New website (Suruga Date)

[Thomas D. Conlan]

Dear Colleagues:

I would like to make an announcement about the launch of a new documentary website, part of a collaborative effort with Kyoto University. Here we translate 56 documents of the Suruga Date collection, which is held by Kyoto University. You can view high resolution photographs of the originals, compare the photos with transcriptions and also read the translations as well. These Date are related to the famous Date family of northern Japan.   

The documents cover the years 1350 through 1467. You can look at the records either chronologically or the order in which they are preserved at Kyoto. We also have a thematic section, where we explain the following topics:  how one document by Ashikaga Takauji changed the fortunes of the Date; an explanation of the process of recommending and rewarding warriors; a study of wills and inheritance, revealing among other things, enduring spousal rights even for confiscated lands; records pertaining to the hanzei or half tax which became the basis for local (shugo) lordship; and how debt relief was adjudicated in the fifteenth century. One of our more surprising discoveries was that Tarui in Mino was briefly considered to be the Capital of the Northern Court in 1353. Please explore these stories at:

https://komonjo.princeton.edu/suruga-date/ 

For the Kyoto University partner site, please look at:

https://rmda.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/collection/museum/surugadate-chusei 

Let me direct you to a map which charts the battles of the 1350s based on GIS data. This animation shows the geographic range of these battles and rreveals how mountain castles were attacked. As far as I know, medieval Japanese warfare has never been depicted so precisely in animated three-dimensional maps like this. 

It appears as “map” on the upper right section of the website, but can also be accessed directly at 

https://komonjo.princeton.edu/suruga-date/map.html . I attach a screenshot below.

Finally, for other warrior related projects, my long out of print 2008 study has been published in a revised second edition, entitled Samurai Weapons and Fighting Techniques 1200-1877.  It costs a mere 12 dollars in the US, an can be purchased most readily from Barnes and Noble. 

I will also announce this later in more detail, but I will have a new and exciting sourcebook, Samurai and the Warrior Culture of Japan, 471-1877, reasonably priced in paper for 19 dollars, coming out in print later this July. 

https://hackettpublishing.com/samurai-and-the-warrior-culture-of-japan-471-1910 

Best wishes,

Thomas  Conlan
Professor in East Asian Studies and Professor of History
Director, Program in East Asian Studies
Princeton University
207 Jones Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544-1008
Tel: (609) 258-4773
Fax: (609) 258-6984
tco...@princeton.edu