Samurai Invasion: Japan’s Korean War, 1592-98

At the end of the sixteenth century the Japanese samurai set their sights on a new foe. Their target was China, their route through Korea. The Japanese were contemptuous of the Koreans; there would be no resistance, and a huge samurai army set off for Pusan in 1592, certain of easy victory. But the Koreans, who had known only peace for two hundred years, rose to the challenge, and there followed a devastating and terrible war. The Japanese advance to China was stalled, while Korea was occupied in an uneasy arrangement with the Japanese. A second Japanese invasion in 1597 unleashed new devastation, but ultimately the samurai warriors were defeated by the combined strength of the Korean and Chinese armies. It had been a time of unbelievable savagery. This book is the most complete account of those two invasions yet written, researched from forgotten archives in Japan, Korea and China, and written by the world’s most acclaimed historian of the samurai, the English Oriental specialist Dr Stephen Turnbull. He links the overall history of the war with the experience of ordinary soldiers, as related in diaries and anecdotes, and recounts tales of noble combat and heroism, as well as cowardice and desertion, with technical information on the weapons and tactics of the day. Samurai Invasion is a book that all followers of samurai history will not be able to resist.