Customer Reviews

Weapons & Fighting Techniques of the Samurai Warrior 1200-1877 AD

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First, this is a beautiful book, well worth the money for the glorious artwork reproduced within its covers. If I could score the illustrations, I'd give that part of the book six stars.

Secondly, this is a useful book cutting through the mythology of the samurai into the more complex reality. In this book, the text will make clear that the people who actually fought in Japan's civil wars were fairly pragmatic. Warriors had a goal of being visibly brave so that they could be rewarded, rather than dying gloriously. Military organization became stronger as Japan's history unfolded.

Two surprising arguments are advanced. The "code of the warrior" was created by men who were bureaucrats in the shogun's government. These were people who did not fight in wars and who needed the mythology to distinguish them from other classes. Their combats were mostly sporting contests. The famous samurai sword, emblem of the samurai class, was not really a weapon used in war--it was more a work of art and a status symbol.

Sadly, the text falls down in explaining the famous military campaigns of Japanese history and does so for a very simple reason. There are no maps. Sometimes tiny diagrams suitable for illustrating a football play are included, but this is inadequate. Granted, this is an overview and not a detailed account of military campaigns, but in describing rival regions and armies, the reader needs to know where all these place names are and how far apart or how close together they are.

Also, the author repeats an unfounded conclusion about the speed of Japanese mounted warriors. He says that the medieval Japanese war horses were quite small--which is probably true when compared to modern horses. Selective breeding has increased the size of modern breeds throughout the world. Based on an experiment done in 1980 by a TV station, he concludes that mounted battles in medieval Japan would have been fought in slow motion at a trot or a canter. From his text, I conclude that NHK took a 12.3 hand pony weighing 770lbs and placed tack, rider and armor weighing 209lbs on its back. The pony had not been conditioned prior to the trial and could not sustain a canter. Lack of conditioning is a huge factor and the fact that the pony was carrying a load more than 27% of its own weight is another. Removing just 15 or 16 pounds to bring to load below 25% of the pony's weight and conditioning the horse before the trial would make a huge difference in both speed and the ability to sustain it. I submit that any horseman who rode his horse into battle would be aware of these factors, be he ever so medieval. I make this point because the illustrations include plate after plate of bowmen mounted on gorgeous muscular horses. The author asserts that artistic license must be in effect. Looking at the details of most of these horses, I'm not so sure. Many seem to be accurately depicted down to tiny details of the hooves and show hallmarks that denote a highly conditioned animal.

The chapters of the book on firearms and cannons & artillery will be surprising to anyone who clings to the romantic image of the samurai sword fighter. The book also contains a useful glossary and is well indexed. If the next edition would include a map or two, I could easily justify a four star rating.