The problem of identifying friends and foes on the battlefield has always been very acute. At the beginning of the "chain mail era" in Europe, for example, people came out onto the battlefields, dressed from head to toe in gray-red armor, almost all of them were identical, and how could you recognize someone in this mass? At the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William Bastard (known to us as William the Conqueror) had to take off his helmet so that the soldiers could recognize him, and Count Eustace pointed his hand at him and shouted loudly: "Here is William!"
"Red Devils Ii" - still from the movie "Battle of the Samurai" (1990).
That is why, soon after that, the knights had coats of arms, and after them a whole science - heraldry, which can rightfully be called "shorthand history". First of all, she served the needs of military affairs, and why so is understandable. Moreover, it was in Japan that heraldry became even more widespread than in Europe. Indeed, for many centuries Japan was a military community, the civil war lasted there for five centuries, and it is hardly surprising that the Japanese at first glance learned to distinguish their troops from the enemy by the symbols they knew. Individual personification was even more important in Japan than in Europe. After all, the samurai was awarded for … the heads of enemies cut off by him. Both the nature of the award and the size of it entirely depended on the identification of a particular head (unknown heads were not particularly needed by anyone), and on the rank of the one who got it. We also needed confirmation from eyewitnesses who could testify the feat of the person representing the head. And in all these cases it was simply impossible to do without identification marks.
Jinbaori - "jacket" daimyo (or "battle cloak"), which was usually worn in a combat situation. Belonged to Kabayakawa Hideake (1582 - 1602), the famous "traitor from Mount Matsuo." Front view. (Tokyo National Museum)
The same jinbaori. Back view. The embroidered coat of arms is clearly visible - mon Kabayakawa - two crossed sickles. (Tokyo National Museum)
Heraldic signs were also used to gather troops on the battlefield. And also for signaling. It's another matter that the Japanese, unlike the Europeans, never kissed their banners and did not swear on them. That is, they were not a shrine in the Middle Ages. An important thing, but purely utilitarian, like horse stirrups, they thought. They could even be thrown over the wall of the assault castle, that is, in fact, given to the enemy. Like, our flag is already there, we are climbing after it and at the same time bravely chopping off our heads!
Jinbaori of the Kimuru clan. Front view. (Tokyo National Museum)
Back view.
Recall that the basis of Japanese heraldry was mon - a very simple but elegant sign, which was visually remembered much easier than the colorful but complex European coats of arms. Monas were usually painted in black on a white background. Any other color scheme was not forbidden, but … these two colors were the main ones. Monas were depicted on samurai banners (although not always), on their weapons, saddles and clothing.
Just a richly embroidered jinbaori. (Tokyo National Museum)
An ordinary kimono with emblems. Belonged to the legendary hero of the Japanese "perestroika" Sakamoto Ryoma.
It should be noted, however, that on the famous jinbaori - sleeveless jackets that noble samurai wore over their armor, monas were depicted, but … not always. It also happened that they were sewn from brocade or featured rich embroidery, but they did not carry any emblems on themselves.
"Red Demons" - Warriors of the Ii clan in the battle of Sekigahara. Fragment of a painted screen. As you can see, there were a lot of flags in the samurai army. Both large and very small. And if in the West knights in battle were distinguished primarily by coats of arms on shields, by embroidered horse blankets and pennants, then in Japan identification was carried out by flags.
It is interesting that the first battle banners of the era of the first emperors, which they presented to their commanders, were yellow brocade cloths. It is known that the imperial mon, a 16-petal chrysanthemum, was known already in the Nara period 710 - 784. That is, long before the appearance of the first coats of arms in Europe.
Mon clan Tokugawa
Mon Hojo clan
Mon with the image of the paulownia on the o-soda - the shoulder pad of Japanese armor. Belonged to the Ashikaga clan.
A characteristic feature of the Middle Ages was its clannishness. However, clans in Japan mattered more than, again, in Europe. Here a person dissolved in his clan, in Europe - he simply belonged to a certain clan, to a family, but nothing more. Clashes between clans took place everywhere, but it was in Japan that they led to the emergence of the samurai class itself and the establishment of the Minatomo shogunate - the country's first military government, which was the result of a long rivalry between the two clans - Minamoto and Taira.
Modern Japanese people with the Hata-jirushi flag
By this time, the early form of the Japanese battle flag, khata jirushi, was formed, which was a vertically long and narrow panel attached to a horizontal crossbar on the shaft in its upper part. Taira's flags were red, Minamoto's were white. Taira had a black butterfly on them, Minamoto had a rindo badge - "gentian flower". But a simple white cloth without any images was also used.
Samurai flying the sashimono flag with the image of a Buddhist bell. (Sendai City Museum)
Then came into vogue … hieroglyphic texts on white panels. For example, Asuke Jiro, an active participant in the Nambokucho war (Northern and Southern courtyards), had his entire autobiography written on the banner, which the samurai traditionally read out before challenging the enemy to a duel. The entire inscription can be translated as follows: “I was born into a family of warriors and loved courage, like the youths of old times. My strength and determination are such that I can cut a ferocious tiger to pieces. I studied the path of the bow and learned all the wisdom of war. Through the grace of heaven, I have faced the most illustrious rivals on the battlefield. At the age of 31, despite a fit of fever, I arrived in Oyama to pursue an important enemy, fulfilling a duty of loyalty to my master and not staining myself with shame. My glory will thunder throughout the world and will pass to my descendants, like a beautiful flower. Enemies will take off their armor and become my servants, the great master of the sword. Let it be the will of Hachiman Dai Bosatsu! Sincerely yours, Asuke Jiro from Mikawa Province."
Modest man, you will not say anything!
However, it was precisely this kind of identification that turned out to be ineffective. From the middle of the 15th century, an increasing number of samurai began to fight not with a bow and arrow, but with a spear, and the ashigaru infantrymen began to play the role of archers.
The samurai themselves began to dismount more and more often, and how in the thick of the battle it was possible to find out who was his own and who was a stranger, if everyone wore approximately the same and, moreover, very colorful armor. Small flags appeared, which began to be attached directly to the armor. They were sode-jirushi - "shoulder badge" - a piece of cloth or even paper that was worn on the sode pads that protected the shoulders. Kasa-jizushi - "badge on the helmet", which looked like a small flag, repeating the pattern on the mind-jirushi. At the same time, the kasa-jirushi could be attached to the helmet both in front and behind. These signs were also worn by the servants of the samurai - wakato, so in all this one can see the first steps towards the creation of military uniforms.
The assault by the shogun's troops of the Hara castle.
Since the middle of the 15th century, when the samurai armies were divided into units with uniform weapons, the role of identification increased even more. Now in the army of one daimyo, detachments of ashigaru with bows, muskets, long spears, as well as detachments of foot samurai with naginata and cavalry with long spears could operate. All these units had to be effectively managed, and messengers had to be sent to them, who also had to be quickly identified. Therefore, the number of people carrying flags in the samurai armies has grown dramatically. In addition, the old khata-jirushi, the panels of which were often twisted by the wind and tangled, which made them inconvenient to look at, were replaced by new nobori flags - with L-shaped shafts, on which the panel was stretched between the pole and the vertical cross-beam.
This picture shows the heraldic insignia adopted by the army of Arima Toyouji (1570 - 1642), who participated in many battles on the side of the Tokugawa clan. 1 - double sashimono for ashigaru, white with a black badge, 2 - the sign "rays of the sun" of gold color - belonged to the messengers of Arima, 3 - sashimono in the form of a golden crescent was worn by samurai, 4 - ko-uma jirushi ("small standard") in the form golden shamrock, 5 - o-uma jirushi ("big standard"), 6 - nobori with Arima Toyouji's monom. Drawing from S. Turnbull's book "Symbols of Japanese Samurai", M.: AST: Astrel, 2007.
A system of identification, which is very complex for a European, arises, according to which ashigaru wear some signs, samurai others, messengers others, and headquarters and commanders have a special designation. The nobori were usually used to identify individual units within the samurai army, but also simply to show strength.
So, in the army of Uesugi Kenshin in 1575, there were 6,871 people, of which 6,200 were infantrymen. In turn, 402 of this number carried flags, and there were more of them than arquebusiers!
