{"product_id":"samurai-shogun-clay-boutwell-9798255398102","title":"Samurai \u0026 Shogun: One story. Every day. A thousand years of Japanese history.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA teenage emperor ended seven hundred years of military rule. He had not fought a battle. He simply read a decree - and the samurai era died.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFour days later, the last shogun fled his own castle in a rowboat.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e365 Stories: Samurai \u0026amp; Shogun\u003c\/b\u003e gives you one story for every day of the year, drawn from nearly eight centuries of Japanese history - from the rise of the warrior class to its violent dismantling in the Meiji era. These are not encyclopedia entries or dry timelines. They are the stories behind the stories: what it felt like to be in the room, on the ship, inside the crumbling castle when history turned.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Mongol emperor sends a politely worded letter to a seventeen-year-old regent. The subtext: submit, or be destroyed. Japan does not reply. Six years later, the fleet arrives.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA teenage prophet leads 37,000 men, women, and children into a ruined clifftop castle. The shogunate sends 125,000 soldiers. They cannot get in. Humiliated, Tokugawa commanders ask the Dutch to shell the walls from the sea. From inside, the rebels send out a written message: Are there no longer any courageous soldiers among you?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA peasant's son rises to conquer all of Japan - and decides it is not big enough. He assembles 158,000 samurai and 700 ships and orders the invasion of Korea. He dies before it is over. He gains nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA government too broke to pay its workers accidentally erases a thousand years of timekeeping - and fires the moon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach entry includes \u003cb\u003eThe Ripple\u003c\/b\u003e, tracing the consequences forward: the war this battle triggered, the tradition this decision accidentally created, the policy that followed from a single morning. Each entry also closes with \u003cb\u003eAlso on This Day\u003c\/b\u003e - a second event from the same calendar date, sometimes centuries apart, chosen because the echo is too good to ignore.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery entry also includes a QR code linking to MakotoPress.com for images, maps, and deeper context.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStart on January 1. Flip to your birthday. Open to a random page with five minutes and coffee. There is no wrong way to use this book - only 365 doors into a history most readers have never seen this way.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach entry stands alone: brief enough to read in five minutes, substantial enough to stay with you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e365 Stories: Samurai \u0026amp; Shogun\u003c\/b\u003e is the first volume in the \u003cb\u003e365 Stories\u003c\/b\u003e series from Makoto Press.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Clay Boutwell,Makoto Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798255398102\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/07\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 594\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.24lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 10.00h x 7.00w x 1.20d","brand":"Clay Boutwell","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48743161889023,"sku":"9798255398102","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/samurai-shogun-clay-boutwell-9798255398102","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}