And recently, many new people began to contact me with a request to return to the topic of samurai weapons, and give it, so to speak, in retrospect.
We have already given colorful photographs of the Sengoku era armor. A story about firearms will be mandatory, but while the court is still in action, it makes sense to draw materials from the Japanese magazine "Armor Modeling" for a story about the original weapons of medieval Japan. The magazine, by the way, is very interesting. True, there are no drawings in it, but there are wonderful photographs of BTT models, dioramas created by Japanese and foreign modelers, descriptions of new models of armored vehicles and technological methods of work.
It just so happened that I began to receive it … since 1989, and this is how I have been receiving it continuously all these years. Rather, he began to receive the basic magazine Model Grafix, and then Armor was added to it. Thanks to this magazine, I learned many technological techniques. My articles on BTT, reviews of Russian model novelties were also published there. 10% of the text there is in English, so this is enough to figure out what is at stake.
Now here again from issue to issue is "samurai graphics" - very accurate black and white drawings of samurai and their weapons with a detailed story about what, how and where. All in all, this magazine is a great source of information and a guide for illustrators.
So let's start with Figure 1.
1. In this picture, there are two samurai in full armor. But different times, that is, its genesis is evident. Both are dressed in the classic armor of a rider - o-yoroi, but only the right samurai of the Heian era (794 - 1185), and the left one is a later one - of the Muromachi era (1333 - 1573). But not just Muromachi, but the Nambokucho era (1336 - 1292) included in it. Since the Japanese warriors were horse archers, it is not surprising that they did not have shields and at first there was no protection on their right hand. There was no throat protection, and on the top of the helmet there was a tehen or hachiman-dza opening, which served for ventilation or to release the end of the eboshi cap, which played the role of a comforter, outward. Fukigaeshi - the lapels on both sides of the helmet were very large and did not allow the samurai to be hit with a sword on the neck or in the face in front of the side. They were very springy and damped the blow. The armor was heavy, box-shaped and consisted of plates superimposed on one another. The cuirass was also a plate, but it was always covered with silk so that the bowstring would slide over it. Shoes - heavy boots lined with bear or wild boar fur. The sword - tati, was suspended from the obi belt on cords with the blade downward. The size of the bow was from 1.80 to 2 meters, so that it could be fired from a long distance and sent arrows with great force. The warrior on the left wears the same armor, but both arms are already protected, a hambo face mask appeared - a variant of "saru bo" ("muzzle of a monkey") and a nodov collar. Shikoro - the back, acquired the shape of an "umbrella", the "horns" of the kuwagata appeared on the helmet (they appeared already in the Heian era, but then they were just becoming fashionable), and often of huge sizes. The most interesting thing on him is the "pants". In fact, these are not pants, but a haidate armored legguard, the ends of which are tied at the back of the thighs. Shoes are light sandals, as many samurai have to fight in the capital of Kyoto at this time as foot soldiers. Hence the weapon - a sword-like naginata blade on a long shaft.
2. This drawing again shows a samurai of the Heian era wearing an o-yoroi armor. In the rear view, the large o-soda shoulder pads are clearly visible, which played the role of flexible shields. They were fastened on the shoulders, but the cords tied on the back with a beautiful agemaki bow did not allow them to fall on the chest. A very important place in the equipment of a samurai archer was occupied by a quiver - ebira, which is not at all similar to European ones. It resembled a wicker basket (or it was made of wood and varnished), in which a bunch of willow twigs or reed stalks was located along it. Arrows were inserted between them with their tips down. They carried such a quiver behind their backs, but so that their "basket" was on the right handy. And with his right hand, but not by the feathered end, but by the shaft at the tip, the samurai took an arrow out of it. The quiver was supposed to have a ring for a spare string - tsurumaki, and the string was called tsuru. It was worn on a belt near the sword, and some aesthetes inserted a small sword called the shoto, or a tanto dagger, into its hole. Ashigaru - "light-footed" or peasant infantrymen, also had quivers, but simpler - in the form of a wicker back box. See bottom right.
3. In this picture, the varieties of the ebiru quiver and a bundle of rods for attaching the tips are very clearly visible. Thanks to this fastening, the sharpest arrowheads of Japanese arrows did not become blunt! The arrow was called me. The tip is ya-no-me. In the picture from top to bottom: the tip is togari-ya, kira-ha-hira-ne, hira-ne, and the lowest one is watakusi. Interestingly, samurai bows were asymmetrical and the lower end was shorter than the upper one, which was convenient for a rider who fired such a bow from a horse. Much in the Japanese art of kyudo shooting would be incomprehensible to Europeans, and even completely inaccessible for understanding a modern person. For example, the Japanese believed that the shooter was only an intermediary, and the shot itself took place without his direct participation. Moreover, it is carried out in four stages. The first is a greeting, the second is preparation for aiming, the third is aiming and the fourth, last, is the launch of an arrow. It was necessary to enter a certain rhythm of breathing and achieve peace of mind and body - doujikuri, after which he was ready to shoot - yugumae. But the hanare shot itself was fired only after the bow was raised overhead and then lowered to the aiming line. It was believed that you do not need to aim. Rather, there is no need to think about the goal and feel the desire to get into it. On the contrary, one should “merge with the deity” and think about the path along which the arrow will go and then … it will hit the target by itself! The range of an aimed shot from the saddle did not exceed 10-15 m, although it was possible to shoot from a Japanese bow even at 200 m. But we are talking about an aimed shot, which alone could hit a samurai in armor with an o-yora, hitting an unprotected place with an arrow.
The importance that was attached to archery in the past is evidenced by the fact that in historical sources the samurai was called "a man armed with a bow."
The Japanese historian Mitsuo Kure reports that the most primitive bows were made from the branches of azusa, me-yumi and keyaki. Their power was low, so the length of the bow was increased to increase it. Even at the end of the Heian period, most bows were made from the listed materials.
However, even then, the methods of making bows were gradually improved. Scraping the rounded front surface ("back") and gluing on the bamboo strip made the bow more flexible and powerful (fuetake-yumi). Unsurprisingly, the next step was to place the wooden base of the bow between the two bamboo pieces (sanmai-uchi-no-yumi). But the cultivation process was just beginning. Glued compound bows retained their strength for only two years, so the craftsmen strengthened them by wrapping them with reed or rattan fibers (tomaki-no-yumi shi sigeto). The length of the bow varied from 180 to 250 cm. The sigeto bow was asymmetrical, with 36 loops of cane above the handle and 28 loops below it, but in the subsequent period the opposite relationship was also encountered. Theoretically, reed or rattan bows were supposed to be varnished and not used with a white bowstring, but in practice there were many types of reinforcement.
For greater strength and power, compound bows were made from several wooden and bamboo planks glued together (higo-yumi). It is known that the firing range of such bows was 132 m along a flat trajectory. This distance is equal to the length of the veranda at Rengyo-ogin Temple (Sanjusangendo), where festivals were held every year in which participants shot at targets located at the end of the veranda.
The length of the arrow was measured in the width of the "fists and fingers". The largest known arrow had a length equal to twenty-three fists and three fingers, the middle one was twelve fists, but, of course, the width of the fists was also different. There could be three or four rows of plumage. For each type of target, different arrowheads were intended: to pierce armor or hand shields, cut through the lacing of armor, leave lacerations, etc. "Whistling arrows" were brought to Japan from China; they were called kabura (kaburai), that is, turnip, their tip whistled in flight. Usually they were shot, announcing their intention to start a battle. In any case, the Japanese used them during the invasion of the Mongols, but they ridiculed this custom. It seemed strange to them why they should shoot arrows "just like that" when everything was already clear. You have to shoot at people … True, the hit of such an arrow in the enemy's helmet could cause a shell shock, but all the same, the arrows of the kaburai were used mainly for ceremonial purposes.
4. The change in methods of warfare during the Sengoku period led to a decrease in the length of the bow. The samurai led the campaigns of foot archers, no longer belonging to the samurai class, and these infantrymen found it more convenient to handle shorter bows, so their arc was shortened to 198 cm. It was reinforced with five loops of reed, with an interval of one shaku (30 cm) between the turns. Ashigaru's quivers were woven and resembled a narrow basket. The archer commander ashigaru (ko-gashiru) did not shoot himself, but had a special measuring stick, with which he determined the distance to the enemy and gave the command at what angle to shoot arrows. He also had to help with arrows one of the shooters who shot them all. But at the same time, he had to know for sure that he was shooting at the target, and not just wasting arrows. Together with the archers, the vakato servants acted, dragging boxes in which there were at once a hundred arrows. All this allowed the archers to maintain intense fire for a long time.
5. "Throwing machines" of the Japanese (if you can call it that way, what you see in this picture). They were simple but functional. Stone throwers resembled Mongolian ones. They were set in motion by the live power of the peasants. Or even simpler - I cut down a tree in front of the enemy castle, cut a part of the trunk into a cone - here's a "throwing machine" - pull it back and … throw whatever you want. As shells, the Japanese also used such explosive bombs with an iron body and a wick passing through a hollow tube with a handle and wheels. Heavy stones and platforms loaded with cobblestones were hung on the walls of the castle. I chopped off the rope - so they fell from above. And since they were installed in rows one after another, it was deadly to climb on the wall in this place.
6. It was only in the Azuchi-Momoyama era (1573 - 1603) that Japanese horsemen began to fight more with spears (in the pictures you see the Bishamon-yari spear dedicated to the god Bishamon), and not with a bow and wear armor (at least cuirasses), approaching in design to the cuirasses of Europeans, although even here they had their own original solutions. For example, here are these solid-forged neo-do or nio-do cuirasses or "Buddha's torso". Why "buddhas" and not buddhas? The fact is that the "Pure Land" sect was very popular among the samurai, whose followers believed that there were Buddhas, that there were grains of sand on the river bank and that it was enough to proclaim a prayer appeal to Buddha Amida to be saved! On the warrior himself is a katanuga-do breastplate or "monk's torso."
7. From all the ancient skill of horse archers in Japan, the yabusame school has survived to this day, where they teach the art of Japanese archery from a horse. For yabusame competitions, riders dress in traditional hunter costumes - sun hats and legguards made of deer or boar skin. Arrow quivers are used by either ebira or utsubo.
8. In this photo from the yabusame competition, the arrowheads of the kaburai are clearly visible. Previously, they were shot at foxes. Then the foxes were replaced by dogs. Then the dogs were dressed in protective suits … Today they also abandoned the dogs, replacing them with targets.
9. The rider covers the distance and must hit the target (rope) with an arrow from the points of the kira-ha-hira-ne.
10. Contestant yabusame shoots a Japanese asymmetrical bow.
