SAMURAI ARMIES OF THE LATE SENGOKU PERIOD - VOLUME II: Castles and Sieges, Artillery, Heraldry & Clothing

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More than 250 illustrations, including 12 computer graphics, 7 full-page, and 9 double-page drawings, detail the elegant, multi-story main towers of Japanese castles. Surrounded by massive fortifications, they are widely known as symbols of samurai rule. However, the first of these tenshukaku were built only at the very end of the Sengoku period. Most fortifications were built of wood with earthen ramparts and ditches exploiting the natural environment.

Details these constructions as well as the fortifications that were affected by major victories: Fushimi, Tanabe, Otsu, and Ueda in 1600, and Osaka in 1614/15. Explains the sophisticated siege techniques and countermeasures employed by samurai armies of the period, and the Japanese artillery of the time.

A second focus is on the complex heraldry of leading as well as lesser known samurai families of the Sengoku period, illustrated by many colourful examples. The third part offers an introduction to the world of traditional Japanese textile patterns and colours, their use, methods of manufacture in the pre-industrial age, and their special symbolism in the context of samurai history.