For 700 years Japanese civilization was dominated by a single warrior caste. This project looks at arms, armor and costumes of Samurai men and women over the centuries with specially commissioned photography of reenactors wearing museum-quality clothing.

Table of Contents

• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION
• PART 1: The Centuries of the Samurai
• CHAPTER 1: The Rise of the Warrior Class
• CHAPTER 2: The Prosperity of the Heishi
• CHAPTER 3: The Struggle between the Genji and Heishi
• CHAPTER 4: The Hojo Regency
• CHAPTER 5: The Mongol Invasions
• CHAPTER 6: The Fall of the Kamakura Bakufu and the Revival of Imperial Government
• CHAPTER 7: The Muromachi Bakufu
• CHAPTER 8: The Onin War and the Beginnings of Gekokujo
• CHAPTER 9: The Age of Battles—Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi
• CHAPTER 10: The Reign of Hideyoshi
• CHAPTER 11: Sekigahara—A Decisive Battle?
• CHAPTER 12: The Osaka Campaign
• CHAPTER 13: The Christian Rebellion in Shimabara
• CHAPTER 14: The Tokugawa Bakufu
• CHAPTER 15: Dragon Horse, A Pioneer of Modern Japan
• PART 2: The Age of the Country at War Representative Campaigns and Families
• The Battle of Okehazama, 1560
• The Bears of Kyushu from the 8th to the 16th Centuries AD
• The Arrows of Chugoku, 1498-1571
• Uesugi Kenshin & Takeda Shingen mid-16th Century AD
• Chaos in Kanto 15th & 16th Centuries AD
• Samurai Culture
• Armor in the 5th to 10th Centuries AD
• Armor of the Heian Period (Late 8th to 12th Centuries AD)
• Armor of the 12th to 14th Centuries
• Weapons of the Samurai: The Bow
• The Sohei
• Armor of the 14th to 16th Centuries— do maru and haramaki
• ‘Modern’ armor—tosei gusoku
• Weapons of the Samurai: The Sword
• Handling the Arquebus
• Women in Samurai Society
• Flags of Family Contingents in the Sekigahara Campaign
• The Samurai Code
• Fortifications and Castles
• Weapons of the Samurai: Pole-Weapons
• CHRONOLOGY
• GLOSSARY
• BIBLIOGRAPHY