Site of The Day - Oda Nobunaga: The Warlord Who Changed Japan

Today's site is another blog. This one is run by a friend of mine named Les Paterson. He is the author of Oda Nobunaga: The Battle of Okehazama. When he's not busy writing a book, he's running his blog, which is deceptively not all about Oda Nobunaga. Les also posts translation projects as well as info on some of the other major figures in Japanese history.

He is a self-proclaimed Nobunaga nut, though and that shows through in some of his work. I can't be mad at that, however. As I'm sure you've noticed, I can have a bias towards Takeda Shingen.

Stop by his site sometime and tell him I sent ya.

Oda Nobunaga: The Warlord Who Changed Japan.

Site of The Day - Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture

The Nanzan Institute is responsible for producing one of my favorite journals: The Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. This journal's archive is available online in it's entirety and it is free! There is seriously some top notch research and analysis provided in these journals, and I have learned a great deal about the complex religious structure of Japan perusing their catalogue.

The Nanzan Institute also provides several other excellent online journals. These Include:

Contemporary Religion In Japan
Asian Ethnology
Bulletin of The Nanzan Institute For Religion & Culture
Inter-Religio

Along with these journals, the Institute also has an extensive list of books related to Japanese religion. There is also a collection of e-books for all you Nook and Kindle users.

One area of the site that I like to frequent besides the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies archive is their Current Projects area. Within this section is a nice Upcoming Books segment that gives you a glimpse to where the field is trending in the near future.

Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture

Site of The Day - Early Modern Japan: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Early Modern Japan is a scholarly journal that is run by the Ohio State university and made available online for any who wish to see. The nice thing about this site is that it provides the quality of articles that you would expect from a source like J-Stor, but without the cost. Yes, it's free! You might be asked for your e-mail, but I can assure you, there is no unnecessary messages sent by the site.

The online journal is run by Dr. Phillip Brown, and it contains a back catalogue that dates back to June, 1991.

Trust me, there is an abundance of good information here. There are articles from PhD coandidates as well as tenured professors. Just be sure you have a few hours to spare before clicking the link.

Early Modern Japan: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Site of The Day - Samurai Archives

I'll try my best to scour the Internet to find the best websites dedicated to the study of Japanese history. As I do this, I will post them in a section somewhere on this fine blog in the near future. The first site that I can think of is possibly the best site for Japanese history related topics. The Samurai Archives.

This website is, in a word, totallyfreakingawesome! I came across the SA about 7 or 8 years ago while perusing the Internet, and I have been visiting it ever since. There is a wealth of information on this site that is helpful for anyone looking to learn more about a certain topic. They run their own wiki with nearly every name, place or battle that you can think of. It's definitely one of the more exhaustive sites on the web. The archived sections of the site are also fun to look at. Although, you should find all of the info from those areas in the wiki. There's also an Internet community on the SA known as the Citadel. There are some great scholars and amateur historians that post there regularly and they are usually eager to help any newbie. I say usually, because there are some members that have a quick temper and they will not tolerate any question that may stem from fanboyism. They have their own bookstore that's run through Amazon. This store carries several books broken up into sections like: Sengoku & Kamakura, Balumatsu & Meiji, Ancient Japan, Edo Period, etc.

Definitely check out this site as soon as possible. Like right now. Go check it out!

http://www.samurai-archives.com/