Correcting James Clavell's novel "Shogun": Relations between Japan and European Christian countries, in which an English samurai was involved, changed ... guns, wars, ninja, etc. (English Edition) Ebook Tooltip Ebooks kunnen worden gelezen op uw computer en op daarvoor geschikte e-readers.

Here is a question for you. Back in 1600, do you know which country had the most firearms in the world?

The answer is Japan.

Firearms were introduced to Japan in 1543. Since then, over a decade, Japan had produced and possessed a hundred thousand firearms, according to a report of the Society of Jesus that had propagated Christianity in Japan in those days. In addition, around 1600, it is considered that the country possessed more than half a million firearms that accounted for half of all the firearms in the world.

In “Shōgun”, a novel by James Clavell and broadcasted as a TV drama, as well as in “The Last Samurai”, a film starring Tom Cruise, Japan was described as if there had been almost no firearms and the country had attacked with only bows and arrows and swords around that time. However, it is completely wrong because, as stated above, Japan was the world’s top possessor of firearms in that time.

After the year 1600 in which the novel is set, the long civil war in Japan ended in the early 17th century. Then, the government established a strict arms control policy and restricted the production of firearms.

Since the 17th century, firearm craftsmen had lost their jobs and started to make mechanical robots instead of the weapons. That would be the beginning of the machine industry in Japan.

By the way, currently guns have been strictly controlled in Japan and laws require all gun owners to possess a license. To be licensed, gun owners must meet the following requirements: having a right purpose to use guns such as competition or hunting, attending a lecture on gun safety from the police and passing the paper test, and going through a background check by the police as well as a health check by a doctor with no problem.

Since gun possession without the license is prohibited, Japan has a very low number of gun owners. In addition, under the strict rules of the police and law, the country has low rates of gun violence.

The above example shows, indeed, people outside Japan still have misconceptions about the country and some historical fictions such as “Shōgun” or “The Last Samurai” would be responsible for the misconceptions.

I wrote this book “Correcting James Clavell’s “Shōgun”: 44 Japanese History & Cultural Facts That You May Not Know” in English because I felt a strong need to correct the errors in the James Clavell’s book, “Shōgun”, and spread the idea to the world. However, even though you have not read his book, you should still enjoy my writings and also should be able to learn more about Japanese culture and history with my book.

Update:

In February 2021, I significantly revised this manual. Originally, under the title “Correcting James Clavell’s “Shōgun”: 44 Japanese History & Cultural Facts That You May Not Know”, the criticism focused on James Clavell's "Shogun". However, I wanted you to know more about the culture and history of Japan, including the reality of ninja. So, when I revised the report, I added a lot of descriptions about Japanese history and culture.

Accordingly, I have revised the title of the report to " Correcting James Clavell's novel "Shōgun": Relations between Japan and European Christian countries, in which an English samurai was involved, changed the world's history with guns, wars, ninja, etc. " in accordance with significant revisions made to these reports. Before the revision, the main focus was on the criticism of "Shogun". However, after the revision, most of this book is devoted to the description of Japanese history and culture. Criticism of "Shogun" is moved to the end of this book.

Table of Contents
Preface
Update
Ⅰ. Knowledge about Japanese persons (Ninja, Shogun and Emperor) and cities (Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto)
Ⅱ. Historical facts of Japan
Ⅲ. Japanese Christianity
Ⅳ. Daimyo, Japanese Feudal Lords
Ⅴ. Japanese Culture
Ⅵ. About James Clavell's novel "Shōgun"
Postscript

The castle on the cover is Edo Castle where Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu lived, and it is the present Imperial Palace.