Part 1 is labeled 'The Three Kingdoms', consists of 4 chapters, and goes into detail to explain the situation in each of the 3 major powers relevant(Japan, Korea, China) and the immediately surrounding history leading up the Imjin War. This book consists of 30 chapters total, divided into 6 'parts'. This book is one of the few precious books written by western scholars that deal with the Imjin War, and from what I've heard is one of the better ones.Īlso, I might as well as use this chance to explain to SB about the Imjin War it's an interesting war, full of heroes and comedic incidents like any other war in history. In contrast, there is a great volume of material written about the Imjin War in Korea(and yes, I am Korean, clearing that up before it comes up later) but as you can probably guess, they tend to focus exclusively on the Korean experience of the war, with little focus nor concern on the Chinese/Japanese side of the equation.

It also should be a very interesting event from a military history PoV, considering it's one of the few times in which we saw large-scale set-piece land and naval battles in East Asia between(arguably) peer powers for this period described in detail.

Very important events, such as the end of the Sengoku period or the fall of the Ming Dynasty, happened in this period near this particular event in history, and as I(and this book to somewhat extent) argue, are in fact probably linked. There is very, very little western historians have written on the Imjin War, even though it was arguably one of the most important events in Medieval/Early-Modern East Asian history. Why this book, in particular? For one, it helps me to read about the Imjin War that approaches the war from a more broader(and arguably neutral) stance. It's the war Admiral Yi fought in, if you know him. It eventually resulted in the Ming Dynasty dispatching armies to help Korea, resulting in a stalemate and eventually the war ended with nothing gained for either side.

In case anyone doesn't know what the Imjin War is, it is a war that occurred in Korea between 1592~1598, in which the recently unified Japan, having come out of it's Sengoku period, decided to invade Joseon(name of Korea at that time). Well why the hell not? I got my hands on this book, I find it interesting, I don't think anyone's ever done this before, so might as well as go ahead.

The Imjin War by Samuel Hawley