Customer Reviews

Warriors of Medieval Japan (General Military)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first thing I noticed about this book was its stunning artistic quality: with full-color art illustrations and diagrams, and beautiful layout throughout, it's worth owning just for its image content.

Turnbull is a fantastic popular writer. The book is informative and easily accessible to the general reader, and an invaluable introduction to the samurai, ashigaru, ninja, and warrior monks of Japan's Age of Warring States.

Divided into four parts, each detailing one of the different warrior types that Turnbull discusses, the book gives descriptions of individual duties, the warrior's place in times of peace and war, weaponry, dress, daily life, and anything else applicable through examples of individual battles, people, and documents from the time.

It's a wonderful work, and I'd suggest it to any person interested in military or Japanese history.

Great book full of artwork, great information regarding Medieval Japan and is an easy read. Full of wonderful information. Still reading it, but I will continue it is the best book I have seen for understanding the Japanese culture centuries ago.

This was the first of many books on samurai I picked up. It introduces the reader to 4 different kinds of warrior. Samurai, Ashigaru (foot soilder), warrior monks, and of course ninja. This book unmasks "true ninja" and does away with the smoke and mirrors pop culture has put on them. It comes with dozens of colored pictures and detailed drawing showing armor parts and the gear they carried. If you are ready to get interested in Japanese warriors or just find out more facts this is a must buy.

I've always been fascinated with Japanese history. The culture is unique in the world. I was excited to receive this book about the Japanese warriors that populated the islands for hundreds of years.

The first thing I have to make clear is that this is not a book I could just sit down and read. I attempted to do it, but it's just too much information. It's not written to be read that way. It reads more like a reference book or a text book. The writing is more dry and academic. What is there is fascinating, but it's written in that style. The artwork and illustrations are incredible. It's filled with paintings and drawings that are very top quality. They're beautiful.

The book is divided into very exhaustive sections on Samurai, Ashigaru, Ninja, and Warrior Monks. It tells pretty much everything about each one including a general description, recruitment and training, equipment, a bit about the culture, and how they were employed in combat. The information is very well researched and exhaustive. It is littered with those wonderful illustrations throughout.

I nearly gave this book three stars because I had such a difficult time reading through it. While writing the review, I decided that's my failing. The book is written well for what it is. It's a text book or a reference book. The illustrations are well worth a better rating than I originally planned. As a matter of fact, I just bumped it up to a five.

Since the 1980s I have used Turnbull's work as my gateway into medieval Japan, and I was so delighted to come across this work at the library recently that I bought it right away. I am so pleased! To me, this is THE resource to use when learning about medieval Japan, samurai or ninja. As you may know, Osprey Publishing has been a leader in providing readers with highly detailed monographs on military history throughout the ages. Turnbull is their main author on all things Asian. This book is a compilation, more or less, of Turnbull's monographs. They are not exactly the same, but largely so.

You can use the look inside function to see the contents, so I will not be redundant here. I will say that after reading the majority of the book over a weekend, I feel very familiar with not only the particulars of this or that clan, or this or that political movement, but with medieval Japan as a whole.

The text is also lavishly illustrated with modern and medieval art, as well as color and B/W photographs. Binding is excellent- very sturdy.

Readers may also find useful: Turnbull's Samurai Warriors, Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult, Samurai Warfare, The Lone Samurai and the Martial Arts, Samurai Women 1184-1877 (Warrior). Samurai: The Story of Japan's Great Warriors is very similar, but just different enough to be worth the purchase if you are serious in your studies.

For some light reading, the samurai mysteries of Thomas and Dorothy Hoobler are excellent. In Darkness, Death is one example from the series, all of which are very fun and thrilling.

For more serious historical fiction, Musashi and Taiko are a must read.