The samurai were never Japan’s only warriors.  There were several alternatives, some of whom fought under the banner of a sacred three-legged crow and cherished legends of holy men appearing in the sky or riding into battle on the backs of giant octopuses.   Yet whatever fantasy they may have embraced off the battlefield, in the mundane reality of Japanese warfare these very same warriors were among the first to deploy firearms in anger and were almost certainly the first to use them effectively.  Some had been ordained as Buddhist monks, others fought as mercenaries, while separate communities defended stockaded fortresses that were built among trackless swamps.  When they were not fighting each other they mounted a defiant challenge to the development of the samurai class as Japan’s unique warrior elite, and in so doing they almost changed the course of Japanese history.  This book will tell their story for the first time.

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AVAILABLE LATE 2026