The indigenous people of Tōhoku, northern Honshū — the Yamato court's "Emishi," a Jōmon-descended population that remained independent of the imperial state for centuries. Yamato and Nara frontier forts (Taga Castle 724, Akita Castle 733) crept north, but the Emishi held the interior until the Thirty-Eight Years' War (774–812).
Broken by the Heian state's northern campaigns: their leader Aterui surrendered to the shōgun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro in 802, and Isawa Castle (802) sealed the conquest of the Kitakami valley. The northern population endured as the "Ezo" and is linked in scholarship to the Satsumon culture and, ultimately, the Ainu.
The standard English study of early Japanese warfare, including the Emishi frontier wars and the conquest of Tōhoku.
As a Bookshop.org affiliate, this site earns a commission on qualifying purchases.