Tour of Duty: Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and the Culture of Early Modern Japan Paperback – November 12, 2009

I am a docent at the Portland Japanese Garden and this book gave me great information about the stress of being a land owning feudal war lord in the Edo period.

In his introduction, Vaporis explains that sankin kôtai is perhaps the greatest achievement of the Tokugawa period's leadership as the system intentionally or unintentionally encouraged the development of political, economic and social institutions and practices that helped keep the unprecedented 250 years of internal peace. Sankin kôtai also played a part in the development of the Edo period's rich cultural heritage. Vaporis states that it is because of the blatantly obvious significance and impact of sankin kôtai, historians have only discussed it in very general terms that haven't changed much over time. There is really no single book or volume on the subject that sums it all up. To try to write "that" book would require a massive scale of research that could not be so easily carried out, especially as there aren't any existing full complements of primary resources in han histories that neatly explain and tie everything together. The sheer weight of the project would sink even the best researcher/historian's ambitions. It is therefore quite easy to understand why historians discuss sankin kôtai in broad strokes or look at specific aspects of the system and the lives of those it affected. With Tour of Duty, Professor Vaporis doesn't try to deliver a banal and sweeping treatise on the topic, nor does he zero in on a one dimensional, miniscule aspect of it either. What he has delivered is a rich, 24k creation that I truly admire. This is a very insightful and well-construed book that clearly highlights Professor Vaporis' skills as a researcher and his ability to convey his findings in a straight-forward, easy to understand fashion.After skillfully panning and sifting through various primary source material scattered throughout diaries, journals, artistic depictions and archeological sites to find valuable content, Vaporis then forged and polished what I would describe as a golden ingot that brilliantly shines some much needed light on how alternate attendance, as a political institution, touched the lives of the samurai who participated in it. Roughly, the first half of the book deals primarily with the preparations for the round trip journeys to and from Edo and life on the road, as part of a daimyo's procession. Readers are treated to a wealth of valuable information ranging from summaries of contemporary journal accounts to tables filled with facts and figures that clearly illuminate just how important of a role alternate attendance played in the deployment of a domain's human and financial resources. Also, the insightful analysis provided on the pomp and circumstance of daimyo processions is fascinating and definitely stands out as one of the highlights of this book. Vaporis describes these processions as "theatres of power" as they combined the intricacies of domain power projection with a certain amount of drama that both awed and entertained those who witnessed them.The second half of the book covers nearly all aspects of samurai life while on duty in Edo, ranging from financial considerations, issues of place and space within the various types of daimyo compounds, and everyday things like diet and hobbies--including intellectual and cultural pursuits. All of this was really quite interesting and the tables provided of purchases made by individual samurai during their trips to Edo helps to put a human face on those who served in Edo so long ago. These weren't just stoic samurai, but actual people with real consumer-driven wants and needs.In conclusion, I believe that Tour of Duty is an essential "must read" for anyone with an interest in the lives of the Japanese warrior class during the Tokugawa period as well as those who are fascinated by what it must have been like to travel on one of the five major roadways of the Edo period, such as the Tôkaidô. I'm finding it hard to find serious fault with this work. The topic is interesting. The writing style is clear and straightforward and engaging. The research is impeccable--one look at the extensive bibliography shows how deeply Professor Vaporis dove into researching this topic and the nearly fifty pages of detailed and informative endnotes are testament to this.A full review of this book can also be found on the Shogun-Ki blog at [...]

Very excellent breakdown of military service during the Toukogawa period.