Before we get started this week, just one more reminder. By the time this episode comes out,

Age of Samurai Battle for Japan will be live on Netflix, in the United States, the United

Kingdom, and I'm told, thanks to some listeners, in Australia and New Zealand as well.

It would mean a lot to me if you could check it out. I'm really proud of the work I did on the show,

and I know the folks who worked on the other parts of it are too.

So, if you're at all interested, please do take a look.

Again, that's Age of Samurai, Battle for Japan, live on Netflix.

Go watch it so I can convince them to make a sequel set during the Meiji Restoration.

Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 379, so close and yet so far.

In celebration of my newfound Netflix stardom, I figured I would take this opportunity to go back to the actual age of samurai.

And so for the next month or so, we're going to be doing a lot of Sengoku-themed content.

I think it is fair to say that the Sengoku period, the Civil Wars, which lasted from the

1460s until the early 1600s, is one of the most iconic eras in Japanese history, and for very good reason.

In addition to providing the backdrop for the rise of Tokugawa Ieasu and thus laying the

groundwork for a truly watershed epoch in Japanese history, the period itself is full of

great little stories, dramatic moments, and just a lot of fascinating tales

in general.

It's no wonder that it became and remains grist for the mill of popular culture in Japan

right down to this very day.

So I figured I'd take the opportunity to return to this period while simultaneously taking

a closer look at a specific

region of Japan and its unique and fascinating history.

...