Readings on Japan

The Metamorphosis of the Kappa: Transformation of folklore to folklorism in Japan

The “kappa” is a mischievous water goblin of Japanese folklore. This article presents an overview of some of the characteristics of the “kappa”, including the dish-like cavity on its head, its penchant for eating cucumbers, its aversion to gourds and to iron, and its habit of trying to pull horses, cattle, and humans into the water. Some of the major critical literature regarding the “kappa” is discussed, including work by Yanagita Kunio, Orikuchi Shinobu, Ishida Eiichir?, and structural anthropologist Cornelis Ouwehand. The concept of folklorism (“folklorismus”) is briefly defined and applied to the “kappa” belief. Through folklorism, artists, writers, cartoonists, and commercial interests have transformed the “kappa” from a malicious and unpleasant water deity into a harmless and lovable mascot.

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The Last Kappa of Old Japan

Sunny Seki (see review)

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The Sacred Tree in Japanese Prehistory

Y. T. Hosoi

History of Religions, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Nov., 1976), pp. 95-119

This article consists of 25 page(s).

Manmade Objects as Demons in Japanese Scrolls

Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism (cross-reference with The supernatural powers of sacred trees in the Holy Land )

Yurei and the Afterlife

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Spirit and Symbol: The Japanese New Year

Brandon, Reiko Mochinaga & Barbara B. Stephan

Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts. 1994

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Gods of Myth and Stone: Phallicism in Japanese Folk Religion

Czaja, Michael

New York: Weatherhill, 1974

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Myths and Legends of Japan

Davis, F. Hadland

Singapore: Graham Brash, 1989 (reprint of 1913 edition)

Japanese Musical Instruments

de Ferranti, Hugh

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000

Family Crests of Japan

New York: ICG Muse, 2001

Faure, Bernard

The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality”

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998

Farris, William Wayne.

Heavenly Warriors

Taiken Shiy?: Nihon no Bunka

Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University

Distributed by the Harvard University Press, 1992

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Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures

Farris, William Wayne

Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1998

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Civilization and Monsters: Spirits of Modernity in Meiji Japan

Figal, Gerald

Durham: Duke University Press, 1999

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Meiji Revisited: The Sites of Victorian Japan

Finn, Dallas

New York: Weatherhill, 1995

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Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People

Fitzhugh, William W. & Dubreuil, Chisato O. eds

Washington: Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 1999

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Strange Games and Enchanted Science: The Mystery of Kokkuri

Foster, Michael Dylan

The Journal of Asian Studies 65, no2 (May 2006):251-275

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Japan in the Muromachi Age

Hall, John Whitney & Toyoda Takeshi (eds)

Ithaca: East Asia Program Cornell University, 2001

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Hamiru-aqui (translated by Aileen Chang)

70 Japanese Gestures: No Language Communication

Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2005

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Hanabi: The Fireworks of Japan

Yokyo: JICC / Japan Publications, 1986.

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Hanafuda: The Flower Card Game

Tokyo: Nichibo Shuppan-sha 1970

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Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932 – 1945, and the American Cover-up; revised edition

Harris, Sheldon H.

New York: Routledge, 2002

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The Russo-Japanese War 1905-05

Ivanov, A & P. Jowett

Oxford: Osprey Publishing 2004

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Hiroshige’s Journey in the 60-odd Provinces

Jansen, Marije

Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing 2004

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Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration

Jansen, Marius B.

New York: Columbia University Press. 1994

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Okinawa: The History of an Island People, Revised Edition Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2000

Kerr, George H.

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Of Heretics and Martyrs in Meiji Japan

Ketelaar, James Edward

Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990

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Nara Buddhist Art: Todai-ji

Kobayashi Takeshi

New York: Weatherhill/Heibonsha, 1975

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Pagoda, Skull and Samurai

Koda Rohan

Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1985

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Kukai Major Works

Kukai

New York: Columbia University Press, 1972

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Kyukai (trans by Nakamura Kyoko Motomochi)

Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition (Nihon Ry?iki)

Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1997

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Wild Flowers of Japan: A Field Guide

Levy, Ran.

Tokyo: Kodansha International 1995

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Garden Plants of Japan

Levy-Yamamori, Ran & Gerard Taaffe.

Portland OR: Timber Press 2004

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Traditional Japanese Music and Musical Instruments (Revised edition)

Malm, William P.

Tokyo: Kodansha international. 2000

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Japanese Alphabet: the 48 essential characters

Mandel, Gabriele

New York: Abbyville Press. 2007

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Manga/Anime 101: version 3

San Francisco: Viz Media. 2007

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Tokyo a Cultural History

Mansfield, Stephen

Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2009

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Manyoshu: The Nippon Gakuhutsu Shinkokai Translation of One Thousand Poems

New York: Columbia University Press 1965

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Nara: A Cultural Guide

Martin, John H. & Phillis G.

Boston: Tuttle Publishing 1993

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The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender, Shifting Boundaries and Global Cultures

Martinez, D. P. (ed)

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998

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The Art of Netsuke Carving

Masatoshi, as told to Raymond Bushell

New York Weatherhill, 1992

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Autobiography of a Geisha

Masuda Sayo

New York: Columbia University Press 2003

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The Design Heritage of Noren: Traditional Japanese Store-Front Art

Masuda Tadashi

Tokyo: Japan Travel Bureau, 1989

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Odori (Japanese Dance) – Tourist Library 22

Matida Kasyo

Tokyo: Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways, 1938

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Essentials of Buddhist Images: A Comprehensive Guide to Sculpture, Painting, and Symbolism

Matsunami Kodo

Tokyo: Omega-Com, 2005

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Gods of Kumano: Shinto and the Occult

Nagai Shinichi.

Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1968

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Sacred Koyasan: A Pilgrimage to the Mountain Temple of Saint Kobo Daishi and the Great Sun Buddha

Nicoloff, Philip L.

Albany: State University of New York Press, 2008

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The Okagami: A Japanese Historical Tale

Translated by Yamagiwa, Joseph K.

London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1967

Translated by McCullough, Helen Craig

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The Okagami: The Great Mirror

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980

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The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi: Detective Stories of old Edo.

Okamoto Kido.

Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2007

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Castles in Japan – Tourist Library 9

Orui, N & Toba M.

Tokyo: Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways, 1935

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The Inland Sea

Richie, Donald.

New York, Tokyo: Weatherhill 1971

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Immortal Wishes: Labor and Transcendance on a Japanese Mountain

Schattschneider, Ellen

Durham: Duke University Press, 2003

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Folktales of Japan

Seki Keigo

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963

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Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan

Smith, Richard Gordon

London: Senate, 1995

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Japanese Ghosts & Demons

Addiss, Stephen

New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1985

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Handbook of Japanese Mythology

Ashkenazi, Michael

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003

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Yoshitoshi’s One Hundred Aspects of the Moon

Stevenson, John

Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2001

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Yoshitoshi’s Strange Tales

Stevenson, John.

Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2005

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Yoshitoshi’s Thirty-Six Ghosts

Stevenson, John

Hong Kong: Blue Tiger Books; Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992

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Suzuki Daisetz Teitaro.

The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk

Berkeley: Wingbow Press 1974

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Enku: Sculptor of a Hundred Thousand Buddhas

Tanahashi Kazuaki

Boulder: Shambhala, 1982

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* Teikoku’s Complete Atlas of Japan

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Japanese Mandalas: Representations of Sacred Geography

Ten Grotenhuis, Elizabeth

Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press,1999

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Traditional Themes in Japanese Art

Temple, Charles R.

Berkeley: Regent Press, 2008

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The 47 Ronin: A Story of Samurai Loyalty and Courage

Till, Barry

San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2005

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Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1862-1868

Totman, Conrad

Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980

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Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu 1600-1843

Totman, Conrad

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967

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The Green Archipelago

Totman, Conrad

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989

Tokugawa Ieyasu: Shogun

Totman, Conrad

Torrance: Heian International, 1983

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Superstitions, Magic and Mantic Practices in the Heian Period

Tubielewicz, Jolanta

Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego 1980

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Incredible Japan

Tuttle, Charles E.

Rutland, Vt.: C. E. Tuttle Co., 1975

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Angry White Pajamas

Twigger, Robert

New York: Quill 2000

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Japanese Tales

Tyler, Royall

New York: Pantheon Books, 1987

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The Miracles of the Kasuga Deity

Tyler, Royall

New York: Columbia University Press, 1990

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The Magic Listening Cup

Uchida Yoshiko

Berkeley: Creative Arts, 1983

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Uji Shoi Monogatari

Mills, D. E.

Glimpses of Yamaguchi Prefecture

Umemoto Seiichi

Yamaguchi: Trade & Tourist Section, Commerce & Industry Department, Yamaguchi Prefectural Government, 1952

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Sacred Treasures of Mount Koya: The Art of Japanese Shingon Buddhism

Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of the Arts 2002

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Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light

Unno, Mark

Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004

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Tales of Times Now Past (Konjaku Monogatari)

Ury, Marian (trans)

Ann Arbor: Center For Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 1979

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Hiroshige A Hundred Views of Edo

Uspendky, Michail.

London: Sirocco 1996

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A Pilgrim’s Guide to Forty-Six Temples

Usui Shiro

New York: Weatherhill, 1990

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Reflections on the Life and Times of Motonari Mori

*Usui Shizuteru

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The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido

Utagawa Hiroshige / Okeda Eisen

New York: George Braziller, 2007

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The Way of Taiko

Varian, Heidi

Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press 2005

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The Onin War: History of Its Origins and Background With a Selective Translation of The Chronicles of Onin

Varley, H. Paul

New York: Columbia University Press, 1967

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Heroes of the Grand Pacification: Kuniyoshi’s Taiheiki eiyo den

Varshavskaya, Elena

Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2005

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Visions of Japan: Kawase Hasui’s Masterpieces

Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2004

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Peasant Protests and Uprisings in Tokugawa Japan

Vlastos, Stephen

Berkeley: University of California Press. 1986

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Music in Japan

Wade, Bonnie C.

Oxford: Oxforn University Press 2005

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Japanese Humor

Wells, Marguerite

New York: St Martin’s Press 1997

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The Japanification of Children’s Popular Culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki

West, Mark I.

Lanhan, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2009

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Tales from the Japanese Storytellers

Wheeler, Post (ed by Harold G. Henderson)

Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle 1965

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The Sacred Scriptures of the Japanese

Wheeler, Post

New York: Henry Schuman, 1952

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Yagasaki Noritaka

Japan: Geographical Perspectives on an Island Nation

Tokyo: Teikoku-Shoin, 1997

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Yamashina Yoshimaro

Birds in Japan: A Field Guide

Tokyo: Shubun International Co., 1982

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Yamamoto Yukitaka

Kami no Michi: Way of the Kami

Stockton: Tsubaki America Publications 1987

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Yamasaki Taiko.

Shingon: Japanese Esoteric Buddhism.

Fresno, CA: Shingon Buddhist International Institute, 1996

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Legends of Tono

Yanagita Kunio

Tokyo: Japan Foundation, 1975

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The Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale

Yanagita Kunio

Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986

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Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide

Yoda Hiroko and Matt Alt

Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2008

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Amitabha Temples and Gardens in Kyoto

Yokoyama Kenzo

Kyoto: Suiko Books, 2000

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Hokusai

Yonemura, Ann

Washington DC: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2006

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Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon

Sei Shonagon

trans & edited by Ivan Morris

new York: Columbia University Press 1991

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The Japanese Tattoo

Richie, Donald & Ian Buruma

New York, Tokyo: Weatherhill 1989

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Japan’s High Schools.

Rohlen, Thomas P.

Berkeley: University of California Press, c1983.

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Floral Calendar of Japan – Tourist Library 20

Makino T. & Oka Genziro

Tokyo: Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways, 1938

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Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami

Breen, John and Teeuwen, Mark eds

Honolulu : University of Hawai’i Press, 2000

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The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan. 2nd ed.

Blacker, Carmen.

London; Boston: G. Allen & Unwin, 1986.

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Battles of the Samurai

Turnbull, Stephen

London: Arms and Armour Press 1992

Japanese Castles 250 – 1540

Turnbull, Stephen

Wellingborough: Osprey Publishing, 2008

Japanese Castles 1540 – 1640

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003

Japanese Castles in Korea 1592-98

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2007

Japanese Fortified Temples and Monasteries AD 710-1602

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2005

Japanese Warrior Monks AD 949-1603

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003

Kawanakajima 1553-64

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003

The Lone Samurai and the Martial Arts

Turnbull, Stephen

London: Arms and Armour Press 1990

Mongol Invasions of Japan 1274 and 1281

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2010

Nagashino 1575

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2000

Ninja AD 1460-1650

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003

Ninja: The True Story of Japan’s Secret Warrior Cult

Turnbull, Stephen

Poole, Dorset: Firebird, 1991

Osaka 1615: The last battle of the samurai

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2006

Pirate of the Far East

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2007

The Samurai: A Military History

Turnbull, Stephen

New York: Macmillan, 1977

The Samurai: The Story of Japan’s Great Warriors

Turnbull, Stephen

London: PRC Publishing, 2004

The Samurai and the Sacred

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey 2006

Samurai Armies

Turnbull, S. R. and Richard Hook

Oxford: Osprey 1979

The Samurai Capture a King: Okinawa 1609

Turnbull, S. R.

Oxford: Osprey 2009

Samurai Commanders (1) 940-1576

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2005

Samurai Commanders (2) 1577-1638

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2005

Samurai Heraldry

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002

Samurai Invasion

Turnbull, Stephen

London: Cassell & Co, 2002

Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2008

The Samurai Sourcebook

Turnbull, Stephen

London: Arms and Armour Press 1998

Samurai the World of the Warrior

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003

Samurai Warfare.

Turnbull, Stephen.

London:Arms and Armour, 1996

Samurai Warlords

Turnbull, Stephen

London: Blandford Press, 1992

Samurai Warriors

Turnbull, Stephen

Poole, Dorset: Blandford Press, 1987

Siege Weapons of the Far East v.1

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2001

Siege Weapons of the Far East v.2

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002

War in Japan 1467-1615

Turnbull, Stephen

Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002