Fully illustrated with colour maps and 50 images, this is an accessible introduction to the most violent, turbulent, cruel and exciting chapter in Japanese history.

In 1467 the Onin War ushered in a period of unparalleled conflict and rivalry in Japan that came to be called the Age of Warring States. In this book, Stephen Turnbull offers a masterly exposition of the wars, explaining what led to Japan's disintegration into rival domains after more than a century of relative peace; the years of fighting that followed; and the period of gradual fusion when the daimyo (great names) strove to reunite Japan under a new Shogun. Peace returned to Japan with the end of the Osaka War in 1615. Turnbull draws on his latest research to include new material for this updated edition, covering samurai acting as mercenaries, the expeditions to Korea, Taiwan and Okinawa, and the little-known campaigns against the Ainu of Hokkaido, to present a richer picture of an age when conflicts were spread far more widely than was hitherto realised.

With specially commissioned maps and all-new images throughout, this updated and revised edition provides a concise overview of Japan's turbulent Age of Warring States.

Stephen Turnbull is widely recognised as the world's leading English language authority on the samurai of Japan. He took his first degree at Cambridge and has two MAs (in Theology and Military History) from Leeds University. In 1996 he received a PhD from Leeds for his thesis on Japan's 'Hidden Christians'. In its published form the work won the Japan Festival Literary Award in 1998. He has written 85 books and is currently working on a major study of the Hojo daimyo of the sixteenth century.