Ebook: Samurai: an illustrated history

Samurai: An Illustrated History brings the violent, tumultuous, and, at the same time, elegant world of the medieval Japanese samurai to life.This book of Japanese history traces the story of a unique historical phenomenon: a period of 700 years—equivalent to the entire stretch of Western history between the reigns of the Crusader king Richard the Lionhearted and of Queen Victoria at the height of the British Empire—during which an enclosed civilization was dominated by a single warrior caste.The historical narrative of samurai history is supported by explanations of samurai armor, weapons, fo.;Cover; Copyright; 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