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Osprey Warrior #7
Samurai 1550–1600
This title details the culture, weapons, armour and training of the elite samurai warrior class in the fascinating Age of Battles period (1550-1600). This was a period of vital importance not only because of the political effects of the chaos but also due to the changes in warfare that occurred. In 1542 the Portuguese introduced the matchlock musket into Japanese warfare, and this book traces the effect that this important innovation had on the samurai. Life outside the field of battle is also examined, making this an unmissable book for those interested in this brave warrior caste.
64 pages, Paperback
First published May 25, 1989
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About the author
Anthony J. Bryant
16 books2 followersAnthony J. Bryant was an American author and editor. He worked in Japan for a period of time, and became an authority on medieval Japanese armor and samurai culture.
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July 28, 2025SAMURAI 1550-1600 of the Osprey Warrior Series #7 is by the same author who wrote THE SAMURAI of the Osprey Elite Series #23. I liked this one more as it got into detail about the Samurai themselves. It covered everything from daily life and training to armor and battle tactics. This one title in itself is probably one of the best in the English language concerning samurai armor.
The years 1550 to 1600 AD saw constant warfare and was referred to as the Warring States Period. It was still possible to become a samurai in those days, usually by surviving combat long enough to be noticed. Being a samurai was a social status and there were those who were civil administrators, artists and Buddhist clergy. Physicians may not have been samurai but they still were greatly respected. Imitating samurai, some carried fake swords that contained medicines and such.
Speaking of medicines, my grandfather was shot seven times during WWI and according to the family stories he would put his own feces on his wounds when no medical services were about. In a similar manner the samurai ate fresh horse feces to control bleeding and clotting blood. Well, that is what it said in the book!
All samurai trained with swords. This was carried out in a dojo. The sensei was one who qualified by surviving in battle. Practice was carried out with heavy wooden swords with no protective padding or armor. Broken bones were common. One was taught to kill, not meditate for spiritual enlightenment.
The samurai were fanatically loyal to their lords, even to the point where some wanted to follow their lords in death. Those who lost their lords, or were banished, became ronin. They either became swords for hire or bandits. By contrast, their lords thought nothing of betrayal to allies if it suited them.
The samurai studied The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Tokugawa Ieyasu was a general at age 16.
Before closing, I want to mention that the samurai often carried two swords. The larger one, called the tachi, hung suspended for a belt, sharp edge downward. The one called the katana was stuck in the belt and carried with the blade upwards.
Also, samurai women were touched upon here but I will save that for a book dedicated to them.
The years 1550 to 1600 AD saw constant warfare and was referred to as the Warring States Period. It was still possible to become a samurai in those days, usually by surviving combat long enough to be noticed. Being a samurai was a social status and there were those who were civil administrators, artists and Buddhist clergy. Physicians may not have been samurai but they still were greatly respected. Imitating samurai, some carried fake swords that contained medicines and such.
Speaking of medicines, my grandfather was shot seven times during WWI and according to the family stories he would put his own feces on his wounds when no medical services were about. In a similar manner the samurai ate fresh horse feces to control bleeding and clotting blood. Well, that is what it said in the book!
All samurai trained with swords. This was carried out in a dojo. The sensei was one who qualified by surviving in battle. Practice was carried out with heavy wooden swords with no protective padding or armor. Broken bones were common. One was taught to kill, not meditate for spiritual enlightenment.
The samurai were fanatically loyal to their lords, even to the point where some wanted to follow their lords in death. Those who lost their lords, or were banished, became ronin. They either became swords for hire or bandits. By contrast, their lords thought nothing of betrayal to allies if it suited them.
The samurai studied The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Tokugawa Ieyasu was a general at age 16.
Before closing, I want to mention that the samurai often carried two swords. The larger one, called the tachi, hung suspended for a belt, sharp edge downward. The one called the katana was stuck in the belt and carried with the blade upwards.
Also, samurai women were touched upon here but I will save that for a book dedicated to them.
May 22, 2020
This is Osprey's third book looking at the most emblematic part of Japan's military history (starting with the 1979 Men-at-Arms Samurai Armies, to the 1989 Elite The Samurai, to this 1994 Warrior book), and it still manages to miss a few opportunities.
The Warrior series generally concentrates on the details of equipment. Other volumes have some full-color 'exploded' diagrams of things like swords, showing just how many parts go into such a simple-looking thing, and really showing how that goes together. A few of those would be very handy Japanese armor which works from very different principles. There is a good examination of the parts that go into a katana hilt, and an illustration of all the tools used by armorers along with how they hung armor pieces to assemble them (and a reproduction of of an original source woodcut).
As usual, this volume is graphically very solid. In fact, much more so than many Osprey books on older subjects, which are reliant on what little archaeology can provide. There's many photos of surviving armor sets, various styles of helmets, etc. There's also a few shots of Japanese movie sets to help show the kind of world the samurai lived in (I seem to remember those photos were in one of the earlier books, but I haven't gone back to check). And of course, the Angus McBride art is first-rate.
The text itself is also very good and informative. It hits all the things you'd want and expect in a clear format, and includes essentials of how samurai were trained, what equipment was expected on the march, and so on. I'd say sieges (which were different than the European model) were somewhat underserved, but I expect that is better handled in the later fortress book, and the important parts would move away from the focus of the Warrior series anyway. The text is also helped by having a fairly tight fifty-year focus, which is pretty much at the climax of a lot of the developments discussed.
I have the PDF version of the book, which is obviously a scan of the physical book, and the scans are in very good shape. There's some crookedness evident, but not distractingly so. Overall, a very good quick guide to the details of medieval Japanese arms and armor, which sadly misses getting down to some of the fiddly detail I'd like.
The Warrior series generally concentrates on the details of equipment. Other volumes have some full-color 'exploded' diagrams of things like swords, showing just how many parts go into such a simple-looking thing, and really showing how that goes together. A few of those would be very handy Japanese armor which works from very different principles. There is a good examination of the parts that go into a katana hilt, and an illustration of all the tools used by armorers along with how they hung armor pieces to assemble them (and a reproduction of of an original source woodcut).
As usual, this volume is graphically very solid. In fact, much more so than many Osprey books on older subjects, which are reliant on what little archaeology can provide. There's many photos of surviving armor sets, various styles of helmets, etc. There's also a few shots of Japanese movie sets to help show the kind of world the samurai lived in (I seem to remember those photos were in one of the earlier books, but I haven't gone back to check). And of course, the Angus McBride art is first-rate.
The text itself is also very good and informative. It hits all the things you'd want and expect in a clear format, and includes essentials of how samurai were trained, what equipment was expected on the march, and so on. I'd say sieges (which were different than the European model) were somewhat underserved, but I expect that is better handled in the later fortress book, and the important parts would move away from the focus of the Warrior series anyway. The text is also helped by having a fairly tight fifty-year focus, which is pretty much at the climax of a lot of the developments discussed.
I have the PDF version of the book, which is obviously a scan of the physical book, and the scans are in very good shape. There's some crookedness evident, but not distractingly so. Overall, a very good quick guide to the details of medieval Japanese arms and armor, which sadly misses getting down to some of the fiddly detail I'd like.
September 18, 2022
Kısa Japonya tarihi gibi bir kitap.
November 28, 2022
This one is a little tricky. It's NOT a book about Samurai 1550-1600, its a military history of Japan during those years and before, so even though samurai and military history are virtually the same subject, I was hoping to learn a little bit about the evolution of the samurai. It's not bad, but it's not what I expected.
October 15, 2011
Memnuat banyak hal mengenai serba-serbi dunia samurai. Mulai dari sejarah, filosofi, kehidupan sehari-hari, cara seseorang menjadi samurai, latihan, perang, pakaian, senjata... Dan yang dibahas paling detil di sini adalah baju zirah samurai (saking detilnya, saya sampai2 menskip bagian itu :D). Buku ini memuat banyak gambar dan foto. Tapi hal yang agak saya sayangkan di sini adalah cukup banyaknya istilah2 berbahasa asing yang tidak dijelaskan itu apaan.
Singkat kata, buku ini saya rekomendasikan bagi kamu yang tertarik mempelajari seluk-beluk dunia samurai. Buku yang tidak begitu tebal dan banyak gambarnya, cocok bagi orang tidak begitu suka membaca buku nan tebal dan wall of texts.
Singkat kata, buku ini saya rekomendasikan bagi kamu yang tertarik mempelajari seluk-beluk dunia samurai. Buku yang tidak begitu tebal dan banyak gambarnya, cocok bagi orang tidak begitu suka membaca buku nan tebal dan wall of texts.
July 29, 2008
Bukunya tipis, gak sampai 100 halaman, banyak gambarnya pula.
Tapi mengapa saya tidak bisa berkonsentrasi membacanya hingga lebih dua minggu tak kunjung selesai, yah? :(
Tapi mengapa saya tidak bisa berkonsentrasi membacanya hingga lebih dua minggu tak kunjung selesai, yah? :(
September 14, 2013
592 - 2013
#Program BUBU
Pertama dibaca 11 Oktober 2010
#Program BUBU
Pertama dibaca 11 Oktober 2010
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews