This onmibus edition of the author's Samurai Warriors and Samurai Warlords is presented for the many new students of Far Eastern military tradition and battle history. This colourful period-marked by intricate codes of chivalry, refined strategies, extremes of valour and brutality, and intense training methods-has now become an international study with the writing of Stephen Turnbull predominant in English-language coverage.

This combined volume offers an authoritative coverage of the costume, equipment and characters of the Japanese samurai before, in the second part, featuring the daimyo-the elite of the Samurai-whose exploits carried the tactics of Japanese warfare to the very limit of human endeavour.

Linked with the informed and deeply researched text are James Field's superb colour portayals of Samurai dress and equipment. Based on original source material, these images, combined with archive illustrations and modern photography, provide the perfect background for the new student of the subject.

Return to a colourful, dramatic and intriguing period of history-meet and understand Samurai-The Warrior Tradition.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Heian Period
Kamakura Period
Early Muromachi Period
Sangoku Period-the age of the country at war
Momoyama Period-Oda Nobunaga
Momoyama Period-Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Early Edo Period
Later Edo Period
Daimyo-The samurai elite
Focus of loyalty
Commander-in-Chief
The cultured warlord
The keeper of the peace
Sex and the samurai
Death and the daimyo
The duty of vengeance
Appendix I The 1559 Hojo Register
Appendix II The 1575 Uesugi Register
Appendix III Takeda Shingen
Appendix IV Hashiba Hideyoshi
Appendix V the Ii 'Red Devils'
Bibliography
Index