Book Review: Samurai Castles by Jennifer Mitchellhill

About:

Samurai Castles by Jennifer Mitchellhill (photography by David Green) is a non0fiction book featuring these fantastic Japanese castles. Dr.. Mitchellhill is an Australian scholar who has a vast interest in Japanese castles.

The publisher is giving away one (1) copy of this book – enter via the rafflecoper form at the end of the post.

• 128 pages
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4805313870

My rating for Samurai Castles – 5
Buy Samurai Castles from Amazon.com*
More Books by Jennifer Michelhill

Thoughts:

Samurai Castles by Jennifer Mitchellhill (photography by David Green), a wonderful coffee table book with marvelous photographs of Japanese castles, the interiors and architecture. The book starts by introducing the reader into the history of these structures, which are an integral part of Japanese history and culture. These castles were a symbol of power, as we as a fortification and hence played an integral part in the wars, and negotiations between Japanese warlords.

After a brief lesson in Japanese history, the book goes right into the castles, types of design, architecture, symbolism, and decorations. These short sections serve as an introduction and context into the next chapters, each dedicated to a castle.

The author picked 25 of Japan’s most impressive castles to write about. Each section consists of 4-6 pages, with its own map, directions, fantastic photography and explanation of what you’re looking at.

My favorite castle, Hiroshima Castle, is a 1589 structure of a wealth and powerful daimyo which ruled nine provinces. Unfortunately, the original castle was destroyed in 1945 by the atomic bomb, but was reconstructed and is open to the public once again.

The author includes a map of Japan with the various castles, with thumbnails for each if one wanted to create their own tour around visiting them. I would highly recommend that anyone who is going to visit Japan pick up this book and incorporate a few of these castles into their trip.

Buy Samurai Castles from Amazon.com*
More Books by Jennifer Michelhill

Give­away

• Give­away ends: August 30, 2018
  

• Winners must have a valid e-mail address

• US Address Only please

• Win­ners will have 24 hours to write back with their address, oth­er­wise an alter­nate win­ner will be picked

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account