Samurai Armies 1550-1615

by Stephen Turnbull, Richard Hook (Illustrator)

Overview

In 1543 three Portuguese merchants entered a turbulent Japan, bringing with them the first firearms the Japanese had ever seen: simple matchlock muskets called arquebuses. They proved a decisive addition to the Japanese armoury, as for centuries the samurai had fought only with bow, sword and spear. In 1575, one of the greatest original thinkers in the history of samurai, Oda Nobunaga, arranged his arquebusiers in ranks three deep behind a palisade and proceeded, quite literally, to blow his opponent's cavalry to pieces, marking the beginning of a new era in Japanese military history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780963655
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	01/20/2012
Series:	Men-at-Arms , #86
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Stephen Turnbull is the world's leading English language authority on medieval Japan and the samurai. He has travelled extensively in the far east, particularly in Japan and Korea and is the author of The Samurai - A Military History.

Richard Hook is one of the world's greatest military illustrators and has contributed to more than 30 Osprey titles. He is also an authority on the native peoples of North America, a subject for which he has had a life-long passion.
Stephen Turnbull is widely recognised as the world's leading English language authority on the samurai of Japan. He took his first degree at Cambridge and has two MAs (in Theology and Military History) and a PhD from Leeds University. He is now retired and pursues an active literary career, having now published 85 books. His expertise has helped with numerous projects including films, television and the award-winning strategy game Shogun Total War.
Richard Hook was born in 1938 and trained at Reigate College of Art. After national service with 1st Bn, Queen's Royal Regiment he became art editor of the much-praised magazine Finding Out during the 1960s. He earned an international reputation particularly for his deep knowledge of Native American material culture; and illustrated more than 30 Osprey titles. Richard's three children Adam, Jason, and Christa are all professionally active in various artistic disciplines. He died in 2010.

Table of Contents

The Golden Age · Samurai Armies · Samurai Battles · Sieges · Dress and Equipment: Samurai · Dress and Equipment: Ashigaru · The Plates