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Thread: Pre-Sengoku Japanese Warfare

  1. #1
    Member Member Khan7's Avatar
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    Any concise reading material I could get on this? Any quick answers? I would research myself but I don't have time to wade through lengthy books, however well-written or worthwhile.

    Basically I am trying to learn the nature of this. A few simple questions would be, for instance, were there spears?? Did they employ them in any sort of formation??

    The obvious answers to those two questions are no, but I of course would be gratified to get more detailed answers than that. Please history buffs, paint me a picture of this era.

    This is for a mod for the Mongol Era (never to mind my own inherent interest).

    Matt
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  2. #2
    Member Member Grim's Avatar
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    There is a LOT of material in there Khan7, I've had a lot of fun reading the Gempei period and before that as well. I'm just a JAPANESE history buff wannabee but I'll be happy to give it a shot. http://www.samurai-archives.com/clanindex.html


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    "Je vous repondrai par la bouche de mes canons"
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    "Je vous repondrai par la bouche de mes canons"
    -Frontenac
    (I will answer you with the blast of my canons)
    -Trad. libre

  3. #3
    Member Member Khan7's Avatar
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    Gah.. I found nothing of what I'm looking for at the Samurai Archives (indeed this was the *first* place I checked). A lot of troop movements, but no real armaments/tactical details.

    Will keep searching.. or waiting for someone to come save me and post a nice bit here

    Matt
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  4. #4
    Member Member Chiyonofuji's Avatar
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    I would recommend 'Heavenly Warriors' by William Wayne Farris (The Evolution of Japan's Military,500-1300) It's quite heavy going but is very deep on the subject. Basically the Japanese court of around 700AD adopted the Chinese style of war with massed units of armed and drilled conscripts, but buy 1100AD it was becoming more 'Samurai style' with one-on-one mounted samurai archers supported loosly buy 2-3 ashigaru with spears. It was a matter of honour to be the first into combat and call out you own pedigree to a worthy opponent for a battlefield 'duel'.
    Best of luck with your research its a facinating subject.
    It would be nice to be able to go back to this earlier style of combat in STW.

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    Member Member Yoshitsune's Avatar
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    It's always a lot harder to find military and tactical information on the 'early' samurai period (I'll call it 11th-14th Century - the 'Way of Horse and Bow' era). The professors of certain US universities have written some excellent stuff in English that relies on some masterly translations of war chronicles and contemporary documents. These include 'Heavenly Warriors' already mentioned plus 'Hired Swords' by Karl Friday and the chronicle translations by Helen McCullough ('The Tale of the Heike', 'Yoshitsune' and 'The Taiheiki').

    All give some insight though academic tomes like 'Heavenly Warriors' can be a bit of a struggle and deal more with social and political developments than detailed battlefield tactics. Of course there is always Stephen Turnbull and I found his 'Samurai Warfare' book better than most for early tactics (his speciality is the Sengoku).

    Two highly recommended books:
    'Warriors of Japan as Portrayed in the War Tales' by Paul Varley
    'In Little Need of Divine Intervention' by Thomas Conlan
    I got the second on the recommendation of CE West and it is great for the Mongol Invasions. For a start it reproduces the entire famous picture scroll (a B&W copy held in the USA) with translation of all the text and captions. The book is controversial in that it claims the Japanese did not need the Kamikaze storms to win! (good news for historical campaign game designers) He uses evidence on troops available to claim the size of the Mongol forces in both invasions has been greatly exaggerated in nearly all modern accounts.

    To briefly summarise my own reading of this period, I would agree that there was a transition from the Chinese system of conscript armies which employed drilled formations and standard unit sizes and weapons to the 'private' samurai forces. Originally these conscript armies were infantry units with mounted 'NCOs' and officers. All men were required to supply a bow and arrows and every 50-man company would have two 'oyumi' crossbow artillery pieces. Standing shields were often used by the archer ranks. During the transition, short spears (not yari but 'te boko') are also mentioned as being used by infantry units. For instance during the revolt of Taira Masakado in 935 AD there is mention of vestiges of the conscript system with poor-morale spear ranks standing behind shields. These would be recruited through the provincial HQs that were controlled by the governor. Alongside them the new elite has begun to emerge; proto-samurai horse archers who are privately equipped and fight in loose groups and are probably followed by personal foot attendants armed with bows, short spears and perhaps early naginatas.

    A century or two later and the chronicles/picture scrolls no longer depict spear ranks or 'oyumi'. Farris's book focuses on the role of the provincial HQs and still claims lightly equipped foot soldiers were recruited there in time of war but these now simply supplemented the private attendants of the clan that held provincial governorship. The short spear has now all but been replaced by the early form of naginata (I've only ever seen one figure in a picure scroll from this period armed with a 'te boko' spear). The yari long spear only came into being during the 14th Century 'War Between the Courts' according to 'Arms and Armour of the Samurai' by Bottomley and Hopson.

    As for battle formations, the only 'army' formation that seems to have been possible during the 'Horse and Bow' era was a simple line. This is understandable when you consider any sizable army of the period was usually a hastily formed coalition of clans with no time (or desire) to drill together. Individual clan forces were very small. Some of the better chieftains seem to have drilled individual horse-archer units to form 'wedge' and 'crane-wing' as these are mentioned in chronicles such as the 'Taiheiki'. They probably warranted special mention because they were exceptional to the usual 'loose cloud' of men. Also the Mongol Invasion picture scroll seems to show a loose cavalry wedge led by a standard bearer.

    Good luck and hope this is of some use.

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