An Indepth Look at Warfare in Medieval Japan in Joseph Conlans' State of War; The Violent Order of Fourteenth Century Japan

Joseph Conlans “State of War; The Violent Order of Fourteenth Century Japan” is an depth look at Japans emerging warrior class during a time period of constant warfare in Medieval Japan. His work however doesn’t revolve around the re-fabrication and in-depth analysis of battles sieged like many contemporary examinations of wars and battles won and lost. Instead the author vies to navigate the reader on journey into the warrior class’s lives and how they evolved through a statistical analysis of records. This illustrates how warfare changed and transformed with the constant evolving of the Samurai, but it also includes how their actions affected their Political environment as well as the society in which they dwelled from the bottom up. Through his survey of records and documents, Conlan is able to give readers a compelling look into the Warrior class and at times shatters in the process many of the pre-conceived general notions that one may hold about this ancient class of professional warriors. Many of the notions & common misconceptions debunked in this scholarly piece include the idea that the Samurai was a male only fraternity, reserved for those of impeccable candor and loyalty. When truth be known, woman and young men (boys) were also trained in the art of war and thus were as likely to be found on the battle fields as men when times were tough and solider numbers were depleted. Further, another misconception (Generally thought to be caused by the popular and well known; “The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai”) of the warrior class is that all of these men were truly Samurai which translated to “one who serves” when really, loyalty for the warrior class as Conlan points out only went as far as ones right to ...

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.... War, then as much as it is today is an expensive endeavor causing many hardships and sacrifices to those involved. Sometimes war causes those involved to commit acts of such inconceivable violence, barbarism, and brutality it often leaves those looking in a mirror at a hollow shell of ones self. For all involved it leaves tremendous scars, both physical and mental. With such a price tag of burden, it is unsurprising to find that many of warrior class demanded that the Orchestrator’s of battle possibly be in fact more loyal than those engaged in combat or risk the loss of ones forces. Perhaps this is why Conlan argues against referring to those who so quickly abandoned their commanders at the slightest sign of a momentum shift as “turn coats.” For it was this class that put their lives on the line, and therefore wanted to be reimbursed for it appropriately.