedy of civil war experienced at the personal level.
Download or read book African Samurai written by Thomas Lockley and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography of the first foreign-born samurai and his journey from Africa to Japan is “a readable, compassionate account of an extraordinary life” (The Washington Post). When Yasuke arrived in Japan in the late 1500s, he had already traveled much of the known world. Kidnapped as a child, he had ended up a servant and bodyguard to the head of the Jesuits in Asia, with whom he traversed India and China learning multiple languages as he went. His arrival in Kyoto, however, literally caused a riot. Most Japanese people had never seen an African man before, and many of them saw him as the embodiment of the black-skinned Buddha. Among those who were drawn to his presence was Lord Nobunaga, head of the most powerful clan in Japan, who made Yasuke a samurai in his court. Soon, he was learning the traditions of Japan’s martial arts and ascending the upper echelons of Japanese society. In the four hundred years since, Yasuke has been known in Japan largely as a legendary, perhaps mythical figure. Now African Samurai presents the never-before-told biography of this unique figure of the sixteenth century, one whose travels between countries and cultures offers a new perspective on race in world history and a vivid portrait of life in medieval Japan. “Fast-paced, action-packed writing. . . . A new and important biography and an incredibly moving study of medieval Japan and solid perspective on its unification. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal (starred review) “Eminently readable. . . . a worthwhile and entertaining work.” —Publishers Weekly “A unique story of a unique man, and yet someone with whom we can all identify.” —Jack Weatherford, New York Times–bestselling author of Genghis Khan
Download or read book Samurai Battles written by William De Lange and published by Toyo Press. This book was released on 2020-03-20 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Known from his collaboration on the Netflix documentary Age of Samurai, historian William de Lange takes the reader right back to the 16th century's closing decades. In the course of the ensuing journey we witness the major battles fought by the country's three great unifiers: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu
Download or read book The Historical Sociology of Japanese Martial Arts written by Raul Sanchez Garcia and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-03 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Norbert Elias Book Prize 2020 This is the first long-term analysis of the development of Japanese martial arts, connecting ancient martial traditions with the martial arts practised today. The Historical Sociology of Japanese Martial Arts captures the complexity of the emergence and development of martial traditions within the broader Japanese Civilising Process. The book traces the structured process in which warriors’ practices became systematised and expanded to the Japanese population and the world. Using the theoretical framework of Norbert Elias’s process-sociology and drawing on rich empirical data, the book also compares the development of combat practices in Japan, England, France and Germany, making a new contribution to our understanding of the socio-cultural dynamics of state formation. Throughout this analysis light is shed onto a gender blind spot, taking into account the neglected role of women in martial arts. The Historical Sociology of Japanese Martial Arts is important reading for students of Socio-Cultural Perspectives in Sport, Sociology of Physical Activity, Historical Development of Sport in Society, Asian Studies, Sociology and Philosophy of Sport, and Sports History and Culture. It is also a fascinating resource for scholars, researchers and practitioners interested in the historical and socio-cultural aspects of combat sport and martial arts.
Download or read book Famous Japanese Swordsmen of the Period of Unification written by William De Lange and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Period of Unification was the final great epoch in Japan's long period of civil strife. Finally, after more than two centuries of terrible turmoil, Japan found its way back to peace and order under three successive rulers. The final drive came in the fall of 1600, when Japan's eastern and western warlords faced each other in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. Each and every man who called himself a warrior now faced the stark choice between the forces of division and those of unification." "Two such men were Ono Jiroemon Tadaaki and Yagyu Tajima no Kami Munenori. Tadaaki, a swordsman from the Kanto, had lost his family and home and become a ronin, a masterless samurai. Munenori hailed from the Home Provinces. His clan had lost its lands and castle, and had been reduced to lives as dependents. Having lost everything, both men staked their lives and futures on the victory of the eastern forces." "Their story, told against the greater historical backdrop of ruthless political intrigue and vast military campaigns, is a story of the tragedy of civil war experienced at the personal level - it is a story of loyalty, of betrayal, of seemingly insurmountable setbacks. Yet their courage in the face of overwhelming odds still stands as moving testimony to the kind of perseverance and dedication that can have no equal in times of peace."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Samurai written by Mitsuo Kure and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2014-11-25 with total page 613 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Hagakure The Book of the Samurai written by Yamamoto Tsunetomo and published by Xist Publishing. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Collection of Thoughts, Sayings and Meditations on the Way of the Samurai "It is said that what is called "the spirit of an age" is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world's coming to an end. For this reason, although one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation." — Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai A formerly secret text known only to the Samurai, Hagakure is a classic text on Bushido--the Way of the Warrior. More than just a handbook for battle, Hagakure is a text that filled with teachings that still apply in business, political and social situations today. This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This eBook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it.
Download or read book The Real Musashi written by William De Lange and published by Toyo Press. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645) is the most revered and celebrated swordsman in Japanese history; unfortunately, our modern portrait of this folk hero is derived mainly from popular books, comics, and film, with little heed paid to the early records by men who knew Musashi, practiced with Musashi, and went into battle with Musashi. Spanning a period of more than a decade, the author set out to translate all surviving records on Musashi. The result is a body of text comprising some 150,000 words, mostly written during Japan's feudal era. They range from original accounts of duels, battles, and sieges, local histories and topographies, down to personal correspondence, clan records, family lineages, and roll calls. The fruit of that labor of love, the groundbreaking three-part The Real Musashi: Origins of a Legend series makes available to the English reader virtually all of the extant early historical material relevant to the life of this enigmatic and solitary swordsman. All texts are accompanied by extensive notes that help to clarify and put them in perspective. Part III, A Miscellany, presents translations of nearly two dozen texts describing important events in Musashi's life, dating from the mid-seventeenth to the late-nineteenth century. They include the Tomari jinja munefuda, by Musashi's adopted son Iori; the Yoshioka-den, the clan records of the rivaling Yoshioka clan, the K k zatsuroku, describing Musashi's heroic role in the siege of Osaka castle; the Dobo goen, on his liaison with a Yoshiwara geisha; the S ky -sama o-degatari on his role in the Shimabara Rebellion; and the Numata kaki, written by the keeper of the castle where Musashi stayed at the time of his famous duel on Ganryu Island. "
Download or read book Bushido the Soul of Japan written by Inazo Nitobe and published by Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-08 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bushido: The Soul of Japan written by Inazo Nitobe was one of the first books on samurai ethics that was originally written in English for a Western audience, and has been subsequently translated into many other languages (also Japanese). Nitobe found in Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, the sources of the virtues most admired by his people: rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, sincerity, honor, loyalty and self-control, and he uses his deep knowledge of Western culture to draw comparisons with Medieval Chivalry, Philosophy, and Christianity.
Download or read book The Tale of the Heike written by and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-10-25 with total page 1079 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tale of the Heike is Japan's great martial epic; a masterpiece of world literature and the progenitor of all samurai stories, now in a major and groundbreaking new translation by Royall Tyler, acclaimed translator of The Tale of Genji. First assembled from scattered oral poems in the early fourteenth century, The Tale of the Heike is Japan's Iliad - a grand-scale depiction of the wars between the Heike and Genji clans. Legendary for its magnificent and vivid set battle scenes, it is also a work filled with intimate human dramas and emotions, contemplating Buddhist themes of suffering and separation, as well as universal insights into love, loss and loyalty. The narrative moves back and forth between the two great warring clans, between aristocratic society and street life, adults and children, great crowds and introspection. No Japanese work has had a greater impact on subsequent literature, theatre, music and films, or on Japan's sense of its own past. Royall Tyler's new translation is the first to capture the way The Tale of the Heike was originally performed. It re-creates the work in its full operatic form, with speech, poetry, blank verse and song that convey its character as an oral epic in a way not seen before, fully embracing the rich and vigorous language of the original texts. Beautifully illustrated with fifty-five woodcuts from the nineteenth-century artistic master, Katsushika Hokusai, and bolstered with maps, character guides, genealogies and rich annotation, this is a landmark edition. Royall Tyler taught Japanese language and literature for many years at the Australian National University. He has a B.A. from Harvard University and a PhD from Columbia University and has taught at Harvard, Stanford and the University of Wisconsin. His translation of The Tale of Genji was acclaimed by publications such as The New York Times Book Review.
Download or read book The Book of Five Rings written by Musashi Miyamoto and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 1994 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covers the art of war, focusing on the psychology and physics of lethal assault and decisive victory as the essence of warfare.
Download or read book Miyamoto Musashi written by William De Lange and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A full biography of Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi
Download or read book Famous Samurai written by William De Lange and published by Toyo Press. This book was released on 2017-03-24 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: True stories of the two greatest sword heroes of the Waring States Period (1469-1573). This was the most destructive period in Japan's history. It was a time when thousands of warriors either perished or persevered on the strength of their martial skills.
Download or read book Samurai William written by Giles Milton and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2003-01-18 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eye-opening account of the first encounter between England and Japan, by the acclaimed author of Nathaniel's Nutmeg In 1611, the merchants of London's East India Company received a mysterious letter from Japan, written several years previously by a marooned English mariner named William Adams. Foreigners had been denied access to Japan for centuries, yet Adams had been living in this unknown land for years. He had risen to the highest levels in the ruling shogun's court, taken a Japanese name, and was now offering his services as adviser and interpreter. Seven adventurers were sent to Japan with orders to find and befriend Adams, in the belief that he held the key to exploiting the opulent riches of this forbidden land. Their arrival was to prove a momentous event in the history of Japan and the shogun suddenly found himself facing a stark choice: to expel the foreigners and continue with his policy of isolation, or to open his country to the world. For more than a decade the English, helped by Adams, were to attempt trade with the shogun, but confounded by a culture so different from their own, and hounded by scheming Jesuit monks and fearsome Dutch assassins, they found themselves in a desperate battle for their lives. Samurai William is the fascinating story of a clash of two cultures, and of the enormous impact one Westerner had on the opening of the East.
Download or read book Famous Japanese Swordsmen written by William De Lange and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most destructive epoch in Japan's long history of civil strife, the Warring States period began when the dearly won supremacy of the Ashikaga clan was squandered by a weak and indecisive ruler, allowing the jealous rivalry between local warlords to spiral irrevocably out of control.
Download or read book Atsumori written by Zeami Motokiyo and published by Volume Edizioni srl. This book was released on 2014-03-07 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The japanese Noh drama by the Master Zeami Motokiyo about the Buddhist priest Rensei and the warrior of the Taira Clan Atsumori. The story of redention of the warrior Kumagai Jiro Naozane that killed the young Atsumori. One of the most popular and touching Zeami's Noh drama inspired by "The Tales of Heike". Contents: Preface by Massimo Cimarelli Atsumori by Zeami Motokiyo Pearson Part I Interlude Part II Glossary Notes
Download or read book What Life was Like Among Samurai and Shoguns written by and published by Time Life Medical. This book was released on 1999 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive view of how the Samurai and Shoguns lived in Japan, their discipline and battle gear as well as other facts about typical behavior.
