Heavenly Warriors: The Evolution of Japan's Military, 500-1300.

Abstract

a government, military matters are the essential thing, said Japan's Heavenly Warrior, the Emperor Temmu, in 684. In the West, however, the story of the origins and development of Japan's warrior class has remained largely untold. Misled by analogies to European knighthood, Western and late 19th-century Japanese scholarship wrongly assumed a feudal origin for the samurai and interpreted their place in Japanese history accordingly. Now, with Heavenly Warriors, Wayne Farris adopts a different perspective, tracing the evolutionary development of weaponry, horsemanship, military organizations and tactics from Japan's early conflicts with Korea to the full-blown system of the samurai. This study covering 800 years should be useful to students of both military history and Japanese political history. The text is enhanced by illustrations throughout, including maps of major battle sites.

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