from cover

The essentials of samurai warfare, weaponry and tradition are all explained in this comprehensive work of reference on the samurai culture.

The introduction outlines samurai history, and a detailed section on arms and armour includes the evolution and construction of samurai armour, the Japanese bow, the samurai sword and polearms-plus the technology and deployment of explosives and gunpowder weapons, including the fire lance and arquebus.

The chapters on strategy and tactics include details of command structures, the raising of armies, compaign life, the role of the castle, the characteristics of Japanese battles and the rituals and other consequences of battle.

A catalogue of every major battle and siege from 940 to 1638 is followed by ten specific case studies examining such subjects as personal combat and guerilla warfare. Further sections cover religion and the samurai, bushido and hara-kiri, and samurai heraldry.

More than 175 maps, diagrams and illustrations, many previously unpublished outside Japan, add greatly to the text, and some forty anecdotes illuminate the heroic events of Japanese military history during the samurai period.

Dr. Stephen Turnbull is the recognised authority on the samurai tradition. He has travelled widely in Japan since his first visit in 1970 and is an expert on the Japanese religion. The Samurai Sourcebook is his latest in a long and eminent line of published works.

Contents

Preface
An outline of samurai history
The first samurai
The Sengoku period
I. Personalities and heraldry
Samurai heraldry
Catalogue of the Samurai and their heraldry 940-1638
II. Arms and armour
Armour
The evolution of samurai armokur
The construction and details of samurai armour
Fundosi (loincloth)
Hadagi (another kind of shirt)
Obi (underbelt)
Kobakama (short trousers)
Tabi (socks)
Kiahan (gaiters)
Waraji (sandals)
Suneate (shinguards)
Haidate (thighguards)
Yugake (gloves)
Kote (sleeves)
Wakibiki (armpit protectors)
Manju no wa
Do (body armour) and kusazuri (skirts)
Uwa-obi (belt, sash)
Sode (shoulder plates)
Tanto (dagger)
Tachi (long sword)
Nodowa (throat ring, or throat protector)
Hachimaki (head cloth)
Hoate (mask)
Kabuto (helmet)
Sashimono (little banner)
Yari (spear)
Kate-bukuro (provision bag)
Gun sen (folding war-fan)
Uchi-bukuro (money purse)
Yo-bukuro (handkerchief bag)
Inro and Kinchaku (medicine case and purse)
Tenugui (towel)
Udenuki (sword knot)
Koshinawa (rope)
Kaginawa (hooked rope)
Naga tenugui (long towel)
Kubi bukuro (head bag)
Projectile ammunition
Jinbaori (surcoat worn over armour)
Sode-jirushi (badge worn in the sode) and Kasa-jirushi (worn on the helmet)
Koshi-sashi (the badge of a horseman)
Maedate, wakidate, zudate, and ushirodate
Agemaki (decorative tassels)
Dansen uchiwa (fan)
Zai or saihai (baton of command)
Kegutsu (fur shoes)
Nodachi (field sword)
Koshiate (sword hangers)
Shirizaya (scabbard cover)
Happuri (head and cheek cover)
Kusari-katabira (light under-armour made of small chain mail)
Haramaki (belly protector)
Horo (arrow entangler)
Putting on armour quickly
Miscellaneous notes
Ashigaru armour and general equipment
Samurai costume in peacetime
Bows and edged weapons
The Japanese bow
The samurai sword
Samurai and ashigaru polearms
Gunpowder weapons
The Japanese experience of Chinese explosive weapons
From fire-lances to firearms
The dissemination and use of the Japanese arquebus
III. Strategy and tactics
Samurai army organisation
The development of the samurai army
The command structure in samurai armies
The ashigaru weapon squads
The daimyo's personal attendants
Raising an army
The feudal obligation
The medhanism of mobilisation
Setting off to war
Samurai campaign life
On the march
Supplies and the baggage train
Medical care on campaign
The castle in samurai warfare
Control by castles
Castle building and maintenance
The castle garrison
The siege
The samurai battlefield
Control on the battlefield
The samurai on the battlefield
The arquebus on the battlefield
Archers and spearmen on the battlefield
Naval warfare
After the battle
The rituals of victory
Reward, recuperation and recording
IV. Battles and Sieges
A catalogue of battles and sieges in samurai history, 940-1638
V. Case studies
Personal combat in samurai warfare 1160-85
Foreign enemies-the Mongol invasions
The strategic imperative-the fight for Moji Castle
Battlefield control-The Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, 1561
The Christian Disaster-The Battle of Mimigawa, 1578
Rapid response-Hideyoshi and the Batyle of Yamazaki (1582)
Fire and water-Hideyoshi and the Warrior-Monks (1585)
Samurai and irregular troops-guerrilla warfare in Korea
Sea power-The Naval Campaigns in the Invasions of Korea (1592-8)
Controlling Castles-The Sekigahara Campaign (1600)
VI. Miscellanea
Religion and the samurai
Japanese religious tradition
Taoism and divination
The samurai and the ancestors
Bushido: The Soul of the Samurai
Bushido on the batlefield
Confucianism and bushido
Hara-Kiri-the ultimate loyalty
The motivation for suicide
The act of hara-kiri
Bibliography
Index