by Gone Asiatic » Tue Jun 07, 2005 9:58 am
Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941
The above is good for technical and doctrinal data. I learned from this book that the "birth place" of IJN tactical doctrine occured when a group of naval officers met at a buddhist temple in the 1870`s on Tsurga Bay near the fishing town of Shimizu (the temple - Seiken-Ji at Okitsu). Visited the place soon thereafter; there is a train station (Okitsu) nearby - about a ten minute walk. The structures are extant from before the Meiji Era. Tokugawa Ieyasu (the Shogun-dude...you know..from the movie/TV series - Toranaga was it?) is said to have been held hostage there for a time in his younger days. Quite a pretty garden in the rear of this temple and spectacular views of Fuji-San from nearby;..it`s nestled against a hillside.
For the fighting spirit of IJN, Tameichi Hara`s book, Japanese Destroyer Captain is a very good read, though he seems to me to have been a bit (perhaps rightly so) vain. IJN views of some of those violent surface actions over Iron Bottom Sound are a good read here. I`ve visited Iron Bottom Sound (mid-1980`s), though didn`t get ashore on Guadalcanal proper.
Gone Asiatic`s favorite is Requiem for Battleship YAMATO (YAMATO No Saigo) The author,Yoshida Mitsuru, was an IJN Ensign, Radar Officer, who manned his post on YAMATO`s bridge and had a front row seat to the entire action. Lucky to survive, he wrote perhaps the most significant literary accomplishment of Japan`s WWII experience. This book certainly does not glorify war. Any YAMATO fans out there should consider ordering this book and read it...might motivate you to improve the PE and details you add to your model....should I read it again...might even motivate frigate-biased G.A. to build........A YAMATO!!! (1/700 of course...and after USS ALASKA [awaiting keel laying] or a USS MISSOURI!!)
Good luck! You should be able to find these titles in your local libraries or from bn.com or amazon. Don`t confuse my post for being pro-imperial Japanese; check what ships are in my on-line Picture Post folder.
[i]Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941[/i]
The above is good for technical and doctrinal data. I learned from this book that the "birth place" of IJN tactical doctrine occured when a group of naval officers met at a buddhist temple in the 1870`s on Tsurga Bay near the fishing town of Shimizu (the temple - Seiken-Ji at Okitsu). Visited the place soon thereafter; there is a train station (Okitsu) nearby - about a ten minute walk. The structures are extant from before the Meiji Era. Tokugawa Ieyasu (the Shogun-dude...you know..from the movie/TV series - [i]Toranaga[/i] was it?) is said to have been held hostage there for a time in his younger days. Quite a pretty garden in the rear of this temple and spectacular views of Fuji-San from nearby;..it`s nestled against a hillside.
For the fighting spirit of IJN, Tameichi Hara`s book, [i]Japanese Destroyer Captain[/i] is a very good read, though he seems to me to have been a bit (perhaps rightly so) vain. IJN views of some of those violent surface actions over Iron Bottom Sound are a good read here. I`ve visited Iron Bottom Sound (mid-1980`s), though didn`t get ashore on Guadalcanal proper.
Gone Asiatic`s favorite is [i]Requiem for Battleship YAMATO (YAMATO No Saigo)[/i] The author,Yoshida Mitsuru, was an IJN Ensign, Radar Officer, who manned his post on YAMATO`s bridge and had a front row seat to the entire action. Lucky to survive, he wrote perhaps the most significant literary accomplishment of Japan`s WWII experience. This book certainly does not glorify war. Any YAMATO fans out there should consider ordering this book and read it...might motivate you to improve the PE and details you add to your model....should I read it again...might even motivate frigate-biased G.A. to build........A YAMATO!!! (1/700 of course...and after USS ALASKA [awaiting keel laying] or a USS MISSOURI!!)
Good luck! You should be able to find these titles in your local libraries or from bn.com or amazon. Don`t confuse my post for being pro-imperial Japanese; check what ships are in my on-line Picture Post folder.