Review: Sengoku Bushō no Jō

Article posted on Saturday, July, 2nd, 2011 at 7:34 pm

It’s not often I buy books on Japanese castles anymore. I mean, the ones that I have on the shelves do a pretty good job, and it’s not like new discoveries are being made about centuries-old castles. Well, not too regularly at least.

Despite my stance on book purchases, the shelves still manage to fill up. It’s those damn magazines or Mooks (magazine books) that get me spending my yen when I really should be hanging on to it.

The “Mook” represents great value and are, without fail, choc-o-block full of fantastic photos, CG re-imaginings, maps and diagrams. Anyway, Sengoku Bushō no Jō is no different and is the latest to see me part with my cash.

Cover to cover

If you can’t be bothered reading any further, BUY IT! It’s awesome, it’s cheap. Get it here: 戦国武将の城 (Amazon Japan).

Chapter 1

In the first section of the book, sorry, Mook, the creators have had their CGI minions slaving away to re-animate the corpses of three of Japan’s greatest Tenshu (main towers). The three are Oda Nobunaga’s Azuchi castle, Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Ōsaka castle & Tokugawa Ieyasu’s Edo castle. A worthy undertaking, as no photographic records exist. They were long-gone by the time cameras arrived in Japan.

Putting aside any “Pixar” expectations, the CG work does a fine job of conveying the likely appearance of all three castles (and any subsequent incarnations. Yes, I’m looking at you Edo castle.) Supporting these representations are any and seemingly all images, art works and extant artifacts of the towers.

Chapter 2

This small section on Japanese castles from top to bottom, inside & out, is GOLD; absolute gold, pure & simple. The photographic & illustrative examples are as clear as they could possibly be. There’s really nothing more to say.

Chapters 3 ~ 5

These sections represent the generously-proportioned Wagyu patty in the hamburger that is Sengoku-Bushō-no-Jō. And boy, is there plenty to feast on.

Many of the greatest castles of the Sengoku period’s greatest commanders are lusciously described, both in text and pictorially. The full array of available images are put to excellent use making it easy to visualise the strength that these castles possessed. The real eye-opener is Sendai castle though. Date Masamune built it purposely weak, and its weaknesses are readily apparent.

Further sections cover some of the more famous castle-centric battles of the Warring states period. Of course, Odawara & Bitchū Takamatsu castles get great coverage.

The rest of the Mook

• Chapter 6 would have to be the best guide of Japan’s truly-ruined castles. Again, visual as all get out, and the maps that depict their original layouts are great.
• Chapter 7, a guide to the nationally treasured castles. Yep, Himeji, Matsumoto, Inuyama and Hikone.
• Chapter 8 attempts to rank the Best 5 or Best 10 across many different categories (best stonework, best turrets, etc…) and across two eras, the Sengoku period and the castles of the Golden age.
• Chapter 9 closes out the book. It does a pretty fair job covering the remaining, extant Tenshu, i.e. not the national Treasures.

If I could have just one…

… Japanese language book on Japanese castles, this would be it. Book, Mook, whatever, it’s the best ￥680 I’ve ever spent. So, like I said, buy it: 戦国武将の城 (Amazon Japan).

Daimyo of 1867

Article posted on Tuesday, April, 6th, 2010 at 9:47 pm

A while back I got an email out of the blue from someone requesting use of one of my castle photos for a book. How cool is that? Fast-forward to the present day, this morning in fact, and waiting in my in-box was an email informing me that the book containing the requested photo had just been published. It isn’t the National Geographic, but I for one am pretty thrilled.

I should point out that what follows isn’t a critical review, the book is neither sitting in front of me, nor did pay enough attention during class in high school if it were.

What I do know is that this isn’t your average book of the samurai of the Edo-period. Yes, it is filled with all the important names, dates, places, events & background information that should be there, but it is actually targeted toward people wanting to use the Edo period as the setting of their creative masterpieces.

I might just leave it there because there’s no point to me just repeating everything that’s in the press release or on the publisher’s home page. But, I suggest you click on those links if you’d like to get a better idea of what the book has to offer & to see some selected pages.

What is well worth mentioning is the fact that Tadashi Ehara, the book’s author, has made the offer of a 33% discount exclusively to JCE blog readers (that’s you guys!) Just get in contact by commenting below, by email (kyushudan [at] yahoo.com.au) or direct message on Twitter for those who are interested. Thank you Tadashi.

For the sake of transparency, I’d just like to say that I won’t be receiving any commission or reward if you decide to buy this book. One more thing. The photo I provided it that of Hirado castle.