Where are the mercs?

[Brandy Blue]

In Medieval Europe there was an international mercenary industry. If a French ruler hired Genoese crossbowmen, or an Italian city state hired Swiss mercencaries, no one would even blink an eye. Transactions like that were perectly normal. The only rulers I've heard of who faced restrictions when hiring foreign mercenaries were the kings of England, and even they could hire as many as they wanted if they kept them outside of England, or they could hire English mercinaries for use at home.

But in Sengoku Japan, where were the Thai and Malay freelances, the Chinese and Korean companies, the Okinawan and Ainu spearmen and archers? AFAIK the only mercinaries used were Ashigaru, who were (I think) always Japanese.

As far as I know, East Asia did not develop an international mercenary industry. Malays, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Thai, etc. must have known about each other, but I've never heard of them forming free lance companies and serving abroad.

Any thoughts?

[edyzmedieval]

Weren't Japanese ronin used as mercenaries as well during the Sengoku Jidai? As mercenaries I can recall the Saika mercenaries from Kii.

[Brandy Blue]

Weren't Japanese ronin used as mercenaries as well during the Sengoku Jidai?

I don't know the answer to that. I posted the question because I don't know much about it and, unfortunately, have little time for research, so I was hoping other people would know.

AFAIK, both ronin and Saika mercenaries would be Japanese. Maybe that's the answer. There were no foreign mercinaries because there were enough Japanese to hire?

[edyzmedieval]

Apart from the Portuguese who had an appetite to fight in the Japanese lands, not many others were eager to go through the rough seas just to fight in a bloody civil war. Hence why there were enough Japanese to hire.

[Brandy Blue]

Apart from the Portuguese who had an appetite to fight in the Japanese lands, not many others were eager to go through the rough seas just to fight in a bloody civil war. Hence why there were enough Japanese to hire.

Do you mean that there were Portuguese mercenaries in Japan, or are you referring to merchants and Jesuits?

[edyzmedieval]

As far as I can recall, I read somewhere about a handful of Portuguese mercenaries fighting for Japanese daimyo. It's highly probable, given that the Portuguese needed to defend their carracks that sailed all the way to Japan.