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Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army
Soldiers of the Sun traces the origins of the Imperial Japanese Army back to its samurai roots in the nineteenth century to tell the story of the rise and fall of this extraordinary military force.
Meirion and Susie Harries have written the first full Western account of the Imperial Japanese Army. Drawing on Japanese, English, French, and American sources, the authors penetrate the lingering wartime enmity and propaganda to lay bare the true character of the Imperial Army.
Meirion and Susie Harries have written the first full Western account of the Imperial Japanese Army. Drawing on Japanese, English, French, and American sources, the authors penetrate the lingering wartime enmity and propaganda to lay bare the true character of the Imperial Army.
604 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 29, 2025
Other than a general interest in WWII I've been trying to get my head around how it was that the Japanese were so fanatical up through the war and so docile under occupation. This book, tracing the history of the Japanese military from the Meiji reforms to the present, but focused on the thirties and forties, serves in this regard.
What I hadn't known was how insulated the Japanese military and its culture were. Beyond that, the culture as a whole was very hierarchical (and sexist and racist). Authority devolved from the emperor, but the emperor was himself insulated by his cabinet and advisors who increasingly represented the two competing branches of the armed forces, the army and the navy.
The text ends with a consideration of the war crimes committed by the Japanese military and the evolution of the post-war Self-defense Forces.
What I hadn't known was how insulated the Japanese military and its culture were. Beyond that, the culture as a whole was very hierarchical (and sexist and racist). Authority devolved from the emperor, but the emperor was himself insulated by his cabinet and advisors who increasingly represented the two competing branches of the armed forces, the army and the navy.
The text ends with a consideration of the war crimes committed by the Japanese military and the evolution of the post-war Self-defense Forces.
November 29, 2009
This is a fine one volume account of the Imperial Japanese Army. The book covers its creation in 1868 until its final defeat in 1945. If you want to know why the Japanese Army could accomplish the things it did and why the Japanese soldier could do the brutal things that he did this book goes a long way to help you understand. At the same time it provides a insight into the dealings between the Army and the Navy, the Army and the Politicians and the Army and the people. A well researched and very interesting book.
April 24, 2010
More than just a history of the Imperial Japanese Army in WWII, it's a complete history of the IJA going back to its origins in the mid-19th Century during the Meiji Restoration.
It attempts to cover a great deal of ground, and does so adequately. Covering the raw events, as well as trying to explain such things as how an army noted for its humanitarian treatment of POWs in WWI could go on to commit major atrocities in WWII.
It also describes how the IJA effectively crushed popular democracy movements in the name of national defense. Something that many Americans don't realize, as they think that the US introduced democracy to the country following WWII.
It attempts to cover a great deal of ground, and does so adequately. Covering the raw events, as well as trying to explain such things as how an army noted for its humanitarian treatment of POWs in WWI could go on to commit major atrocities in WWII.
It also describes how the IJA effectively crushed popular democracy movements in the name of national defense. Something that many Americans don't realize, as they think that the US introduced democracy to the country following WWII.
October 5, 2023
A loss of one star due to numerous factual errors.
May 26, 2026
This book is about the development and growth of the Japanese Army from the 1870s until the end of the Second World War. Over two-thirds of the book is devoted to the period from the 1930s until 1945.
The authors write from a holistic point of view, not just examining the military but also the national and foreign politics that played a large role and the societal structure of Japan. Like all militaristic countries, there was always a rivalry between the army and navy.
The army became an entity unto itself – and for the most part was not controlled by the politicians – and often the inverse was true, with the army influencing government. After the 1931 invasion of Manchuria (referred to as Manchukuo by the authors), the army itself became divided into fiefdoms – and was not being controlled by the militarists in Japan.
Japan was an unstable society. Political assassinations and upheavals were not uncommon. There was the constant fear of communists (supported by the U.S.S.R.) and of liberal democracy.
The army was restructured, beginning in the 1870s, by advisers brought in from Germany, France, and Great Britain. This made it possible for Japan to join with these countries in the plunder of China. Japan also annexed what is now Taiwan (referred to as Formosa) and Korea. Its perennial enemy became the Soviet Union. Both were competing for territory in Northern China, Korea, and the Pacific Coast.
There is not much in this book on the long Japanese occupation of Korea and Taiwan.
The Japanese, despite their espousal of Asian prosperity and the removal of the European colonists, saw themselves as the master race. Their treatment of the Chinese was close to genocidal. There were mass executions and rape of Chinese civilians. These were condoned by many in Japan – and if there was any holding back on their barbarous treatment, it was due to foreign criticism.
There was also a cult of death.
Page 258 (my edition)
[For years,before the outbreak of war] children in schools were learning that death in the service of the Emperor was rewarded by elevation to the rank of deity. "It is the desire of the Emperor that those loyal heroes who died for the country and Him should be enshrined and to be worshipped" [at Yasukuni Shrine].
To expand and consolidate their empire, at the expense of the Asian people, they embarked on a war of conquest in 1941. Within one hundred days they acquired several strategic locations – Singapore, Hong Kong. Indonesia [for oil], and of course the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Page 299 1941 attacks
The purpose of initiating conflict was that which had preoccupied the leadership of the Imperial Army since 1916. “By firmly securing the southern resource areas and the main lines of communication,” ran the “Outline of War Guidance.” “Japan will establish a structure that will make her self-sufficient.” … The quest for total war preparedness legitimized the strike south; twenty-five years from its inception, it had led Japan to “the gates of Armageddon.”
All through this war the Japanese emphasized nationalist spirit (or emotional courage) as superior to material technology. Unfortunately for them, their main opponents (the U.S.), had a proliferation of armaments and supplies with the logistics to overcome this Japanese mantra.
Page 341
Obeying emotion and instinct rather than logic, commanders relied too often on nonverbal communication, to avoid the necessity of putting unpleasant or compromising realities into words… this kind of obliquity was a real obstacle to lucid policy-making and decisive action.
The authors analyze the extreme brutality of the Japanese soldier who followed an honor code and whose duty was to never surrender. The soldier would continue to fight even though he knew that victory was virtually impossible.
Page 441
The “Floating Chrysanthemums” [kamikazes] reached a climax at Okinawa. As thousands of planes, sometimes 350 at a time, hurled themselves at American vessels.
Page 451 a staff officer
We merely prepared for the final operations with the philosophy that we must fight in order to glorify our national and military traditions, that it was an engagement which transcended victory or defeat.
Page 479 Japanese professor in 1934
While a Japanese woman or child is practically helpless before the power of a male, it can be imagined that in the case of millions who are not of the race, the result is even more terrible.
There is nothing in the book on the forced sex enslavement of young girls and women who were forcibly recruited by the army in all the territories they occupied. But the authors do point out that the rape of civilians was embedded and acceptable to the Japanese soldier.
Over the decades, the Japanese have failed to acknowledge their atrocities. They worship their “heroes and martyrs” in the Yasukuni Shrine. Many there, are responsible for the death, enslavement, and sexual rape of tens of thousands across Asia. Many Japanese have failed to see how they are perceived by others.
Page 490
The memory of the atomic holocaust [Hiroshima and Nagasaki] … has been made to serve less worthy ends, as a means of evading responsibility for other crimes.
Page 491
The self-image of the Japanese stubbornly fails to match the image that other nations have of them.
The authors write from a holistic point of view, not just examining the military but also the national and foreign politics that played a large role and the societal structure of Japan. Like all militaristic countries, there was always a rivalry between the army and navy.
The army became an entity unto itself – and for the most part was not controlled by the politicians – and often the inverse was true, with the army influencing government. After the 1931 invasion of Manchuria (referred to as Manchukuo by the authors), the army itself became divided into fiefdoms – and was not being controlled by the militarists in Japan.
Japan was an unstable society. Political assassinations and upheavals were not uncommon. There was the constant fear of communists (supported by the U.S.S.R.) and of liberal democracy.
The army was restructured, beginning in the 1870s, by advisers brought in from Germany, France, and Great Britain. This made it possible for Japan to join with these countries in the plunder of China. Japan also annexed what is now Taiwan (referred to as Formosa) and Korea. Its perennial enemy became the Soviet Union. Both were competing for territory in Northern China, Korea, and the Pacific Coast.
There is not much in this book on the long Japanese occupation of Korea and Taiwan.
The Japanese, despite their espousal of Asian prosperity and the removal of the European colonists, saw themselves as the master race. Their treatment of the Chinese was close to genocidal. There were mass executions and rape of Chinese civilians. These were condoned by many in Japan – and if there was any holding back on their barbarous treatment, it was due to foreign criticism.
There was also a cult of death.
Page 258 (my edition)
[For years,before the outbreak of war] children in schools were learning that death in the service of the Emperor was rewarded by elevation to the rank of deity. "It is the desire of the Emperor that those loyal heroes who died for the country and Him should be enshrined and to be worshipped" [at Yasukuni Shrine].
To expand and consolidate their empire, at the expense of the Asian people, they embarked on a war of conquest in 1941. Within one hundred days they acquired several strategic locations – Singapore, Hong Kong. Indonesia [for oil], and of course the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Page 299 1941 attacks
The purpose of initiating conflict was that which had preoccupied the leadership of the Imperial Army since 1916. “By firmly securing the southern resource areas and the main lines of communication,” ran the “Outline of War Guidance.” “Japan will establish a structure that will make her self-sufficient.” … The quest for total war preparedness legitimized the strike south; twenty-five years from its inception, it had led Japan to “the gates of Armageddon.”
All through this war the Japanese emphasized nationalist spirit (or emotional courage) as superior to material technology. Unfortunately for them, their main opponents (the U.S.), had a proliferation of armaments and supplies with the logistics to overcome this Japanese mantra.
Page 341
Obeying emotion and instinct rather than logic, commanders relied too often on nonverbal communication, to avoid the necessity of putting unpleasant or compromising realities into words… this kind of obliquity was a real obstacle to lucid policy-making and decisive action.
The authors analyze the extreme brutality of the Japanese soldier who followed an honor code and whose duty was to never surrender. The soldier would continue to fight even though he knew that victory was virtually impossible.
Page 441
The “Floating Chrysanthemums” [kamikazes] reached a climax at Okinawa. As thousands of planes, sometimes 350 at a time, hurled themselves at American vessels.
Page 451 a staff officer
We merely prepared for the final operations with the philosophy that we must fight in order to glorify our national and military traditions, that it was an engagement which transcended victory or defeat.
Page 479 Japanese professor in 1934
While a Japanese woman or child is practically helpless before the power of a male, it can be imagined that in the case of millions who are not of the race, the result is even more terrible.
There is nothing in the book on the forced sex enslavement of young girls and women who were forcibly recruited by the army in all the territories they occupied. But the authors do point out that the rape of civilians was embedded and acceptable to the Japanese soldier.
Over the decades, the Japanese have failed to acknowledge their atrocities. They worship their “heroes and martyrs” in the Yasukuni Shrine. Many there, are responsible for the death, enslavement, and sexual rape of tens of thousands across Asia. Many Japanese have failed to see how they are perceived by others.
Page 490
The memory of the atomic holocaust [Hiroshima and Nagasaki] … has been made to serve less worthy ends, as a means of evading responsibility for other crimes.
Page 491
The self-image of the Japanese stubbornly fails to match the image that other nations have of them.
February 11, 2026
Meirion and Susie Harries' Soldiers of the Sun offers a good, one-volume narrative history of the Japanese Army from the Meiji Restoration through World War II, with particular focus on the latter period. The Harries demonstrate how post-Restoration Japan drew on a culture of divided loyalties (to warlords, shoguns and Emperor in varying degrees) and attempted to inculcate their military into combining them - a particular challenge since Meiji's constitution allowed the Army a great deal of independence, unaccountable to anyone but the Emperor (and sometimes not even him). Nonetheless, the IJA performed well in its early contests against China and Russia, conquered Taiwan and Korea and played a small but dramatic role in the First World War, helping Japan rise to world power status. But its expansion caused suspicion and weariness from the Western powers, who viewed the burgeoning Asian Empire as a threat to their own interests. This in turn led to a fraying of international relations, mutual hostility and resentment, and the Japanese seeking their place in the Rising Sun through violent expansion in China, political repression at home and increasing belligerence towards its Western rivals. By 1941, their once-respected army degenerated into a barbarous force capable of unknown of cruelties: the Rape of Nanjing, the Bataan Death March and countless other cruelties besmirched the IJA's name, even as its soldiers fought with fanatical courage in a thousand engagements across the Pacific.
All of this is well-trod ground, but the Harries manage a refreshingly balanced perspective. Unlike John Toland's The Rising Sun (which virtually apologizes for Hirohito's imperialism) or Robert Edgerton's Warriors of the Rising Sun (which overstresses the "chivalry" of the pre-WWII Army), they aren't interested in rehabilitating the IJA, whose atrocities speak for themselves. The book demonstrates the Japanese committing brutalities in their colonial expansion long before the 1930s, showing that their behavior in the Pacific War wasn't a shocking descent into barbarism. (They don't consider, as Edgerton does, how much this drew from similar brutality of England, France and other Empires in their conquests.) But it also takes a nuanced look at the IJA's culture, with brutal training and indoctrination stressing contradictory virtues of loyalty and sacrifice, but also independent-mindedness. Military buffs will appreciate the analysis of IJA tactics and weaponry, balancing their strengths (adaptability and tactical innovation) and weaknesses (overstretched supply lines, over-reliance on offensive tactics that made them ill-suited to resist Allied counterattacks) as a fighting force. The book also incorporates a great deal of first-hand testimony from Japanese infantrymen, granting a human face to the soldiers who were brave in battle, often brutal outside of it, but possessed the same fears, frustrations and disillusionment with their leaders as soldiers anywhere. This perspective is valuable, and the Harries manage to thread the needle of understanding their behavior without downplaying or condoning their crimes. The result is a good, sturdy history of the Japanese Army and its decidedly checkered record.
All of this is well-trod ground, but the Harries manage a refreshingly balanced perspective. Unlike John Toland's The Rising Sun (which virtually apologizes for Hirohito's imperialism) or Robert Edgerton's Warriors of the Rising Sun (which overstresses the "chivalry" of the pre-WWII Army), they aren't interested in rehabilitating the IJA, whose atrocities speak for themselves. The book demonstrates the Japanese committing brutalities in their colonial expansion long before the 1930s, showing that their behavior in the Pacific War wasn't a shocking descent into barbarism. (They don't consider, as Edgerton does, how much this drew from similar brutality of England, France and other Empires in their conquests.) But it also takes a nuanced look at the IJA's culture, with brutal training and indoctrination stressing contradictory virtues of loyalty and sacrifice, but also independent-mindedness. Military buffs will appreciate the analysis of IJA tactics and weaponry, balancing their strengths (adaptability and tactical innovation) and weaknesses (overstretched supply lines, over-reliance on offensive tactics that made them ill-suited to resist Allied counterattacks) as a fighting force. The book also incorporates a great deal of first-hand testimony from Japanese infantrymen, granting a human face to the soldiers who were brave in battle, often brutal outside of it, but possessed the same fears, frustrations and disillusionment with their leaders as soldiers anywhere. This perspective is valuable, and the Harries manage to thread the needle of understanding their behavior without downplaying or condoning their crimes. The result is a good, sturdy history of the Japanese Army and its decidedly checkered record.
August 16, 2022
A very good book, though missing some things. Despite the length, it doesn't lay out the actual structure of IJA strategy in the Pacific War as thoroughly and completely as I would have liked. Perhaps this is due to lack of documentation as compared to the US or German militaries of the period. But a very good book overall.
December 10, 2025
an awesome read if you're interested in getting to know the people behind the Imperial Army and its role in shaping Japanese History.
February 24, 2016
This is the first book I've read that deals quite exclusively with the Japanese Army, from its origins to later development. Most books about the Japanese military tend to deal heavily with the navy, especially since it was the navy that was the driving force behind expanding the war into the Pacific.
The book does a good job in describing its influences and how it looked to western tactics, weapons and doctrine. It also describes its evolving relationships with the west and how their relationship progressed from a professorial-pupil nature to a competitive one once Japan began to seek territorial acquisitions of its own from China and the Pacific during World War I to ultimately an adversarial one as combatants in the Second World War.”
The book does a good job in describing its influences and how it looked to western tactics, weapons and doctrine. It also describes its evolving relationships with the west and how their relationship progressed from a professorial-pupil nature to a competitive one once Japan began to seek territorial acquisitions of its own from China and the Pacific during World War I to ultimately an adversarial one as combatants in the Second World War.”
January 6, 2015
A very interesting book showing the rise and fall of the Japan, just as the title implies. This book illustrates the fanaticism and dogged determination of the Japanese, and their inability to adapt during battle. Japanese military leaders on the ground would often give overly optimistic, or even completely untrue appraisals of the situation on the ground in the fear of failing the emperor and their superiors.
June 19, 2016
A history of the origins of the Imperial Army up to and including WWII in an attempt to understand their actions of barbaric proportions before and during the war. Excellent research and presentation.
Want to Read
September 8, 2009I will not finish this. Gave it to my brother.
August 12, 2016
Atrocities aside, it is amazing how quickly and effectively Japan became a modern power able to challenge the US in WWII.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews