shogun – Susan Spann, Adventure, Mystery, and Mountains

Kosatsuba – Japan’s Medieval Billboards

Susan Spann Blog April 19, 2022April 19, 2022Japan, Japanese history, kosatsuba, Nakasendo, shogun, signboards, Tokugawa, travel

social classes, and since so many travelers passed through them, they were also excellent places for the Shogunate to post important news, new laws, and edicts, to ensure as many people as possible would see them.

Visiting the Home of the Shogun

Admin Uncategorized September 3, 2015Blade of the Samurai, historical sites, Japan, Kyoto, Nijo-jo (castle), shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu

My second Shinobi Mystery, Blade of the Samurai, involved a murder set on the grounds of the Shogunate. The murder itself took place within the bakufu mansion, the building within the outer walls of the shogun’s compound where the shogun met with visitors and (in some administrations) where official government business took place. I based the shogun’s compound in Blade of the Samurai off of several historical structures, among them Nijo Castle, which was actually constructed after the date of the novel–between 1601 and 162–on the orders of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.* In the novel, I also describe the shogun’s personal palace,

Japanese Lotteries – Old and New

Admin Uncategorized May 9, 2013Ashikaga, Claws of the Cat, giveaway, Goodreads, Japan, shogun

The Ashikaga shoguns ruled Japan during the Muromachi period. Although not strictly considered a hereditary position, the title of shogun remained in the hands of the Ashikaga clan from 1338 until 1573. The office most commonly passed from father to son or from older to younger brother, but on occasion it passed in entirely different ways. One of the strangest? A lottery. The fourth Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimochi, held the title of shogun from 1395–1423, at which time he retired in favor of his son, Ashikaga Yoshikazu. Unfortunately, Yoshikazu died only two years later. After his son’s untimely death, 40 year-old