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…
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,…
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…
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…
Welcome to part two of this overview of Japanese history. For those who haven’t read part one, I recommend doing so. Even if you already have a decent knowledge of ancient Japan, it never hurts to review. We’re going to pick up where we left off at the end of part one: the Heian era. This era more or less marks the end of ancient…
