Bøger af Romulus Hillsborough

"e;Power to them meant everything. It was founded on courage, which begot honor. And by this courage and for this honor they fought to the death."e;The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps tells the thrilling story of the Shinsengumithe legendary corps of Samurai warriors tasked with keeping order in Kyoto during the final chaotic years of the Tokugawa Shogunate (16001868).This book recounts the fascinating tales of political intrigue, murder and mayhem surrounding the fearsome Shinsengumi, including:The infamous slaughter at Ikidaya Inn where, after learning of a plan to torch the city, a group of Shinsengumi viciously attacked and killed a group of anti-Tokugawa plottersThe bloody assassination of Serizawa Kamo, the Shinsengumi leader, under highly suspicious circumstancesThe final tumultuous battles of the civil war in which the Shinsengumi fought and died in a series of doomed last standsAuthor and Samurai history expert Romulus Hillsborough uses letters, memoirs, interviews and eyewitness accounts to paint a vivid picture of the Shinsengumi, their origins, violent methods and the colorful characters that led the group.

See the dawn of modern Japan through the lens of the power players who helped shape it as well as those who fought against it in this exploration of Samurai history. Samurai Revolution tells the fascinating story of Japan's historic transformation at the end of the nineteenth century from a country of shoguns, feudal lords and samurai to a modern industrialized nation. The book covers the turbulent Meiji Period from 1868 to 1912, widely considered "e;the dawn of modern Japan,"e; a time of Samurai history in which those who choose to cling to their traditional bushido way of life engaged in frequent and often deadly clashes with champions of modernization. Knowledge of this period is essential to understand how and why Japan evolved into the nation it is today. The book opens with the fifteen-year fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which had ruled Japan for over 250 years, and the restoration of the Meiji emperor to a position of power at the expense of the feudal Daimyo lords. It chronicles the bloody first decade of the newly reestablished monarchy, in which the new government worked desperately to consolidate its power and introduce the innovations that would put Japan on equal footing with the Western powers threatening to dominate it. Finally, Samurai Revolution goes on to tell the story of the Satsuma Rebellion, a failed coup attempt that is widely viewed as the final demise of the samurai class in Japan. This book is the first comprehensive history and analysis in English that includes all the key figures from this dramatic time in Japanese politics and society, and is the result of over twenty-five years of research focused on this critical period in Japanese history. The book contains numerous original translations of crucial documents and correspondence of the time, as well as photographs and maps. Samurai Revolution goes in-depth to reveal how one era of ended and another began.

Assassination - in Japanese, ansatsu or "dark murder" - was instrumental in the samurai-led revolution known as the Meiji Restoration (1853-1868). This first-ever account in English of the Restoration and the assassins who carried it out details one of the most volatile periods in Japanese history - also known as "the dawn of modern Japan".

Samurai Tales is about the legendary men from the samurai class who fought for the helm of power in 19th century Japan. These are stories of courage, honor, fidelity, disgrace, fate, and destiny set in the bloody time of political change and social upheaval in the final years of the Shogun.The final years of the samurai were an age of unprecedented turmoil and bloodletting in Japan. They heralded the end of nearly three centuries of rule under the Tokugawa Shogun. The rule of law was deteriorating, assassination and murder were rampant, and inner-fighting among the warrior class embroiled the nation. After the United States forced an end of over two hundred years of Japanese isolation, two contrasting philosophies were embraced by the samurai. On one side were those who would overthrow the shogun and restore the Emperor to power. Opposing the revolutionaries were the allies of the Tokugawa Bakufu, headed by the shogun.While the shogun's men clashed violently with the revolutionaries, as samurai they shared with each other an allegiance to an unwritten code of honor which governed the ways they lived and died. Theirs was a stoic system of morals which condoned suicide, vengeance and, in some cases, cold-blooded murder. Samurai Tales is, to quote author Romulus Hillsborough, "e;accurate portrayals of the heart and soul of the samurai, the social and political systems of whom have, like the Japanese sword, become relics of a distant age, but the likes of whose nobility shall never again be seen in this world."e; In recounting what he terms "e;the great epic which was the dawn of modern Japan,"e; Hillsborough delves deeply into the psyche of the men of the samurai class. This book would serve well on the bookshelves of martial artists, those interested in samurai culture, or those interested in Japanese history.