About Sadler\'s \"Maker of Modern Japan\" ...

[Matsudaira Motoyasu]

Has anyone recently bought A.L. Sadlers book
"Maker of Modern Japan : The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu"?
The only place where I can find books about the Samurai and buy them is from Amazon.co.uk [they are non-existent in my country, just like any decent anime or manga (not in french)], and there is no listing about it. In Amazon.com it says out-of-print.
Does anyone know if there are any plans for a reprint?
'Cause I've read that it's better then Totman's "Tokugawa Ieyasu: Shogun".

[FwSeal]

'Maker of Modern Japan' is, in my opinion, a much better work than Totman's effort. All things being relative, I'd say its one of the best 16th Century Japan-related books produced in English. Certainly, it has a refreshing 'old-school' style - treating military, diplomatic, and administrative matters on an equal footing (which no author, with the possible exception of Varley, has really done since - certainly not Turnbull, nor even the esteemed John W. Hall - IMO the west's greatest scholar of 16th Century Japan). Moreover, it has stood up well to the test of time. Those elements of Sadler's narrative which are a bit out of date tend to deal with the more subjective issues of Ieyasu's rise to power and rule.
MMJ was written decades before the west's study of early modern Japan experienced its veritable renaisance in the 1960's (through the 1980's). For this reason, Totman's book is a useful companion volume (as would be 'Warrior Rule in Japan').

I picked up a paperback copy of it years ago when it was still in print through Tuttle. You might try Bookfinder.com - I have located a few nice things through that and services like it. I just saw a copy of it available through Barnes and Noble's used books finder (on their website) for about 20 dollars - you might want to investigate that.

[Matsudaira Motoyasu]

Thanks for your help, FW Seal.
However, I could only find two copies of the 1937 1st edition on sale, one for about $150 and another for $60 and that's more than I can afford, being a college student. Guess I'll buy another one instead. What's your opinion about Turnbull's "The Samurai-A Military History"?

[FwSeal]

http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?st=rs&ac=dp&qi=XYE,M6BX8RL5oi9L7bYVyqhXYES6dkYV:5:15:0:0&bs=abebooks&bu=http%3A%2F%2Fdogbert%2Eabebooks%2Ecom%2Fabe%2FBookDetails%3Fbi%3D74158337& oh=1

Take a look at that. I found it through Bookfinder.com. Bookfnder also shows a few other copies in the 40 dollar range there - which is still a bit steep but worth the money for a true Tokugawa fan http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

'Samurai - A Military History' is a good work, and probably Turnbull's best next to 'Samurai Warriors'. While the former a bit dated (funny how time flies), it does represent what Turnbull does best - writing the history in broad, general strokes. I was a Turnbullite for many years myself but over the last five years have become a bit disenchanted. For one thing, I gained access to Japanese sources (such as the wonderful Rekishi Gunzo series), and began to notice numerous subtle but noticable inconsistencies with what Turnbull was writing and what was being presented in the sources he was citing. The 'Sourcebook' was what really, to be frank, put me off. In his preface he boldy writes 'It is my intention that this book should be seen as the standard reference work on the samurai in the English language' - and 'The material for this has come from many directions, and almost all of it is new'. But the book's catalogue of the samurai, in addition to omitting many famous figures (including Hojo Tokimasa and Kitabatake Chikafusa - to say nothing of Tokugawa Yoshinobu - the last shogun), was quite obviosuly drawn almost completly (aside from a few obscure samurai such as Furuta Kichizaemnonnojo) from Papinot's 100-year old 'Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan' (as anyone with access to that singular work will quickly see in any comparison). This includes almost all of the mistakes of the Papinot book - such as naming Oda Samboshi/Hidenobu the son of Oda Nobutaka - which Turnbull should have spotted instantly; and listing Askakura Norikage as dying in 1552 - despite writing, in the battles section, that Norikage won the battle of Daishojiomote in 1555 (Norikage died in 1555, not long after that struggle). To give just one example, look at the Turnbull entry for Okubo Tadakazu...
'Tadakazu served the Tokugawa and helped in the final defeat of the Imagawa in 1555'
Now Papinot...
'Tadakazu served the Tokugawa and helped in the defeat of Imagawa Yoshimoto (1555)'
As for what final (or other any other defeat) Yoshimoto is supposed to have suffered in 1555, the Japanese texts I have are silent.
The kicker is that he doesn't even list Papinot in his bibliography.
Now, I know that attacking Stephen Turnbull is bit like kicking the sacred cow, and I give the man his due for what he has given people who would otherwise have no real access to the military side of the 16th century Japan (his treatment of the rest of samurai history - and in particular the Edo Period - being token). But the Sourcebook illustrates in my mind that he's resting on his laurels. Which, I suppose, is the tendancy of, as Nobunaga would say, a 'bat on a birdless island'.

[Matsudaira Motoyasu]

I've also found another copy for $10.
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookDetails?bi=58306473

However, I'm somewhat hesitant. This one only says it's a fine copy, printed in 1981, almost no description. Could you just check the link and tell me what you think.
Also, Seal-san, in your opinion, do you think I would be better off buying one of the latest copies or a 1937 first edition?

[FwSeal]

I could only say that the book is interesting enough that a banged-up copy is better then no copy at all http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif
It doesn't seem to me that the newer copies of the book were revised in any way, so the contents of the 1937 edition are probably the same as the newer ones. An older book does tend to look nicer on the shelf, but that's about the only thing that could be said, I guess, for buying a 1st edition...