HISTORY & ERAS · CHAPTER I
The rise of the mounted warrior
Armed provincial families and the "way of horse and bow."
The Library 書庫
Long-form chapters on the samurai — each one written to be read slowly, with sources at the end.
Chapters HIS · 02
The Genpei War
Five years of war between the Taira and Minamoto, ending at Dan-no-ura in 1185.
Heian [10] min
Chapters HIS · 03
The Mongol invasions
How Kamakura warriors met the fleets of 1274 and 1281.
Kamakura [11] min
Biographies WAR · 02
Tomoe Gozen
The woman warrior of the Genpei War remembered in The Tale of the Heike.
Heian [8] min
Chapters ARM · 01
Guns at Tanegashima
The matchlocks that arrived in 1543 and changed Sengoku battle.
Sengoku [9] min
Biographies WAR · 03
Oda Nobunaga
The first of the three unifiers, from Okehazama to Honnō-ji.
Sengoku [14] min
Q&A Q · 06
Who were the 47 rōnin?
The retainers who avenged their lord in 1703, and why the story endured.
Edo [7] min
Myths vs Facts MYF · 01
Did samurai live by the sword alone?
Bows, spears and guns: what warriors actually fought with.
All eras [6] min
Biographies WAR · 05
Miyamoto Musashi
Duellist, painter and author of The Book of Five Rings.
Edo [13] min
Chapters HIS · 03
The end of the samurai
Conscription, stipends and the sword ban of 1876.
Meiji [10] min
Myths vs Facts MYF · 02
Was bushidō an ancient written code?
How a modern book shaped the idea of a single samurai code.
Meiji [8] min