Famous Samurai: Yagyu Munenori

After more than two centuries of civil strife Japan was finding its way back to peace and order during the Period of Unification (1573-1615). The final drive came in the fall of 1600, when the massed eastern and western warlords faced each other in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara, in which every man who called himself a warrior faced the stark choice between the forces of division and those of unification.

One such warrior was Yagyu Tajima no Kami Munenori (1571-1648), a great swordsman from the Kanto region. During the ferocious wars of the medieval era, his clan had first lost its castle, then its lands, until finally it was thrown upon the mercy of a local temple. Munenori was forced to become a ronin, a masterless samurai, destined to lead the life of a wanderer. Having lost everything, Munenori staked his future on the victory of the eastern forces. His is the story of the tragedy of civil war experienced at the personal level—a story of loyalty, of betrayal, of seemingly insurmountable setbacks. His courage in the face of overwhelming odds stands as moving testimony to the kind of perseverance and dedication that can have no equal in times of peace. Moreover, long after the fighting, the sword style and skills that saw him through the heat of battle lived on, and came to dominate the art of fencing during the Edo period, the Yagyū Shinkage-ryu.

About the Famous Samurai Series: No history of Japan’s medieval era can be complete without touching on the lives and exploits of those men who fought in its epic conflicts: the samurai. Of the thousands who took part in the major and minor battles of that turbulent period, a handful stood out; it was their martial skills that won the day and changed history. This series recounts their amazing but factual stories, and will include such famous warriors as Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, Ono Tadaaki, Itto Kagehisa, Nenami Jion, and Iizasa Ienao. Each volume includes many photos, maps, and diagrams, plus a chronology, glossary, and index.