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Samurai, Warfare
and the State in Early Medieval Japan
By Karl F. Friday
$20.99
Routledge |
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Book details samurai warfare in Japan
IWarfare in early medieval Japan
was intimately linked to social structure. Examining the causes
and conduct of military operations informs and enhances our understanding
of the 10th to 14th centuries—the formative age of the samurai.
Samurai, Warfare and the State in
Early Medieval Japan provides the first comprehensive study
of the topic in English. Written by Karl Friday, UGA professor of
Japanese history, the book incorporates nearly 20 years of ongoing
research, drawing on both new readings of primary sources and the
most recent secondary scholarship. It overturns many of the stereotypes
that have dominated views of the period.
Friday analyzes Heian-, Kamakura- and Nambokucho-period warfare
from five thematic angles. He examines the principles that justified
armed conflict, the mechanisms used to raise and deploy armed forces,
the weapons available to early medieval warriors, the means by which
they obtained them and the techniques and customs of battle. A thorough,
accessible and informative review, this study highlights the complex
causal relationships among the structures and sources of early medieval
political power, technology and the conduct of war.
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