Congratulations on making it to the fourth and final part of this summary of the Genpei War. We’re on the home stretch now. Just three battles to go—arguably the three most epic battles of the entire war. The sheer number of ukiyo-e paintings depicting them is testament to that fact. What is it about them that makes them so epic? One word… Yoshitsune. Yoritomo’s legendary…
We’re on to part three of the 5-year long epic Genpei War now. Things are really starting to heat up. Yoritomo settled himself into Kamakura and is busy taking over the east, leaving the Takeda and his uncle to take care of the front line and put a stop to any Taira advances. Things are about to get even more fiery though; the long drought…
Welcome to part two of this four-part series of articles on the Genpei War. Part one finished off with the war having barely begun and none of the major players even having made an appearance, which means we have a lot to get through this time! This part promises at least twice the action and drama of part one at double the pace. For anyone…
Welcome to the first of this four-part series on the Genpei War. This is going to be a long one, and rightfully so. The Genpei War was the culmination of two situations that had been developing for centuries: the rise of the samurai and the deterioration of the court. Over the course of these four articles, we’re going to be covering all the major players,…
For those of you who are new to Japanese history, I’m probably going to confuse the heck out of you with this one. For those of you who have a bit of background knowledge, I’m going to blow your minds twice during the course of this article. Not only am I going to introduce you to the most compelling theory I’ve ever come across regarding…
Some samurai need no introduction. Oda Nobunaga, for example, is one of the most famous people dead or alive in Japan, and I would expect anyone reading this article to at the very least have heard his name. Other samurai need a considerable introduction. One such warrior is Oda Ujiharu, the man attributed with the title of weakest samurai of all of Sengoku. That’s right……
Welcome to the Later Three Years’ War. For those of you who came here from the Former Nine Years’ War, you can enjoy this story as the successful sequel that made the franchise that would become known as ‘Samurai’. For those of you who haven’t yet read the Former Nine Years’ War, it would be a good idea to go back and read it first….
As a title, The Former Nine Years’ War is pretty compelling, wouldn’t you agree? Not only does it imply that you have nine years worth of battles to look forward to, but it also hints at a sequel. While there is in fact a sequel(the Later Three Years’ War), the Former Nine Years’ War took place between the years 1051 and 1062—a twelve-year period! So…
Today we’re going to be taking a look at the Seven Great Temples of Nara—the seven temples considered to have held the greatest amount of influence in Nara prefecture throughout history. Having lived in Nara since 2006, this is a topic close to my heart. I’ve visited all the temples I’m going to be describing in this article multiple times each, but I never get…
When it comes to samurai, I love extremes. The first, the last, the strongest, the weakest, the kindest, the cruelest… I plan to do them all eventually. But today… the first! The very beginning of samurai culture: Taira no Masakado. Of course, he isn’t actually the first samurai. No one knows who the real first samurai was, nor can anyone pinpoint the moment in time…
