Samurai Warlords: The Book of the Daimyo

by Stephen Turnbull

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Genres: History, Japan, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1989

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

[Zare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book about what made the daimyo family what they were. Told through perspective of several prominent daimyo families and their interaction with other daimyos and particularly Shogun, we are given insight of what were the tenants of samurai's life, what were the obligations not just on the battlefield but also on planning for the families development and growth, alliances, managing offspring and various cadet houses to ensure family does not get involved in bitter internal struggles and finally role of religion (especially outlook on death) and vengeance in the everyday life of the samurai warlords and their retainers.

And all of this is very well illustrated with beautiful photographs (almost every military stronghold and castle looks like anything but :) especially above the cherry bloom) and reproductions of art from the period depicting historical events or specific story that illustrates aspect of samurai's life.

Excellent book, highly recommended.