LEGENDS OF THE SAMURAI

Product Information

His brilliant defense of Ueda Castle in Nagano ensured that Tokugawa Hidetada's 40,000 troops wouldn't arrive in time to support his father, Ieyasu, at the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Beyond being a superb warrior and strategist, Nobunaga was responsible for setting in motion the chain of events that would reunify the nation and end the Warring States Period. He introduced many designers and artists to Japonisme and organised many successful exhibitions of Japanese ukiyo-e, woodblock prints. Afterward, the triumphant Bennosuke changed his hairstyle, dress, bearing, and name, choosing Miyamoto Musashi—Miyamoto being his father’s village.

Their ethos embodied a code of honour and loyalty the bushidō (way of the warrior) where a Samurai will fight to the bitter end for his master, the only option in case of a dishonourable defeat was to commit seppuku a ritualized suicide through self disembowelment by plunging a sword into the abdomen. He led his first campaign at the age of 14 and succeeded his father at 17, conquering much of what is now the Tohoku region by 1589. In the early Heian period, during the late 8th and early 9th centuries, Emperor Kanmu sought to consolidate and expand his rule in northern Honshū and made military campaigns against the Emishi, who resisted the governance of the Kyoto-based imperial court. Other weapons used were the naginata (pole weapon with a curved blade) and the yari (spear); Samurai were also accomplished archers fighting on horseback with a long bow (yumi).

The fourth son of a powerful warlord, Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578) emerged from a succession struggle and internal strife with peasants and warrior monks to take control of Echigo Province, now mainland Niigata Prefecture, during Japan's Warring States Period (1467-1590). The Mongol army was still on its ships preparing for the landing operation when a typhoon hit north Kyūshū island. At 9, after the sudden death of the Oda patriarch, Oda Nobunaga agreed to allow Ieyasu to be transferred to Sunpu, where he then lived as a hostage of the Imagawa Clan until he was 13, when he joined the Imagawa in their battles against the Oda. With more than 160,000 troops engaged in the conflict, Ieyasu's victory in the Battle of Sekigahara cemented his control over the nation.

It is not necessarily a "fun" read, nor filled with all sorts of nifty little facts and tidbits about martial arts. However, after his patron Hidehira died in 1187, Yoshitsune was betrayed by his son, who surrounded his residence and forced him to commit suicide. The Kamakura period (1185–1333) saw the rise of the samurai under shogun rule as they were "entrusted with the security of the estates" and were symbols of the ideal warrior and citizen.Musashi's father was an accomplished swordsman serving the lord of Takeyama Castle, which overlooked the village. The Northern Court, supported by the Ashikaga Shogunate, had six emperors, and in 1392 the Imperial Court was reunited by absorbing the Southern Court, although the modern Imperial Household Agency considers the Southern Court to be the legitimate emperor. It presents writings by a number of members of the warrior class in the early to middle Tokugawa period, allowing them to speak in their own voice.