Comments on: Who are Sakamoto Ryoma and Oda Nobunaga?

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 03:43:41 +0000

You’ll notice Douglas MacArthur didn’t make the list.

By: Japan’s heroes (for now) « The Toynbee convector

Japan’s heroes (for now) « The Toynbee convector — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 07:28:24 +0000

[...] Japan’s heroes (for now) April 11th, 2007 Via Davos Newbies, the list, based on a national survey, from a recent programme on Japan’s NTV called History’s 100 Most Influential People: Hero Edition. Here is the site Newbies links to. [...]

By: David Derrick

David Derrick — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:37:48 +0000

Is this an “Abe list”, reflecting a desire for strong leadership as Shinzo Abe’s popularity drains away?

By: jaywalker

jaywalker — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 20:03:07 +0000

The Japanese unification is similar to the Second Roman Civil War:

Ruthless Oda Nobunaga as Japan’s Caesar was assassinated by Japan’s Brutus Akechi Mitsuhide (curiously no. 98 on the list). Japan’s Mark Anthony Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a brilliant soldier who killed Nobunaga’s killers and united Japan but was unable to become shogun himself due to his low rank. He died at home having sent his soldiers on a disastrous Korea campaign. Japan’s Augustus Ieyasu Tokugawa, the waiting diplomat, defeated his Western opponents (the losers of the Korea expedition) at Sekigahara 1600 (a large part of the Western army switched sides during the battle!) and started the dynasty.

Their approaches are thus illustrated:
Nobunaga: “If a bird doesn’t sing, kill it.”
Hideyoshi: “If a bird doesn’t sing, I’ll make it sing.”
Tokugawa: “If a bird doesn’t sing, I’ll wait until it sings.”

Literature:
Stephen Turnbull: The Samurai – a military history. (Anything by Turnbull is worth a read.)
Eiji Yoshikawa: Taiko – an Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan (good story but long-winded at 940 pages)