Customer Reviews

Castles of the Samurai: Power and Beauty

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Having bought this book based on the cover and title (with no review or other information posted) I was expecting a coffee table type book with lots of pretty photos and light on the text. It turned out that this book is not your average "jo" (the Japanese suffix used after a castle's name to denote "castle"-Himeji-Jo, Nijo-jo, etc). Happily, while it does have lots of "pretty photos" it also has a solid 42 pages of well written and informative text. The photos are well done, all 50+ full color pages of them. They document all the aspects of the Japanese castle-gates, towers, roofing, gables, outbuildings, doors, stone dropping windows, shooting holes, nail head covers, and of course those impressive sloping stone walls, moats, and keeps with photos of each aspect being grouped for comparison. There are even well done shots of the interiors of various castles, which are somewhat of a rarity. The shots are taken at a nice variety of castles as well, eschewing the easy method of running primarily nothing but shots of the easily accessible castles like Himeji, Osaka, and Matsumoto.
The text is also well done, with informative, well done diagrams, charts, tables, and terminology. While most English language Japanese castle books focus on the military history of the structures, here they are given their signifigance as works of art and architecture as well. Detailed construction methods are given and illustrated. There are brief sections of the history of the castles and their destruction during the Meiji Restoration and World War II. I found the chart listing Castles, Daimyos, Domains, and Income in the Edo Period particularly valuable along with a table classifying existing castles as to date built, remains, type of keep, original buildings, walls, or keeps, and reconstructions using original materials or concrete. The only place the book comes up short is in the discussion of early castles or yamashiro (mountain castles), but of course there aren't any of these left to photograph. Overall a great job and a welcome addition to the sparse English references on Japanese Castles.

I bought this book prior to my 2005 trip to Japan and was able to visit many of these remarkable castles. My only complaint about this book is I think it should be at least twice as long. At 104 pages its pretty lean for this subject. The color photos are beautiful and capture many of the rich details of these magnificent fortresses.

In the back of the book there is a glossary and a series of excellent charts including: Castles, Domains, and Income in the Edo Period (a map & chart); and 45-castles to visit (very useful map & chart).

Himeji castle is truly awesome and requires a full day of exploration. Next door is a very nice garden with an incredible bonsai collection. There is also a nice tea house outside the castle grounds. My personal favorite was Kumamoto in Kyushu, which was built by Kato Kiyomasa of whom I am a big fan. Next to Kumamoto is the Hosokawa mansion, and there are many incredible noodle restaurants.

I would say this book helped me tremendously in locating the castles I wanted to see, knowing what to expect, and understanding a little of the history of each one. I also recommend the Osprey Publishing book, "Japanese Castles, 1540-1640", however this is the finest book on the subject in English that I know, and I highly recommend it.