Hello listeners! For the next few episodes we'll be airing what was originally meant to be a seperate podcast on the Samurai Archives podcast network. In these bonus episodes, your hosts will tackle things from their own perspective from outside academia in what is intended to be a comedic and free flow format where they will debate, attack, pontificate, and throw things under the bus in the name of entertainment, intellectual discussion, and philosophizing. Often in these episodes, in the name of debate and spurring discussion, strong, adamant or outright offensive opinions may be expressed, therefore it should be clearly stated up front that everything said in these bonus episodes reflect strictly and only the views of Chris and Forest, and should not be percieved to reflect the views of any other hosts or guests of the podcast. With that being said, please enjoy our bonus episodes.

In this first bonus episode we examine the myths and mystique surrounding Takeda Shingen and the battles of Kawanakajima. The 4th battle of Kawanakajima is traditionally believed to be a victory for the Takeda clan, but the events that followed all point to a decisive victory by the Uesugi. As for Takeda Shingen himself, he is considered a hero of the Sengoku, loved by fanboys at home and abroad - but was he really the magnanimous Daimyo he's made out to be, or the 16th century version of a colossal douchebag?

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Mentioned in this Podcast:

The 9th Annual Samurai Fiction Contest: http://www.samurai-archives.com/writcon.html

Kagemusha http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/B00005JLEJ

Morris, Ivan. The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan Farrar, Straus and Giroux (September 1, 1988) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/0374521204

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