New Book Announcement: Vaporis, Samurai. A Biography in Twelve Lives

153 views
Skip to first unread message

vap...@umbc.edu

unread,
Mar 29, 2026, 4:41:55 PMMar 29
to PMJS: Listserv

I'm pleased to announce the pre-publication marketing release of my new book, Samurai. A Biography in Twelve Lives, now available for pre-order from Oxford University Press: https://lnkd.in/e3VSgKP5

Description

The samurai are often viewed monolithically as fearsome warriors, driven by a fixed code-the Bushido-and bent on dying in service to a lord, or daimyo. However, the Tokugawa Era, the long period of peace (1600 to 1868) after the Shogunate had centralized control in Japan, forced them to adjust. While many samurai continued to uphold martial values, others became bureaucrats, teachers, scholars, artists, and even entrepreneurs.

In Samurai: A Biography in Twelve Lives, Constantine Nomikos Vaporis uses the lives of individual samurai during the Tokugawa Period to illuminate and explore this transformation. Twelve biographical portraits, ranging from that of legendary figures like Asano Naganori, to Niijima Yae, one of the few women to achieve warrior renown, illustrate the diversity of experience. Vaporis offers a riveting and comprehensive picture of their evolving identities. As he shows, samurai navigated the societal changes brought on by the "Great Peace" by balancing their warrior heritage with the demands of peacetime service, grappling with financial hardship and reinterpreting loyalty in a shifting political landscape.

Vaporis provides a hauntingly humane portrayal of these historical figures while offering readers a deeper understanding of Japan's early modern era.


Table of Contents
1. Yamauchi Katsutoyo (1545-1605)--The Rise of a Daimyo
2. Kumazawa Banzan (1619-91)--System Challenger
3. Asano Naganori (1667-1701), Oishi Kuranosuke (1659-1703), and the Ako Incident
4. Tani Tannai (1729-97)--A Samurai and His "Debt Hell"
5. Odano Naotake (1750-80) & Kakizaki Hakyo (1764-1826)--Samurai and the Arts
6. Toyama Heima (1775-1829) & His Son Tamuro (1796-1861)--Samurai & the World of Goods
7. Mori Masana (1803-73)--The Journey of a Fourth Son
8. Yoshida Shoin (1830-59)--Revolutionary Ideologue
9. Niijima Yae (1845-1932)--Gunslinging Daughter of an Aizu Samurai
10. Epilogue: The End of the Samurai

 

Oyler, Elizabeth

unread,
Apr 1, 2026, 4:42:47 PMApr 1
to pm...@googlegroups.com
Dear PMJS members,

I am in the process of updating the membership list for the Classical Japanese Special Interest Group, which has met annually at AATJ.  We are hoping to add some additional opportunities for scholarly exchange and bungo camaraderie.  If you did not already receive an email today from me about the mailing list, I do not have you listed as a member.  If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please drop me an email at eao...@pitt.edu.

Thank you,
Elizabeth Oyler 
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures
University of Pittsburgh

おごれる人も久しからず唯春の夜の夢のごとし
たけき者も遂にほろびぬ偏に風の前の塵に同じ
 

--
PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com
For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit www.pmjs.org.
Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PMJS: Listserv" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pmjs+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/48f51928-ba69-4fbe-8123-0b9b0fe5f99bn%40googlegroups.com.

Jonathan Lopez-Vera

unread,
Apr 7, 2026, 6:15:58 PMApr 7
to pm...@googlegroups.com
Dear Professor Vaporis,
 
I'm interested in your new book but I'm afraid the link to Oxford Press doesn't work, could you please check it an provide a new one?
 
Thank you very much,


Constantine Vaporis

unread,
Apr 7, 2026, 7:14:45 PMApr 7
to pm...@googlegroups.com
Dear Jonathan (if I may),
Thank you for your email. I don’t understand the issue, for when I press on the link it goes strait to the OUP page for my book. For some reason LinkedIn changes the url to make you go through LinkedIn. Perhaps you don’t have an account with them ? In any case, here is a direct link:
Constantine 

Dr. Constantine N. Vaporis
Founding Director, UMBC Asian Studies Program, 2011-17
Interim Director, UMBC Asia Studies Program, 2024-25
Lipitz Professor of the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, 2022-23
Presidential Research Professor (UMBC), 2013-16
Professor of History, Affiliate Professor, Asian Studies and Gender & Women's Studies





Chris Kern

unread,
Apr 7, 2026, 9:40:43 PMApr 7
to pm...@googlegroups.com
For me, the original link works on the gmail app on my phone, but it does not work on my computer (using gmail from the website).

The second link works on both.

-Chris Kern, Auburn University

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAO68wa1bbAn1uVWwHi9xtzPpbFoFXa3HD0BVQOkhovx2FRR4aA%40mail.gmail.com.

Jonathan Lopez-Vera

unread,
Apr 8, 2026, 4:54:27 PMApr 8
to pm...@googlegroups.com
Yes, it works now, thank you very much!


El 8 abr. 2026, 3:40 +0200, Chris Kern <chris...@gmail.com>, escribió:
For me, the original link works on the gmail app on my phone, but it does not work on my computer (using gmail from the website).

The second link works on both.

-Chris Kern, Auburn University

On Tue, Apr 7, 2026 at 6:14 PM Constantine Vaporis <vap...@umbc.edu> wrote:
Dear Jonathan (if I may),
Thank you for your email. I don’t understand the issue, for when I press on the link it goes strait to the OUP page for my book. For some reason LinkedIn changes the url to make you go through LinkedIn. Perhaps you don’t have an account with them ? In any case, here is a direct link:
Constantine 

Dr. Constantine N. Vaporis
Founding Director, UMBC Asian Studies Program, 2011-17
Interim Director, UMBC Asia Studies Program, 2024-25
Lipitz Professor of the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, 2022-23
Presidential Research Professor (UMBC), 2013-16
Professor of History, Affiliate Professor, Asian Studies and Gender & Women's Studies




On Tue, Apr 7, 2026 at 6:15 PM Jonathan Lopez-Vera <lopezver...@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Professor Vaporis,
 
I'm interested in your new book but I'm afraid the link to Oxford Press doesn't work, could you please check it an provide a new one?
 
Thank you very much,
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages