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Tanaka 1587 - Japan'S Greatest Unknown Samurai Battle (Paperback)
Loot Price: R507
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Tanaka 1587 - Japan'S Greatest Unknown Samurai Battle (Paperback)
Series: Retinue to Regiment
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List price R565
Loot Price R507
Discovery Miles 5 070
You Save R58 (10%)
Expected to ship within 9 - 17 working days
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In 1587 the 1,000-strong garrison of tiny Tanaka Castle in Higo
Province (modern Kumamoto Prefecture) on Japan's southern island of
Kyushu, held out for 100 days against an army ten times their size
sent by the great general Toyotomi Hideyoshi. When the castle fell
it was burned to the ground, and for four centuries the epic
struggle lived on only through a handful of letters, two
little-known war chronicles and in the folk memories of the local
people who continued to make offerings on the now anonymous
hillside to comfort the tormented spirits of Tanaka's dead
warriors. In 1986 everything changed. Prompted by the approaching
fourth centenary of the battle the local council set in motion a
systematic archaeological investigation of the castle site. Many
interesting finds were made, but the greatest discovery of all came
in 1989 in a distant library when a researcher unearthed what
turned out to be Japan's oldest surviving battle map. It featured a
detailed drawing of Tanaka Castle during the siege that matched up
exactly with the picture that was emerging from the excavation. The
unique document also contained so much extra information that, when
combined with the archaeological finds, the written materials and
local folklore, the almost forgotten siege of Tanaka became one of
the best documented battles in the whole of Japan's samurai
history. Tanaka 1587 tells the complete story of the epic struggle
for the first time outside Japan by using the evidence that is
available from history, literature, folklore, archaeology and
cartography. It is based on the author's own translations of the
chronicles and the archaeological report together with his
extensive fieldwork over a period of many years. The story is
presented as an exciting (and sometimes violent) historical
narrative illustrated with unique photographs and maps. The
contribution of the battle's enshrined spirits to present-day folk
religion is also assessed, while attitudes towards the site's
conservation, preservation and celebration provide a fascinating
insight into how modern Japan views and exploits its samurai
history in a society that has had to come to terms with a violent
past. Before 1987 the siege of Tanaka Castle was virtually unknown
beyond its immediate boundaries. Just as thirty years of
painstaking work and enthusiastic publicity have transformed its
status within Japan, this unique ground-breaking book will enable
Tanaka's story to be understood and appreciated by a much wider
international audience.
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