Samurai: A History (P.S.) - Softcover

Man, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062202677 ISBN 13: 9780062202673

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2014

Synopsis

The inspiration for the Jedi knights of Star Wars and the films of Akira Kurosawa, the legendary Japanese samurai have captured modern imaginations. Yet with these elite warriors who were bound by a code of honor called Bushido—the Way of the Warrior—the reality behind the myth proves more fascinating than any fiction. In Samurai, celebrated author John Man provides a unique and captivating look at their true history, told through the life of one man: Saigo Takamori, known to many as "the last samurai." In 1877 Takamori led a rebel army of samurai in a heroic "last stand" against the Imperial Japanese Army, who sought to end the "way of the sword" in favor of firearms and modern warfare. Man's thrilling narrative brings to life the hidden world of the samurai as never before.

About this title

About the Author

John Man is the author of Attila, Genghis Khan, The Great Wall, Gobi: Tracking the Desert, Ninja, Samurai, and other works. Educated at Oxford and the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, he was awarded Mongolia’s Friendship Medal in 2007.

From Booklist

For decades, Japanese and American literature and films have idealized and romanticized nineteenth-century samurai as a noble but anachronistic elite, doomed as Japan emerged from a feudal past. But British historian and Asian specialist Man has written an exciting, surprising, and moving account of the real thing. Saigo Takamori was born in 1817 into a family of relatively low-ranking samurai warriors. At the time, Japan was still governed as a decentralized state under the overall military authority of a shogun who ruled in the name of a largely ceremonial emperor. The samurai served as the shock troops for various local rulers, and sometimes for the shogun. In 1867, disgruntled samurai and some aristocratic families dissolved the shogunate and restored the power of the emperor. Whatever their intentions, the samurai had planted the seeds of their own destruction, as Japan “modernized” and evolved into a bureaucratic state. Takamori’s continued devotion to the samurai traditions spelled his doom at the hands of powerful forces he helped to create. This is a well-written saga of an admirable warrior, who, like his class, fell victim to inevitable historical change. --Jay Freeman

About this edition

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0062202677
• ISBN 13: 9780062202673
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352