Episode 35 OMG Part 2

"How did it come to this?" - This must have been the question the Christian missionaries asked themselves as Hideyoshi followed by successive Tokugawa...

Episode 34: OMG Part 1

To Christian missionaries, Japan was a most attractive prospect. Literate, cultured and rich - the Jesuits arrived in Japan in the 1500s and set about...

Episode 32: Masterful Inactivity

With the destruction of the Toyotomi at Osaka in 1615, the Tokugawa clan were unrivalled in their domination of Japan.  They would establish a Shoguna...

Episode 31: End of the Sengoku Jidai

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...

Episode 30: For Whom The Bell Tolls

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...

Competition Draw

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……………………

Competition

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 tog...

Episode 29: My Trip to Japan

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 dimen...

Episode 28: Sekigahara

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...

Episode 27: You Can’t Take It With You

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 ferve...

Episode 26: Hideyoshi Dreams Big

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...

Episode 25: From War to Peace (Almost)

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 jid...

Episode 24: Hideyoshi’s Japan

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, bro...

Episode 23: The Three Day Shogun

If murdering Nobunaga was Phase One of a long thought-out and well-considered plan for the take-over of Japan it certainly wasn’t obvious in 1582.  In...

Standard apologies

Hello.  Just a quick note to say thank you for being patient.  It is becoming a worrying habit - this apologising for keeping you waiting!  The ‘real-...

Episode 22: The Empire is Mine

Between 1575 and 1582 Oda Nobunaga was sorely tested by the most powerful opponents to his domination; The Ikko Ikki Buddhists, the Takeda Clan and th...

Episode 21: Nobunaga v Buddha

In 1570 Oda Nobunaga faced a dangerous combination of rival daimyo and religious fanaticism.  He decided to treat Buddhist rivals to his power the sam...

Episode 20: The Realm Subjected To Military Power

Oda Nobunaga took Kyoto in the name of the Shogun and the Emperor in 1568.  By 1570 the Shogun knew that he served at Nobunaga’s pleasure and little e...

Episode 19: Oda Nobunaga’s License to Kill

Oda Nobunaga had the luck, the allies, the staff, the location, the armies and the validation to make a move on Kyoto while the other major Daimyo kep...

Episode 18: Sengoku Jidai, The Rise of Oda Nobunaga

In this episode we introduce one of Japan’s three Great Unifiers.  His rise to power was certainly not easy and could easily have relegated him to the...

Episode 17: Sengoku Jidai Part 3 Bang

The Portuguese bumped into Japan in 1543 and brought with them guns and god.  In this podcast we will hear about how Japan received these products of...

Episode 16: Sengoku Jidai Part 2

War in medieval Japan was a colourful bonanza - bravery, cowardice and accounting!

Episode 15: Sengoku Jidai Part 1

The word sengoku means 'chaotic states' or 'warring states/countries' and 'jidai' means 'age - like 'iron age'.  Betrayal, destruction, suffering and...

Episode 14: Revolting Peasants

The peasants of Japan finally get their turn at dealing out violence!

Episode 13: The Gold Pavilion

Every tourist who goes to Kyoto goes here - but its story, and that of the Silver Pavilion, are not well known

Episode 12: A Clayton's Restoration

Episode 10: Blowhards, the Kamikaze Story

Did the Mongols get beaten by typhoons sent by the gods?

Episode 9: The Kamakura Dominance

Episode 8: Power Moves East

The names of Yoshitsune and Yoritomo of the Minamoto clan are legendary in Japanese history.  But how did they seize power from the Taira?  And how an...

Episode 7: Rule by the Sword

Taira Kiyomori  spared the lives of Yoritomo and Yoshitsune - two young children at the time - in order, allegedly, to sleep with their mother. Ewwwww...

Episode 6 The Rise of the Warrior Class

In this episode we discuss the near-irrevocable usurpation of power by the warrior class; the samurai.  For anyone thinking about going to Kyoto and N...

Episode 5: The Heian Era

The Heian Era is sometimes seen as Japan's classical era. Great works of art, religious thought and crafty politicians make this era fascinating!

Episode 4: Kyoto, Spooky Princes and Oppressed Peasants

Emperor Kammu builds Kyoto, gets pressured by a dead guy and the peasants do what they do best, get oppressed.  Here is the script

Episode 3: Power, Violence, Sex and Nara

In this episode I discuss the construction of the huge temple complex in Nara, Todaiji, the domination of Buddhism and vengeance of Empress Shotoku.  ...

Ep2_Buddhsim_meets_Japan.mp3

In this podcast I'll be walking through the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, early Japanese attempts at literacy and why they thought China was cool...

Episode 1 Myths and Migrations

In this first episode I talk about the creation myths of Japan, the terribly unreliable source documents and the first emperor of Japan, Jimmu, and hi...