Japan
Death on the Equator – Khedive Ismail 12.02.44
HIJMS Submarine I-27: Tabular Record of Movement SS Khedive Ismail The Indian Ocean was at its best, the sky a flawless blue, the sea mirror-calm, the wind a gentle breeze from the north-east. An eerie quiet lay over the ocean, with only the measured thump of the engines and the swish of the bow-wave disturbing the silence of the early…
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Battle of Hakata Bay
The Japanese warrior Takezaki Suenaga attacks Mongol bowmen, though his horse is wounded. A bomb explodes in the air at centre. An example of tetsuhau, the world’s oldest anti-personnel explosive, excavated from a ship wrecked during the battIe. tetsuhau is a primitive Mongol grenade. Ceramic bombs found on the 1281…
Japan and Western Technology
The battle of the Yalu river Besides the United States, the only land to fully embrace European technology when threatened by Western imperialism was Japan. Japan learned its lesson well, and by 1876 was becoming an imperial power itself, copying Western gunboat diplomacy in Korea. The first generation of the…
Battle of Sekigahara
A part of “Folding Screen of the Battle of Sekigahara”  Tokugowo Ieyasu, commander of the Eastern Army, advanced westwards through the valley at Sekigahara. At around noon on the day of battle, Hideaki, Wakizaka and Kikkawa led the turncoats who betrayed Mitsunari to ensure defeat for the Western Army…
Warring States (Sengoku) Period (1467–1568)
The Warring States period refers to the 100-year era that began with the Onin War, a time marked by ongoing warfare between domain lords. Many of the circumstances of the period have been chronicled above in the events leading up to and following the Onin War. Continued political instability and…
Japan: Colonial Power
Terauchi Masatake Terauchi was appointed as the third and last Japanese Resident-General of Korea on the assassination of ItĹŤ Hirobumi in Harbin by An Jung-geun. As Resident-General, he executed the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty in 1910, and thus became the first Japanese Governor-General of Korea. The annexation of Korea by Japan…
Onin War
Civil war erupted in the area around Kyoto during the tenure of the eighth shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–90; r. 1449–76). The Onin War (1467–77), bearing the name of the reign era when the conflict began, was brought about by economic decline, famine, and disputes over succession practices for both regional…