in the Sengoku Jidai, which weapon was the bread and butter of Samurai?

[snuggans]

katana, yari, naginata, yumi ... ?

[Erwin Rommel]

Yari.

[Intranetusa]

yari and yumi/bow

[american samurai]

katana, yari, naginata, yumi ... ?

The Sengoku period (戦国時代 Sengoku jidai?) or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century.....it depends on what part if that period you mean, the most significant weapon of that period was the "tanegashima" (matchlock) as it changed not only the tactics but also the armor used in battle, this happened after the introduction in 1543 of firearms by the Portuguese, during the early part of that period the "yari" over took the "yumi" and the "naginata" as the weapon of choice.

[Ying, Duke of Qin]

Yari and katana in literature, yari on the battlefield. Firearms became important later on.

[DeMolay]

I'd say defintely Yari as number one , then for the number 2 , it is between the yumi which was widely used before the 1570-1580's (and quite a symbol of the bushi alongside the spear ) and the Teppo when mass formations of arquebus became widespread , especially starting Hideyoshi's campaign of the 1580's where he started to use them offensively

[snuggans]

would you guys then refer to the katana as a 'last resort' weapon, or would that be the wakizashi?

[Erwin Rommel]

On what situation.

What weapon cuts your own belly a bit more better?

[snuggans]

not necessarily seppuku, but as the way samurai viewed their own weapons.

i brought up this thread because while discussing Shogun 2, one person claimed CA used a heavily romanticized version of samurai when it came to having katana samurai units running around in the battlefield. i actually believed this to be normal, so i asked for some clarification.

[Dirtnapninja]

I believe for most of the sengoku jidai period, the preferred sword was a tachi, or a tachi mounted sword. Katana only really became dominant later.

[DeMolay]

Swords were always secondary weapons in medieval Japan , despite the fact that katanas were used since the 12th century and that Japanese warriors had some form of shield with the shoulder sode , in the absence of a shield culture like in europe or parts of the middle east , swords were never a primary weapon in the land of the rising sun AFAIK , they became a social status symbol during the latter era of peace under the Tokugawa bakufu

It doesn't mean they were not used in battle though , i'm pretty certain they were actually widely used because not only ashigarus carried them in numbers during Sengoku Jidai , but it was not uncommon to have one's spear stuck or grabbed or the pointy end losing shape during the course of action , or simply more than one enemy succesfully closing the distance if your formation loosened , then you had to drop the spear and fight for your life . Same for archers running out of ammo or horseman losing their spear in a brutal charge or falling down their horse

Tachi was one handed blade which was optimized for slashing necks on horseback , katanas were two handed and thicker on average and more suited to hard cuts , however both had a razor sharp blade which was great against soft materials like human flesh , but the blade was prone to break or chip against hard materials like armours if the blade was not a work of art or if the cutting technique not good enough , so all in all , weapons like the Yari were more reliable and allowed for better survivability with their better reach .

Also , the Yari and the Bow were truly attribute of the Bushi (warrior) class during the middle-age , mastering the bow was truly an accomplishment , all the "fetichism" about katanas happened much later , during the 17th and 18th century in a period of peace ( and nostalgia of the warrior ethos and warring times by the samurai ruling class which was slowly but surely overtaken by the merchant class , pretty much like in Europe's renaissance )

[snuggans]

interesting, thank you for your post

[Lysimachos]

Tachi was one handed blade which was optimized for slashing necks on horseback , katanas were two handed and thicker on average and more suited to hard cuts ,

Would you mind posting your source on this clear distinction? According to Stephen Turnbull, The story of Japan's Great Warriors, the most distinctive difference between Tachi and Katana was the manner in which it was carried.

[Yarkis de Bodemloze]

Katanas as we know them from samurai films are rather lightwight cutting weapons which are useless against armor. Cutting style sword techniques are only usefull against unarmored opponents, as DeMoley already pointed out. Against armor you need thrusting and hitting techniques and weapons. Therefore, swords used in battles as a main weapon by foot soldiers were rather heavy and more used more like a club, hitting the enemies sword arms or the helm to stun him. After you struck down an opponent you would the kill him with a thrust.

[DeMolay]

Would you mind posting your source on this clear distinction? According to Stephen Turnbull, The story of Japan's Great Warriors, the most distinctive difference between Tachi and Katana was the manner in which it was carried.

My source is the Connoisseur book of the Japanese sword , practice of Iaido and various lectures . Tachi and katana shared the same blade geometries but were used for different purposes hence the difference between museum pieces of tachi and katanas both in weight , balance and length . One was optimized for horse use (one handed , the other hand was busy controlling the horse ) , the other for use with two hand on foot

The use of katanas became fashionable after the encounter with the Mongols they needed swords with more penetration and power ( and that were thicker/more resistant ) , hence why Kamakura katanas were especially thick and heavy (around 1.5kg , which is heavy for a katana and especially heavy for the average Japanese samurais who had more than a dozen kilograms of armour , arrows and the average height around 1.60m )

Sengoku-Jidai katanas were thicker and heavier than early Edo period katana , but overall , are less sought after today because they were known for their bad quality , as the constant civil war was a period where the high standard of craftsmanship of previous Muromachi and Nanbokucho period was “lost” , so many katanas were produced In the warring state period (for ashigarus and samurais alike ) , that the standard of blade quality dropped until the period of peace and flowering of the arts and culture that was the Edo period

Many tachis were remounted as katanas (or shortened to be remounted as civil katanas ) during the Edo period , today if one visits a museum one can see the differences for himself , for instance here are some pics of Tachi of 12th and 15th century (I already made a post on that with many pics In the past , but cant’ seem to find it back ) ,so I’ll give web addresses of pics then :

note the blade length of nearly 80 cm (to help the reach from horseback ) which was very uncommon for a katana at the time , note the small width of the blade (to save weight for one hand use ) . What we don’t see on the pic but you can see in real life is also the thin “niku” or thickness of the blade (again to save weight ) and the increased sori (curvature ) on most tachis to assist for better cutting performances one handed : http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/100467/...etail&century=
http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/101109/...etail&century=
Tachi completely disappeared after the Sengoku period for a reason , their specifications were no longer needed , they just became ornatory or ceremonial /art objects or remounted/shortened as katana/wakizachi , later on , like at the Battle of Toba fushimi , the few samurais on horse would use longer and heavier katanas in the absence of production of tachis for horse use

Turnbull said that the blade geometries were the same as katanas (so it was essentially the same design but with different specifications ) , which is correct , but he didn’t say a tachi was just a katana just worn edge down , variation of length and thickness were subtle , it was a few centimeters in length and a few millimeters in thickness to fit the needs of the owner.

The thing is that there were many different blade geometries , and it also depended the physical characteristic of the wielders , if person A was stronger and taller than average , there is a good chance his tachi was actually heavier than person’s B katana who wasn’t as strong or tough physically , or didn’t have thick wrist or strong arm for instance .

But the general rule is : when you are on horseback , you want to not lose your tachi from your hands if you hit something hard , you want to be able to use it without having your right hand wrist exhausted after 2 minutes of use , you want to have reach and length so you can hit your target from your horse , and you want the sword to be flexible (not brittle ) and resistant to shocks . The purpose of Tachis was to answer these needs , the katanas used the same blades (Japanese blade geometries with different mounts , in Japan there were no radical differences in blade designs like in Europe ) , but generally speaking , katanas used on the battlefields had different size (shorter is best for blade resilience in heavy cuts ) , different thickness (usually thicker for heavy cuts ) , and different balance ( two hand use allow for more weight , tachi were tip heavy for most of them with pronounced sori , most katanas had point of balance closer to the hilt and less sori , depending the geometries , for instance Shobu-Zukuri geometry was tip heavy but not others)

here's an illustration of Kawanakijama battle , it's not a proof of anything , but look at the size of the tachis , compared to the arm's length of the mounted samurais who wielded it according to the artist who drew :

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Lysimachos]

Thank you for this in-depth answer. It is more than I could have asked for.

[leeho730]

As a status symbol, swords.

As a main infantry and even cavalry weapon, lances.

[Dirtnapninja]

Katanas as we know them from samurai films are rather lightwight cutting weapons which are useless against armor. Cutting style sword techniques are only usefull against unarmored opponents, as DeMoley already pointed out. Against armor you need thrusting and hitting techniques and weapons. Therefore, swords used in battles as a main weapon by foot soldiers were rather heavy and more used more like a club, hitting the enemies sword arms or the helm to stun him. After you struck down an opponent you would the kill him with a thrust.

If you want to bash, you use a club. Using a sword like a club will just annoy your enemy and probably break your sword. Swords are not used to bash, but to cut and slash and stab. If you enemy is in heavier armour you use your spear, or your polearm, or you close and grapple with daggers.

[RollingWave]

In the very begining of the Sengoku , wars were still being fought not unlike those of the Genpei war, where the more common pole weapon of choice was the Naginata and Yumi (bows) were the #1 weapon of the Samurais (Naginata was more of a mass infantry weapon).

But as the period rolled on we saw very dramatic transformation, we can see the general difference in army setup from the very beginning to the very end to see the dramatic difference.

Early : the standard setup was a small group of higher ranking samurais fighting as mounted archers commanding a also small group of low ranking retainers armed with either Naginata or Yari.

Late : organization became much more diversed and specialized, Teppo replaced Yumi as the primary range weapon (though Yumi were usually still around to some extend). Naginata became very rare in the field and Yari became the most dominant weapon (usually a unit of Yari consisted of a 20-30 Ashigarus with one minor samurai in command an a few more unlanded samurai retainers in support, and obviously they can form up into much larger blocks).


The early Samurai style of warfare was more oriented towards skrimishes and small group fightings. the lead Samurai usually commanded from his mount while fireing away arrows while fightings were primarily between the retainers with polearms or spears. however by the late period block formations and large battles become much more common.