War in Japan 1467–1615

Osprey Essential Histories #46

by Stephen Turnbull

In 1467 the Onin War ushered in a period of unrivalled conflict and rivalry in Japan that came to be called the Age of Warring States or Sengoku Jidai. In this book Stephen Turnbull offers a masterly exposition of the Sengoku Jidai, detailing the factors that led to Japan's disintegration into warring states after more than a century of peace; the years of fighting that followed; and the period of gradual fusion when the daimyo (great names) strove to reunite Japan under a new Shogun. Peace returned to Japan with the end of the Osaka War in 1615, but only at the end of the most violent, turbulent and cruel period in Japanese history.

Genres: History, Japan, Nonfiction, Japanese History, Military History, Military Fiction, War

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2002

About the author

Stephen Richard Turnbull is British a historian specializing in eastern military history, especially the samurai of Japan. His books are mainly on Japanese and Mongolian subjects. He attended Cambridge University where he gained his first degree. He currently holds an MA in Theology, MA in Military History and a PhD from the University of Leeds where he is currently a lecturer in Far Eastern Religions. He has also written a number of books on other medieval topics. He is semi-retired but still holds the post of Visiting Professor of Japanese Studies at Akita International University in Japan.

Reviews

[Allen Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sad to give this 2 stars but here's my case: this is a brief history of the wars of the years in the title, as well as a coda of what happened to the samurai after Tokugawa became shogun. The problem is that it ends up being a series of names, places, and dates with little to distinguish any of them. The irony of it being an introductory history of the Japanese Sengoku era is that if I didn't *already* know many of the players and events, I would be completely lost. Due to its short length there just isn't any time to add the human element that makes history so interesting and without that, there's no way (for me at least) to remember anything that happened or who it happened to (outside of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa). I ended up having to resort to the personalities given to them by Koei in the Samurai Warriors games.

The parts that talk about the whys of the conflict and the causes and the consequences are much easier to grasp and understand. If you want a history of the period, I don't think this quite does what it sets out to do and that makes me sad.

[Alexandru · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a major disappointment. It claims to start in 1467 but it barely covers the events of the Onin War, I still don't understand why it started. It seems to randomly skip forward in time spending little time explaining anything. The Imjin War gets only a few paragraphs with no explanation why it was a hard war or the Chinese intervention.

But then the author spends pages and pages on less important things such as the biography of a samurai and a tea master or the different types of sound signals used by the armies.

Overall very weak, not recommended as a primer on the subject. It probably creates more confusion if the reader isn't already versed in the history.

[Harrison Large ラージ • ハリソン · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief but comprehensive. An easy and enjoyable read, serves as a perfect introduction to the Sengoku period or as a companion to a more detailed text. The book is too brief to be used as a reference text, but for a casual reader it's more than enough to get you started on the history of Japan during the Sengoku period.

The book delves into the history of the Hojo and Otomo clans as part of the introduction to the turmoil of the time, and I would have enjoyed reading more about other clans and their histories such as the Imagawa, Uesugi, Takeda and Date, to name a few.

Otherwise, I very much enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone with an interest in the period (but not a Master's Degree: in that case, there's very little new here for you.)

[Fahad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a perfect book to read to get acquainted with the legendary Japanese "Sengoku-Jidai" Era. The book talks about many of the famous battles, samurai skirmishes and powerful prefectural warlords that shaped the Japan we know today.

[Rin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it's rather short book, it provides a lot of information about Warring State Period in Japan that spans from 1466. till 1600. For some this period, Sengoku Jidai, ends even earlier, around the time of death of Nobunaga, and for some it ends with Osaka siege of 1615. No matter the years, it's a long period of almost constant warfare, rising and vanishing daimyo's, sieges and legendary battles. And Stephen Turnbull tried to capture such a vast time into a book of less than 100 pp. It was an ambitious task and to some degree I believe dr. Turnbull did the job. However, on the other hand it felt a bit bland, like a bunch of independent chapters connected together by the mere fact they happened in the same period. For example, a chapter is given to Sen Rikyu, a tea master under Oda and Hashiba that in my opinion isn't as important for a warring period as perhaps different tactics, or types of weaponry or defensive infrastructure. On the more positive side, there's a lot of pictures and photographs and maps so it's really good when reading about campaigns. Though, those campaigns aren't exactly detailed as they are "textually stretched". All in all, this is a good book for those looking for some introduction to Sengoku Jidai but not as relevant to those in need of something more detailed.

[David Guthrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent military history of these years that serves as an ok introduction to the period. Turnbull includes some fascinating writing on the nature of samurai in and out of battle, the end of the period, laws passed by the big three unifier daimyo, class divisons, tea masters, and colourful appendices. The bulk of the book is devoted to the battles themselves which falls prey to the tendency of some military histories to endlessly list dates and names, making it hard for the reader to follow a chronology over the course of the book. This is occasionally saved by amusing or cinematic anecdotes about certain leaders or battles (although as Turnbull confirms, some of this is legend). A glaring issue is the introduction, which is extremely vague about the outbreak of Onin War and some quick googling informed of the fascinating familial tensions that do not appear in this book. Would of been good to include this especially as it involves some interesting matters with female political agency which is sadly lacking overall. This book overall has its ups and downs but what little human aspect it does reveal encourages one to find more out about the social and cultural aspects of this period.

[Declan Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a westerner, I know little about the history of Japan - especially prior to the 20th Century and their reimurgence on the world scene. Before that there was a civil war called the 'Age of Warring States' (similar to the Chinese equivalent) which caused 150 years of fighting in the 15th - 17th centuries... and resulted in the isolationism of Japan (and peace) for the next 200 years.

A good overview the of the conflicts, which a brief explanation of some of the larger battles - a book of this size can never hope to cover of such a period (see my review of the Hundred Years Wars from the same series), the author covers the ebbs and flows and gives a reader with minimal (or no) knowledge of the events following them through the period.

[Shane Kiely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise overview of the Sengoku era of the late 15th/16th/early 17th century wherein the rule of the shoguns broke down & Japan broke down into warring (what were essentially independent) states which in turn were eventually reunified (with a significant amount of violence involved in both phases). The book explores this entire process in terms of historical events but also examines how samurai tactics & weaponry evolved to compensate for the new reality of endemic warfare. As an overview I think it fulfils this purpose almost perfectly. Would recommend for the newcomer or those already somewhat familiar with the era.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a good brief coverage of the Sengoku era. Does a good job giving a sense and summar of both events and the nature of warfare in the period.

This is a highly illustrated 90 page book; in that context, I don't think expecting it to cram in the Onin War as well is worthwhile. While the pages on signalling are superfluous (albeit well written), other compulsory sections from the format are used better than is normally the case here; in particular, the chapter on the civilian tea-masters role as a diplomatic negotiator is well utilised. A more meaningful demerit is that the maps are not particularly well designed.

[Tyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very basic, introductory book to the subject of the Sengoku Jidai. Anyone with even a mild intermediate knowledge of Japanese history is not likely to learn anything they did not already know. The sole redeeming quality of the book would be the pictures and the maps, which I think are a nice little treat to look at, but the writing and information offered are too concise for me. 5/10

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great and engaging overview of a fascinating time and place in history

[Luis Alvarado · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book gets the job done it generalizes the Sengoku Period of Japan and provides an overview of its events.

[S. Kallahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good resource.

[Wolf Ostheeren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, richly illustrated introduction but not really helpful for scholarly work as it is lacking information on the pictures used and the bibliography mentions only a few titles, most of them written by the author himself. The text is very concise and made me lose track a few times who was fighting whom at that particular point and I don't think I'll ever need to know about which combination of conch shell signal calls meant exactly what.

[Bruinrefugee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of a complicated period in Japanese history that goes a long way to making it comprehensible for even a pretty uninformed gaijin like me.

[David]

There were some interesting aspects to this book, but ultimately, it was poorly structured and the substance was thin or perhaps, not what I was looking for.

I am glad I read it, but can't recommend it strongly.