Welcome to part two of this study of arguably the greatest samurai of all time. In this part, we’ll be looking at some of the reasons why he’s considered the greatest by so many. I hinted at one reason at the end of part one, where Oda Nobunaga dealt a devastating blow to the Imagawa at the battle of Okehazama―one of the three major upsets…
Welcome to part two of this overview of the Edo era. Whereas in part one we focussed on central administration and foreign policy, this time we’re going to be paying attention to labour issues, taxes and the economy. The second half of the Edo era was characterised by three major reforms, the need for which was brought about by depleting gold and silver supplies, an…
The Edo era: 1603 – 1867 We’ve reached the Edo era! For those of you who have been reading this series since the beginning, well done for having made it to this point. Only a little further to go until we’re into the modern age. We left off last time in 1616 with Tokugawa Ieyasu dying and leaving the Edo shōgunate in the hands of…
Welcome to part 2 of this overview of the Azuchi-Momoyama era. I really thought I’d be able to sum up this thirty-year period of Japanese history in one short article. How naïve I was. It turns out even two decently-lengthed articles isn’t enough to write half of what I want to say! Not to worry though; I plan on going into much greater detail on…
