The Shogun-ki blog has an excellent part one interview with Samuel Hawley, author of The Imjin War. The Imjin War is the story of the late 16th century Japanese samurai invasion of Korea from 1592 to 1598 initiated by the powerful Japanese warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi was the great warlord who finally succeeded in unifying Japan under his rule after more than a century of civil war. Hideyoshi's stated goal of the Korean invasion was to eventually conquer Ming China. Hideyoshi's dream was never achieved as his samurai armies, after early successes that took them to the very border with China, eventually bogged down into brutal warfare on the Korean peninsula. The failure of Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea was partly due to the intervention of tens of thousands of Ming Chinese troops that crossed the Yalu River to confront the invaders just as they did over 350 years later against the Americans. Hawley's book is probably the best English language work on the 16th Century Japanese invasion of Korea.
Daibutsu, Kamakura
Daibutsu in Kamakura, June 2010. There were thousands of school kids visiting that day. It was still great fun.
This is one book I need in my library. Plan to buy it in the near future.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have it also but 70 to $100 is a bit steep for me right now.
ReplyDelete70 to 100? itai!!!!
ReplyDeleteDamn! Intrigued indeed.
ReplyDeleteSounds very interesting. I love this period. My total impression (from all the other sources I've read) of the Korean invasion is that it was a stupid waste. It'd be nice to read and gain other perspectives on it.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that... 70-100?? That's a bit out of my price range.
It was a horrible waste and Hawley's book will describe what a waste and what horror was done to the Korean's at the hands of the invading Japanese samurai as well as the Chinese Ming soldiers and even Korean soldiers who some apparently ravaged their own people. It was a brutal war that few know about.
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