Japanese Castles 1540-1540

The landscape of 16th- and 17th-century Japan was dominated by the graceful and imposing castles constructed by the powerful daimyo of the period. In this, Japan's most turbulent era, these militarily sophisticated structures provided strongholds for the consolidation and control of territory, and inevitably became the focus for many of the great sieges of Japanese history: Nagashino (1575), Kitanosho (1583), Odawara (1590), Fushima (1600), Osaka (1615) and Hara (1638), the last of the battles that brought an end to a period of intense civil war. This title traces their development, from the earliest timber stockades to the immense structures that dominated the great centres of Osaka and Edo.

Illustrated by Peter Dennis

Contents

Introduction-Japanese castles in their historical context
Chronology
Design and development of the Japanese Castle-The first Japanese castles; The sengoku yamashiro; The introduction of stone; The development of the tower keep; Japanese castles in Korea; The use of earthworks
Elements and features of the Japanese castle-The overall layout; The castle wall; Bridges and gates; Castle towers; The castle keep; Builiding a castle; The principles of defence; Minng and countermining; Catapult bombardment
The living site-Daily life in the castle in peacetime; The castle garrison in peacetime; The castle as palace; The preparaton for war; Food and water; Psychological pressures
The operational history of Japanese castles-Early yamashiro operations; Sengoku yamashiro operations; Operations against castles of stone
Aftermath-The castle town
Japanese castles today
Bibliography and further reading
Glossary
Index

Illustration and Images: 4 of 5 stars
Content: 3 of 5 Stars

If you are looking for a primer for Japanese Castles, then this book is great for it. But if you are looking for something more in depth, I would look elsewhere. While Mr. Turnbull does an excellent job of describing the basic set up and aspects of construction of the castle, the other sections of the book leaves much to desire. I especially found the chapter of castle life very sparse and lacking. Also he has a tendency to state interesting facts but never quite follow them up to the satisfaction of the reader. A good example of this is on page 35 when he discusses the story of a thief who ties himself to a kite to steal the gold scales of the shachi (the dolphin on top of the castle keep used to ward off misfortune) of Nagoya castle. This is further seen in the operational history section, where he seems to just ramble off facts about castles and sieges leaving the reader's appetite stimulated but not sated.

On the plus side, Peter Dennis's illustration lends itself nicely to Turnbull's text as do the photographs. This is a nice aid, as sometimes I found the written description hard to imagine and the pictures help gelled an image in my mind. The only complaint I have is that description of Azuchi in the book states that the topmost room was octagonal, yet in the images of it, the top room is rectangular and the second to the top is the octagonal one. Also as a gamer, I also wish there was more maps but one can't always get everything.

Please don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good information in this book about general layout of a Japanese castle and their defenses and I will probably use it as quick reference material. This though is why I consider it a primer, it left me wanting more information and curious to see if there are better books on castles (maybe ones with maps). ( )