Kauê Metzger Otávio

An excellent and still very fresh and exciting reading that alternates many times between the micro and macro perspectives to provide a comprehensive analysis of warfare in 14th century Japan like no other available in English. The warrior is treated as an individual as well as part of a network of other warriors. The quantitative aspects of war are analyzed as well, with a great collation of documents showing the weapons most used in different time periods, the wounds of war, and so on and so forth. Even the religious dimension is not oblivious to the author, which is quick to show how the powers from above were mobilized for war. A must-read for anyone interested in the development of the samurai during the late Kamakura and early Muromachi periods.