English Story Catalogue — 92 Works

Stories from Japanese history

Enter the turning points of Japan’s past through the people who faced them, then follow every interpretation back to its evidence.

Published English stories

Shigeki English

Why Did the Civil War That Burned Kyoto Refuse to End?

Rereading the Onin War as a conflict linking shogunal politics, disputed successions, provincial lordship, and local interests

  • When Primarily 1467–1477, conventionally called the Onin War, with political disputes before the outbreak and regional conflict continuing afterward
  • Where Kyoto and the Kinai region of central Japan, with connected campaigns in provinces including Echizen, Omi, Tamba, Harima, Settsu, and Kawachi
23 min read
Read the story

Shigeki English

A Century in Hiraizumi, the Golden City of the North

How the Oshu Fujiwara built a centre of government, exchange, and Buddhist devotion far from the imperial capital

  • When From the late eleventh century to the fall of the Oshu Fujiwara in 1189, with later fires and modern preservation
  • Where Hiraizumi in Mutsu, along the Kitakami River in present-day Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Honshu
25 min read
Read the story

Shigeki English

Ii Naosuke: Between Opening the Country and Political Repression

Reassessing a chief minister's choices through foreign pressure, political procedure, the Ansei Purge, and the long struggle to revise the treaties

  • When From Ii Naosuke's birth in 1815 to his assassination in 1860, with an epilogue extending to treaty revision in 1894
  • Where Hikone, Edo, Kyoto, Shimoda, and the treaty-port world that emerged around places including Kanagawa and Yokohama
26 min read
Read the story

Shigeki English

The Army That Had Lost Its Castle

How the Toyotomi side fought its last campaign after Osaka Castle lost the defenses that had sustained it

  • When From the settlement of the Winter Campaign in December 1614 to the end of the Summer Campaign on May 8, 1615
  • Where Osaka Castle and battlefields to its south and southeast in present-day Osaka Prefecture, including Domyoji, Yao, Wakae, Tennoji, and the Kawachi plain
23 min read
Read the story

Shigeki English

Hakata Bay's Stone Defence Line

How was the coast reorganised before the second Mongol invasion?

  • When From 1274 to the present, with construction concentrated around March-August 1276 and a second invasion in 1281
  • Where The coast of Hakata Bay in northern Kyushu, especially Imazu, Ikinomatsubara, Nishijin, Hakozaki, and neighbouring districts of present-day Fukuoka
21 min read
Read the story

Shigeki English

The Battle of Yamazaki

Eleven days after Honnoji, why could Akechi Mitsuhide not turn victory into rule?

  • When June 2-13, 1582, corresponding to Tensho 10 in the historical Japanese calendar
  • Where Kyoto, Omi Province, and Yamazaki at the south-western edge of the Kyoto Basin, in present-day Kyoto and Osaka prefectures
20 min read
Read the story

Shigeki English

Oda Nobutada: The Son Who Had Already Inherited the Headship

Behind Nobunaga stood a commander who governed Gifu and had led armies for seven years before Honnoji

  • When 1557-1582, with the central narrative running from the transfer of headship in 1575 to the Honnoji Incident in 1582
  • Where Gifu and campaign zones at Iwamura, Shigisan, Miki, Takato, and finally Kyoto
20 min read
Read the story

Shigeki English

The Honnoji Incident: Was Nobunaga the Only Target?

Oda Nobunaga and the heir who already held the headship fell in separate battles on the same morning

  • When 21 June 1582, corresponding to the second day of the sixth month of Tensho 10 in the contemporary Japanese calendar; aftermath through 2 July 1582
  • Where Kyoto and the corridor east towards Azuchi, then the Yamazaki area south-west of Kyoto
21 min read
Read the story