A Short History of Japan

The Siege of Osaka Castle in the winter of 1614-15 and the final Battle for Osaka Castle in the summer of 1615 marks the final chapter in the Sengoku Jidai. After years of rivalry between the forces of the Toyotomi and the Tokugawa the final question of who would dominate Japan for the next few hundred years was decided - but not before conspiracy, cowardice, spanked bottoms and cross dressing was tried as a winning strategy!  Here is a map of the events discussed in the podcast.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:31:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Tokugawa Ieyasu had won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and set up organising Japan under his clan's domination.  However, safely ensconced in Osaka Castle was Hideyori, son of Hideyoshi; the last of the Toyotomi.  Tokugawa Ieyasu knew that he would never be safe until the last of the Toyotomi claims to control of Japan were snuffed out.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:30:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

And the winner is of the Size-L Oda Nobunaga t-shirt - complete with his slogan "Tenka Fubu" (The Realm Subjected to Military Power) is........................

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:01:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

OK - I'm going to draw out the winner of the competition THIS SATURDAY (Australian Eastern Standard Time) so if you haven't entered - get your act together and make it happen!  Good luck!

I went to Japan with 25 students and 2 other teachers.  In this podcast I'll tell you where we went with a particular emphasis on the historical dimension (obviously!) and *drum roll* I bought you a present!!  Well, there is a competition and a prize!  Here is the map of the places we went and a link to a sliderocket presentation with some pics too!

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:41:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

With Hideyoshi's body barely cold, the plotting and scheming began in earnest.  This was the complete opposite of what Hideyoshi had hoped and begged for - for the sake of his infant son.  But promises to a dead man counted for little when the domination of Japan was in the offing.  Here is a google map with a few locations of the places mentioned in this cast

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:30:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

My mother says that the cemetery is full of people who thought they were indispensable - but in Hideyoshi's case, he would have been right.  His fervent desire was to ensure that his son, Hideyori, would be able to maintain the Toyotomi rule over Japan.  In the end, he had to rely on promises of men he clearly didn't trust.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:26:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

In 1592 and 1598 Hideyoshi pointed the enormous Japanese capacity for warfare at the task of conquering one of the greatest civilizations in the world, China.  In this episode we discuss why he decided that that was a good idea and how it all went.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:23:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Hideyoshi, in spite of being a warlord, transitioned Japan from a state of war to a state of peace.  Though Japan wasn't finished with the sengoku jidai by the time he died in 1598, he did put in place a series of laws that made peace more profitable than war.  When it came to creating a sustainable peace for the Japanese nation, he made the bird 'want to sing'

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:27:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

The rise of Hideyoshi from sandal bearer to dictator of Japan was phenomenal. After hundreds of year of civil war, he, without any sense of irony, brought the country to unified peace with remarkably little bloodshed.  Well, at least a lot less than what one might expect if Nobunaga had lived long enough to make it happen.  Not only did he unify the Daimyo, he set about reorganising the process of taxation and commerce for the whole realm.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:20:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)