Famous Japanese Swordsmen: The Period of Unification

by William de Lange

The Period of Unification (1593–1615) was one of the great turning points in Japan's medieval era. After more than two centuries of civil strife Japan finally found its way back to peace and order under three successive rulers: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The final drive came in the fall of 1600, when Japan's eastern and western warlords faced each other in the Battle of Sekigahara. It was a decisive battle, in which each and every man who called himself a warrior faced the stark choice between the forces of division and those of unification.

Two such men were Ono Jirôemon Tadaaki and Yagyū Tajima no Kami Munenori. Tadaaki, a swordsman from the Kanto, had lost his family and home to become a rōnin, a masterless samurai, forced to lead the life of a wanderer. Munenori hailed from the Home Provinces. His clan had first lost its castle, then its lands, until finally they were thrown upon the mercy of a local temple. Having lost everything, both men staked their lives and futures on the victory of the eastern forces. Their story, told against the greater historical backdrop of ruthless political intrigue and vast military campaigns, is a story of the tragedy of civil war experienced at the personal level—it is a story of loyalty, of betrayal, of seemingly insurmountable setbacks. Their courage in the face of overwhelming odds still stands as moving testimony to a the kind of perseverance and dedication that can have no equal in times of peace.

Genres: Japan, History

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2008

About the author

William de lange is the author of books, ebooks and apps on Japan's traditional culture, from history, samurai culture, to arts & crafts, and language dictionaries.

Bio: William de lange was born in 1964 in Naarden, the Netherlands to Dutch and English parents. In the late 1980s, he aborted his English studies to embark on a journey that eventually led him to Japan, where he supported himself by making traditional Japanese scrolls and writing articles for the Japan Times Weekly. Following his graduation from Leiden University in 1994, he lived in Japan for the remaining decade, studying the art of Japanese fencing under Akita Moriji sensei, eighth dan master of the Shinkage-ryu. Since then he has written a large number of books on Japanese history and culture, including a highly acclaimed biography of Miyamoto Musashi. He is currently working on a history of the Yagyu clan.

William de Lange lives and works in the Netherlands and loves to travel, enjoying good food and wine with the love of his life.

Reviews

[Joshua Peters · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm pretty conflicted about this book. De Lange is clearly a skilled researcher and is able to convey history in a compelling and interesting way, however this book is not about famous Japanese swordsmen. Instead, it is an overview of the clan histories and major events concerning the lives of Ono Jiroemon Tadaaki and Yagyū Tajima no Kami Munenori. Great attention is given to the details of these legendary swordsmen's families, the battles they were involved in, and the overarching events of the period of unification, however we learn almost nothing of the swordsmen themselves. I really can't understand it! It is literally the title and purpose of the book to teach us about them, yet I know next to nothing about either of them after reading the entire book (which is a shame because they sound like fascinating people). I was looking forward to reading about the lives of swordsmen during this time: their habits, their personalities, their legendary abilities, their shortcomings, their relationships, their feats of battle, their failures, how they made a living, how they transferred knowledge... instead I got a detailed description of the troop movements during the battle of Sekigahara. It's quite inexplicable.

My conflict with this book is that I really enjoyed it, despite it's failure to teach me anything at all about these two men. De Lange's descriptions and tangents are genuinely interesting and I learned a lot about this time period. Unfortunately, this does not redeem the primary failures of the book. To cap it off, this edition is riddled with spelling mistakes, date mistakes, and grammatical errors that leave it feeling very unpolished and hastily published. Two stars is the best I can give when taking this all into account.