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Combines the latest research with contemporary lives, descriptions, and reconstructions to provide a dramatic picture of what it was like to be a samurai. So you think you’d like to be a samurai? It’s 1615 and the samurai, Japan’s elite fighting class, are at the zenith of their powers. Trained in e... More

Arguably the greatest military commander in the history of the samurai, Toyotomi Hideyoshi rose from the ranks of the peasantry to rule over all Japan. A student of the great unifier Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi would later avenge the murder of his master at the battle of Yamazaki.... More

The Katana is the ultimate evolution of the Japanese sword, whose traditions date back to ancient Japan. Arguably the finest edged weapon ever made, combining a lethal cutting edge with a flexible and resilient core, a fine katana is as much a work of art as a deadly weapon. For centuries it was a... More

From lowly attendants (samurai literally means those who serve) to members one of the worlds most powerful military organizations, the samurai underwent a progression of changes to reach a preeminent position in Japanese society and culture. Even their eventual eclipse did not diminish their image a... More

The ninja is a well-known phenomenon in Japanese military culture, a fighter who is widely regarded as the worlds greatest exponent of secret warfare. He infiltrates castles, gathers vital intelligence and wields a deadly knife in the dark. His easily recognizable image is that of a secret agent or ... More

First major study in English of the Japanese 'hidden' Christians - the Kakure Kirishitan, who chose to remain separate from the Catholic Church when religious toleration was granted in 1873 - and the development of the faith and rituals from the 16th century to the present day.... More

The Art of Renaissance Warfare tells the story of the knight during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries from the great victories of Edward III and the Black Prince to the fall of Richard III on Bosworth Field.During this period, new technology on the battlefield posed deadly challenges for the mo... More

First published in 1977, The Samurai has long since become a standard work of reference. It continues to be the most authoritative work on samurai life and warfare published outside Japan. Set against the background of Japan's social and political history, the book records the rise and rise of Japa... More

The world of the samurai - the legendary elite warrior cult of old Japan - has for too long been associated solely with military history and has remained a mystery to the general reader. In this exciting new book, Stephen Turnbull, the world's leading authority on the samurai, goes beyond the battl... More

The samurai were celebrated warriors, but they were also deeply spiritual men whose religious beliefs sustained and inspired their forays into battle. In this entirely original work, Stephen Turnbull, a leading authority on Japanese history and author of more than 50 books, reveals the soul of the s... More

“An inherently fascinating, impressively well written, exceptionally informative, and meticulously detailed history” of Japanese overseas mercenaries (Midwest Book Review).The Lost Samurai reveals the greatest untold story of Japan’s legendary warrior class, which is that for almost a hundred years ... More

From the 10th century onwards the great Japanese monastic foundations of Nara and Mount Hiei maintained large armies of warlike monks. The tempestuous political rivalries that developed between the different orders of monks and religiously inspired laymen ensured that their temples and monasteries ... More

In 1467 the Onin War ushered in a period of unrivalled conflict and rivalry in Japan that came to be called the Age of Warring States or Sengoku Jidai. In this book Stephen Turnbull offers a masterly exposition of the Sengoku Jidai, detailing the factors that led to Japan's disintegration into warri... More

The Ottoman Empire and its conflicts provide one of the longest continuous narratives in military history. Its rulers were never overthrown by a foreign power and no usurper succeeded in taking the throne. At its height under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Empire became the most powerful... More

Dr Stephen Turnbull is internationally recognised for his research into and writing on Japanese military history. Here he applies his scholarship to an account of the evolution of Japanese defensive architecture and engineering, from early earthworks through to wooden and earth castles and, finally,... More

The Sengoku Jidai or "Age of Warring States" is the time of the samurai - Japan's military aristocracy. A period of endemic warfare where the absence of unifying central control led to constant struggles between the daimyo (or "Great Names") who sought to protect and extend the influence of their re... More

The word "samurai" evokes intense images of indomitable warriors, expert swordsmen capable of taking on overwhelming odds-and emerging victorious. But this popular image only brushes the surface of the samurai tradition. The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War brings to life the history behind the cour... More

The word "samurai" evokes intense images of indomitable warriors, expert swordsmen capable of taking on overwhelming odds-and emerging victorious. But this popular image only brushes the surface of the samurai tradition. The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War brings to life the history behind the cour... More

From 1600 till 1866 civil strife in public was virtually unknown in Japan; however, personal loyalty and self-sacrifice could at times rise above the samurai hierarchy to redefine Japanese culture. In 1703 former samurai avenged their lord in the most legendary raid in Japanese history. The story o... More

Arguably the greatest military commander in the history of the samurai, Toyotomi Hideyoshi rose from the ranks of the peasantry to rule over all Japan. A student of the great unifier Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi would later avenge the murder of his master at the battle of Yamazaki. After consolidating hi... More

The landscape of 16th- and 17th-century Japan was dominated by the graceful and imposing castles constructed by the powerful 'daimyo' of the period. In this the most turbulent era in Japanese history, these militarily sophisticated structures provided strongholds for the consolidation and control of... More

The original forced conversion of pagan Livonia, what is now the Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia, was carried out by a military order known as the Brethren of the Sword. In 1236 this order was incorporated into the Teutonic Knights following a catastrophic military defeat. The knights had always... More

A brilliant but little-known operation, the Shimazu clan raid on the independent kingdom of Ryukyu (modern Okinawa) in 1609 is one of the most extraordinary episodes in samurai history and the culmination of centuries of rivalry between the two powers. The defeat of the Shimazu at Sekigahara in ... More

Ever since the Empress Jingo-kogo led an invasion of Korea while pregnant with the future Emperor Ojin, tales of female Japanese warriors have emerged from Japan's rich history. Using material that has never been translated into English before, this book presents the story of Japan's female warriors... More

In 1543 three Portuguese merchants entered a turbulent Japan, bringing with them the first firearms the Japanese had ever seen: simple matchlock muskets called arquebuses. They proved a decisive addition to the Japanese armoury, as for centuries the samurai had fought only with bow, sword and spear.... More