Cool Spaghetti! Yo Comprehensive biographical site on Miyamoto Musashi
The History of the Takeda A gamer provides reprints of some excellent articles on Takeda Shingen and his clan. Now on the Internet Archive.
Uesugi Kenshin Exhibit on another great 16th century warlord, from the Niigata Prefectural Museum of History
Oda Nobunaga Wikipedia article on the first of the great unifiers. Good links and timeline.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi Nicely comprehensive bio of the second of Japan’s great unifiers.
Kukai’s Page Facts and legends about the founder of Shingon Buddhism.
Saigo Takamori 1827-1877, The Last Samurai Art site discusses Saigo’s legend as both patriot and rebel, looks at his image in popular art and drama, and explains some of the myths perpetuated in the film The Last Samurai.
Hagi, where Japan’s
Revolution Began
Retrospective on the career of Yoshida Sho’in, whose ideas created the Meiji
Restoration.
Books About Historical Figures
Yoshikawa, Eiji Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era. 1971. Harper & Row, 1981. ISBN 0-06-859851-3
Shiba, Ryotaro. The Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Kodansha America, 1998. ISBN 1-56836-217-X
Katsu, Kokichi, tr. Teruko Craig. Musui’s Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai. University of Arizona Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8165-1256-6
Osugi, Sakae, tr. Byron K. Marshall. The Autobiography of Osugi Sakae. University of California Press, 1992. ISBN 0-520-07760-1