Weapons of the Samurai

Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this lively study assesses the array of weapons and equipment employed by the samurai, Japan's legendary warriors.

This fully illustrated new book describes and analyzes the weapons and equipment traditionally associated with the samurai, Japan's superlative warriors. It examines the range of weapons used by them at different times and in different situations.

Beginning with the rise of the samurai during the 10th century, this lively study traces the introduction of edged weapons (cutting and piercing) and missile weapons (bows and guns) over the next 500 years.

The book shows clearly how they were employed by individual samurai using many previously untranslated primary texts, and explains how their use spread more widely among low-class troops, pirates, and rebels. It also shows how schools of martial arts took over and changed the weapons and their uses during the peaceful Edo Period (1615-1868).

About the Author

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.

About the Illustrators

Johnny Shumate works as a freelance illustrator living in Nashville, Tennessee. He began his career in 1987 after graduating from Austin Peay State University. Most of his work is rendered in Adobe Photoshop using a Cintiq monitor. His greatest influences are Angus McBride, Don Troiani, and Édouard Detaille.

Born in Malaya in 1949, Alan Gilliland spent 18 years as the graphics editor of the Daily Telegraph, winning 19 awards in that time. He now writes, illustrates and publishes fiction (www.ravensquill.com), as well as illustrating for a variety of publishers (alangillilandillustration.blogspot.com).