24 Hours in Shogun’s Japan by Mark Hudson

A day in 1614 Japan, told through 24 unforgettable lives, revealing the drama, danger and daily life of this pivotal era of Japanese history.

In 1614, Japan stood at a crossroads. As the Tokugawa shogunate tightened its grip on power, samurai prepared for war, Christians faced persecution and foreign merchants navigated a rapidly shifting political landscape.

In 24 Hours in Shogun’s Japan, Mark Hudson brings this pivotal moment to life through the eyes of 24 individuals – nobles and farmers, merchants and monks, pirates and poets – each living through one dramatic hour of a single day. From the streets of Kyoto to the slopes of Mount Fuji, this book offers an immersive portrait of this fascinating era of Japanese history.

Also available:
24 Hours in Ancient Rome (9781789291278)
24 Hours in Ancient Egypt (9781789293517)
24 Hours in Ancient Athens (9781789293500)
24 Hours in Ancient China (9781789296488)
24 Hours in the Viking World (9781789295832)

24 Hours in Shogun’s Japan takes you inside one extraordinary day of 1614, told through the lives of 24 individuals, where samurai clash, secrets simmer and the shogun’s grip tightens.

About the Author: Dr Mark Hudson was educated at SOAS (BA), Cambridge (M.Phil) and the Australian National University (PhD). He taught archaeology and anthropology in Japan for more than twenty years and was Professor at the Mount Fuji World Heritage Centre, where he helped design the prize-winning exhibits on Mount Fuji. Mark is currently a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany and a research associate of the Institut d’Asie Orientale in France. His previous publications include Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands and, as co-editor, Volume 1 of the Cambridge World History of Violence.

12 Mar 2026
 

24 Hours in Shogun’s Japan: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There by Mark Hudson ISBN 9781789298659