Ask students to review the different periods within medieval Japan and explain the changes of the role of samurai, daimyō, and shogun over the 400 years. Conclude by asking students why they think ...

During the 13th and 14th centuries, Japan witnessed a tumultuous period marked by 150 years of widespread warfare. Feudal lords vied for political power, prompting many noble families to retreat ...

When feudal Japan’s most powerful warlord Nobunaga Oda met Yasuke, a black slave-turned-retainer, in 1581, he believed the man was a god. Oda had never seen an African before. And like the ...

Two swords once carried by samurai have been found during excavations in Ichijodani, one of medieval Japan’s largest cities. On the outskirts of Fukui, a city of a quarter of a million people in ...

For almost 700 years, these disciplined warriors were respected and feared in Japan, and they carved out a path that made them legends across the world. A group of the fighting elite, trained in ...

Based on James Clavell’s 1970s novel, Shogun is the story of William Adams, better known as Anjin-san, who rose to become the top advisor to Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in feudal Japan in the early ...

With " Anākī: The Law and Economics of Samurai Organization," Leeson examines the birth of the Kamakura Bakufu (literally "tent government") in medieval Japan.

When feudal Japan’s most powerful warlord Nobunaga Oda met Yasuke, a black slave-turned-retainer, in 1581, he believed the man was a god. Oda had never seen an African before. And like the ...