Heavenly Warriors: The Evolution of Japan's Military, 500-1300

Harvard East Asian Monographs #157

by William Wayne Farris

"In a government, military matters are the essential thing," said Japan's "Heavenly Warrior," the Emperor Temmu, in 684. Heavenly Warriors traces in detail the evolutionary development of weaponry, horsemanship, military organization, and tactics from Japan's early conflicts with Korea up to the full-blown system of the samurai. Enhanced by illustrations and maps, and with a new preface by the author, this book will be indispensable for students of military history and Japanese political history.

Genres: History, Japan, Japanese History, Nonfiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1992

Reviews

[Rin · Rating 5 out of 5]

O - M - G! This book!
I enjoyed it from start to finish. Although too complex at times with all those names and relations, it was still the most comprehensive and concise monography on the early years of the japanese military. And not only the military but politics, society and much more. Farris manages to break down this process into eight phases, starting with the first emperors and finishing with the Mongol invasions. Multiple times he argues about the origins of the warrior (bushi, tsuwamono), later know as samurai, and how their existence corresponds to continental military thought. I admit that the idea of a samurai and a horse never occured to me. And then Farris changed the way I viewed the samurai. Not only is the horse central to the warriors of Japan but archery as well, also something I wouldn't apply to the samurai we all know.
And here I am, awestruck by this great book which blasted me like a typhoon (pun intended) of information and so, so, SO MANY similar names that I still mix Yoshitsune, Yorinaga, Yoritomo, Yoriyoshi and Yoshiie. Or is it Yoriie?

Note: Yorinaga was Fujiwara, others were Senwa Genji :)
The more you know....


All in all, I read entire book in about a week or so and I wish I'd slowed down a bit. Not only it would make it easier to understand but also it'd give me more time to enjoy it.
I won't fill this revied with details for there's no need to do that. Book has eight chapters - for those phases of evolution - and each chapter has several paragraphs, about political changes, wars and battles, societal changes and so on. After every chapter is a conclusion paragraph wich is the best thing in academic literature because it underlines the most important information and once again states it more clearly as a reminder. Final chapter, which ends with a conclusion like previous ones, is followed with a separate chapter that serves as conclusion to the entire book, summarising entire Farris's proposal about the evolution of Japanese military system.
Also are included some photographs and appendices about numbers of soldiers in certain periods and from different sources.

Such a magnificent book! I recommend it to everyone interested in samurai, whether for pure enjoyment or for studying.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had a 40+ year interest in Japanese history and culture and a long-standing fascination with, if not love affair, with samurai stories and films. This book was described as providing ‘….in detail the evolutionary development of weaponry, horsemanship, military organization, and tactics from Japan's early conflicts with Korea up to the full-blown system of the samurai.’ It does so with a vengeance. Ie, at times the depiction of the interactions between the Heian Court and the rural land holding families who would become the country's military leaders and eventually its political leaders goes from being thorough to downright tedious.

Thankfully, Farris provides a few introductory paragraphs at the beginning and 2-3 pages of conclusions at the end of each chapter. So, if one wants to grasp the general trends and main points without all of the specifics one can read these two parts of each chapter and skim/skip the rest. By doing this I ended up with a general sense of how the samurai evolved into the power brokers who eventually became the outright leaders of the country. I also was able to grasp Farris' other main point: that Japanese pre-modern history is not simply another version of what took place in Europe, otherwise known as Western analogue theory. It followed its own dynamics and developments in response to its particular circumstances.

I recommend the book for those who have a particular interest in Japanese military history and the patience to wade through a lot of in depth descriptions. If not, one can pick and choose what/how much to read as I did and still come away with some worthwhile information. To me Farris proved his academic credentials with this book. However, the topic is not one which I have enough interest in to wade through all the finer points the author makes page by page.

[Juan S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

fuck you .l.