Topic: Weaponry/Warfare of the Middle Ages in Japan and Europe

Introduction: Students will have been informed about basic facts concerning the Middle Ages in

Europe and Japan. Similarly, the codes of chivalry and Bushido will have been covered the previous day. Since this class will only be twenty minutes long, this lesson will be a very brief introduction to the warfare and weaponry of the Middle Ages. To introduce this topic, the teacher should lead a very brief discussion of what the difference in weapons today is from the

Middle Ages to assess the students’ knowledge of the times.

ISBE Standards:

Learner Objectives:

1. Students should be able to discuss the important weaponry of the Middle Ages and

understand the differences between weaponry in Europe and Japan.

2. Students should understand the importance of the different weapons and tactics in

Medieval Warfare.

Materials: Toy catapult from teachers’ room, Images of Knight’s armor and Samurai armor, along with weaponry.

Procedure: The beginning of the class will mostly be a very brief discussion of current weaponry and Medieval weaponry. Followed will be a very loose lecture/discussion of the different weapons in Japan and Europe using the Venn Diagram from the day before. Specifically, the teacher can discuss the move from chain-mail to full metal armor for European Knights as the longbow became popular. For the Japanese weapons, the teacher can discuss the importance of the Samurai’s sword, and the spirituality associated with it. Similarly, the archery in Europe differed from that of Japan.

Assessment: Students will hand in their Venn Diagrams from the day before.