Japan over the last two and a half centuries has changed almost beyond recognition. This book explores the extent of that change by juxtaposing photographs from late 19th-century Japan to…

Samurai Dishes is both a fascinating window into Japan's martial culinary tradition and a source of some really tasty recipes for which a samurai would have killed in an instant.

True stories of the two greatest sword heroes of the Waring States Period (1469-1573). This was the most destructive period in Japan’s history. It was a time when thousands of…

A collection of hitherto neglected sources including the Tomari jinja munefuda, the Kaijo monogatari, the Numata kaki, the Yoshioka-den, the Watanabe koan taikiwa, the Honcho bugei shoden, the Koro usawa…

This work describes the Winter and Summer campaigns of the Siege of Osaka Castle. Presented in a wide, richly illustrated landscape format, it is a treasure trove of information on…

Vasilii Golovnin (1776-1818) was commissioned to captain an expedition to map the Kuril Islands, just off the north-east coat of Hokkaido when, landing at Kunashir, he and his men were…

Robert Fortune (1812-80), resided in Japan for two lengthy periods between 1860 and 1861, recording all he encountered in vivid accounts: of the countryside, of the villages, of street-life, of…

Sugawara no Takasue no Musume (1008-59), a lady-in-waiting to Princess Sukeko, sought to achieve romantic fulfilment by committing her thoughts, emotions, and experiences to a memoir that has come to…