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Arms and Armour Press A CASSELL IMPRINT Wellington House, 125 Strand, London WC2R 0BB Distributed in the USA by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc., 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810. © Dr Stephen Turnbull, 1996 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photo- copying recording or any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the Publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1-85409-280-4 Designed and edited by DAG Publications Ltd. Designed by David Gibbons; layout by Anthony A. Evans; edited by Michael Boxall. Printed and bound in Spain by Bookprint CONTENTS Preface, 7 Part Two: THE TECHNIQUES OF Part One: SAMURAI WARFARE, 53 THE DEVELOPMENT OF SAMURAI WARFARE, 9 5. Samurai Warfare in the Sengoku Period, 54 1. Early Samurai Warfare, 10 From Mounted Archer to The Ancestors of the Samurai, 10 Mounted Spearman, 54 The Conscript Armies, 11 The Role and Status of the The Rise of the Mounted Ashigaru, 57 Warrior, 13 The Composition of Samurai The First Samurai, 16 Armies, 59 Early Samurai Battles, 20 Organisation and Commun- ication on the Battlefield, 65 2. Military Gentlemen, 22 The Sengoku Battle, 68 The Way of Horse and Bow, 22 The Archery Duel, 22 6. Specialised Units in the Single Combat and the Samurai Sengoku Army, 70 Sword, 25 Archers and Spearmen, 70 Single Combat and the Dagger, The Introduction of Firearms, 73 28 From Nagashima to Nagashino, The Samurai in Group Combat, 77 29 Cannon in Samurai Warfare, 78 3. The Warrior Monks, 32 7. The Castle in Samurai The Sōhei of Kyōto and Nara, 32 Warfare, 82 Sōhei and Samurai, 36 The Early Castles, 82 The Sōhei in the Gempei War, 37 Castles in the Nambokuchō The Revival of the Sōhei, 40 Wars, 84 Castles in the Sengoku Period, 87 4. Samurai Warfare in The Introduction of Stone, 89 Transition, 43 Methods of Attack, 93 The Kamakura Period and the Mongol Invasions, 43 8. Samurai Naval Warfare, 96 Samurai as Guerrilla, 44 Early Naval Warfare, 96 Development in Arms and The Battle of Dan no Ura, 97 Armour, 46 The Mongol Invasions, 98 The Rise of the Sengoku Naval Warfare in the Sengoku Daimyō, 49 Period, 99 CONTENTS The Battles of Miyajima and 11. Case Study 3: The Siege, 128 Kizugawaguchi, 101 Osaka - The Winter Campaign, 128 Part Three: Osaka - The Summer Campaign, THE APPLICATION OF 133 SAMURAI WARFARE, 105 12. Case Study 4: The 9. Case Study 1: The Army, 106 Campaign, 138 The Takeda at Mikata-ga-hara, The Revival of the Monk- 1572, 106 Soldiers, 138 The Organisation of the The Mikawa Monto, 139 Matsuura Army, 107 Oda Nobunaga and the Ikkō- The Matsuura Kakemono, 114 ikki, 141 The Defence of Nagashima, 144 10. Case Study 2: The Battle, The Fall of the Ishiyama Hon- 117 gan-ji, 149 The Shimazu Tactical System, 117 Epilogue, 153 The Battle of Anegawa, 120 Index and Glossary, 155 PREFACE The history of samurai warfare is the expres- am delighted that Richard Hook has joined sion both of an ideal and a reality. The ideal me to translate into superb artwork the new was, and to some extent still is, an image of material on armour, castle design and the noble warrior, sword in hand, fighting a heraldry which my researches have un- single combat with a worthy opponent as covered over the past seven years. I am very part of a co-ordinated battle, planned and grateful to Tim Newark, the editor and the executed according to a meticulous and hon- publishers of Military Illustrated magazine ourable tradition. The reality is often that of a for allowing me to re-use some of the mater- surprise attack by night, followed by a ial from my series of articles entitled 'Samu- clumsy style of warfare exemplified by the rai Warfare'. I also thank all those who have burning of fortified buildings and indiscrim- allowed the Japan Archive picture library to inate slaughter, in which all hope of tactical photograph their collections of prints, book precision is cast to the wind. illustrations and armour, thus enabling me This work will tackle the issues thrown up to produce another book on samurai with both by the ideal and the reality, and will nearly all new illustrations. I thank Dunstan demonstrate that in spite of the very evident Gladthorpe in particular. All the pho- evolution and development through the cen- tographs used in this book are from the turies, certain aspects of samurai warfare Japan Archive collection, except for a num- remained remarkably consistent, in particu- ber of rare items from Christie's, which are lar its elite nature and the predominance of gratefully acknowledged, from Fukui the small group as the basic fighting unit. Museum in Japan, and from Rolf Degener's Developments in army organisation, weapon print gallery in Düsseldorf. technology and communications will also be My study tours in Japan were kindly facil- studied in detail, and related to the wider itated by several individuals. Eiji and picture. Nahoko Kitajima helped with arrangements, The book is organised in three sections. and Mr Masayoshi Itō proved to be a very Part One traces the historical development of helpful guide to the Nagashima area, while samurai warfare from the earliest times to its Mr Kazukata Ogino once again entertained peak in the Sengoku Period, the 'Age of War' me at Nagashino. Mr Sato of the Asakura in the sixteenth century. Part Two is an in- Museum at Ichijō-ga-tani helped with the depth study of samurai warfare at this time, identification of names from the Anegawa tackled on a topic basis, including battles, screen. siege craft and naval warfare. The final sec- Above all I would like to thank my dear tion consists of a number of selected case wife Jo, without whom none of this would studies, where the points raised in the pre- have been possible. ceding chapters are applied to historical situ- ations between the years 1560 and 1650. Many people have been helpful in the writing of this, my tenth book on samurai. I Stephen Turnbull SAMURAI WARFARE 8 Part One THE DEVELOPMENT OF SAMURAI WARFARE Chapter 1 EARLY SAMURAI WARFARE The Ancestors of the Samurai tury, when the samurai established them- The word 'samurai', which is commonly selves as the real power in Japan. used for all varieties of ancient Japanese war- The word 'samurai' first appears about the rior, actually signifies the military elite of old middle of the tenth century, but by this time Japan, a knightly caste who commanded Japan already had a well-established military armies, and also led their followers into bat- tradition. The foundations of the Japanese tle. Their military and political skills eventu- state were laid during a series of conflicts ally enabled them to control civilian whereby one ruling house, the Yamato, governments, developing, through almost achieved dominance over its rivals. The constant civil warfare, a set of military tech- Yamato rulers were the first emperors of niques, traditions and skills that may be Japan, and during the latter half of the sev- called samurai warfare. The nature of the enth century an incident occurred which was samurai ensured that the history of samurai to threaten the Yamato hegemony, and ulti- warfare involves two very important aspects: mately lead to the emergence of the samurai the military activities of the group, through class. strategy and tactics, and the military prowess The Emperor at the time was Tenmu, who of the individual warrior. Both factors reigned from AD 673 to 686. A succession reached their peak of development in about dispute threatened his rule, but was settled 1600, which saw the culmination of a century by Tenmu by a dramatic use of military force, and a half of inter-clan fighting known to his- including the skilful employment of cavalry. torians as the Sengoku-jidai (The Age of the Tenmu quickly made his position sufficiently Country at War). secure to be able to take the momentous step The two aspects of the needs of the group of attempting to disarm all his opponents. and the demands of the individual are in From 685, therefore, it became illegal to have constant tension throughout samurai history, the private possession of weapons or the and find expression in several ways. At times means, such as drums, of controlling soldiers there is a conflict between warrior elitism in battle. At the same time Tenmu laid the and the need for the deployment of large foundations for an imperial conscript army numbers of soldiers. At other times there in which, theoretically, all the population may be a personal dilemma between prag- were involved, owing loyalty only to him. matism and the demands of samurai tradi- The decree was promulgated in 684. With its tion, as exemplified by a fondness for heroic emphasis upon the military arts as an essen- single combat, which was retained long after tial arm of successful government, its clear such activities had become anachronistic. hint of class distinction and its reference to Such appeals to samurai tradition came mounted warriors, it contains several points from a nostalgic ideal of earlier samurai which were later to be associated with the behaviour. This chapter will examine how samurai class: these ideas were formulated, and will show that, although later generations may have In a government, military matters are the regarded them as a romantic but impractica- essential thing.