Warriors of Eastern Japan - Samurai Armor and Warfare of the Tensho Era

In this video we examine a great new essay "Togoku no Bugu" written by Gunsen History which details arms, armor, and fighting styles of samurai throughout eastern Japan during the Tensho era!
Check out the essay for yourself here: www.academia.edu/115026184/T%...
I would like to personally thank Gunsen History for helping to ensure that this video is as accurate as possible.
Here is a link to Gunsen History's Twitter/X / gunsen_history
Yoritomo Art Twitter/X / yoritomoart
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Music:
"Tomo no Oto" by Akira Ifukube
Artwork and Images:
Samurai artwork from Yoritomo Art in the document.
Classical art, which in most cases can be considered public domain.
Images from Wikipedia and other armor exhibits.
Other modern artist renditions and photos, if you see your work in this video please contact me so that I can give you proper credit!
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Social Media:
Facebook: / theshogunateyoutube
Twitter: / shogunatethe
Support the channel on Patreon! www.patreon.com/theshogunatey...
#Samurai #History #Japan

[@gunsenhistory7919]

Hey, it is Gunsen History here! I apprecciate the time spent to make this wonderful video, which truly does justice to my research paper. I would also be here hanging out in the comments if someone has questions and whant to know more trivia on Japanese armor!

[@semp224]

Subscribed to Sir!

[@gunsenhistory7919]

@@semp224 I apprecciate it! However I am not really active on you tube, I post and write mainly on X (former twitter) and will write these types of essays that are linked from my X page and on my academia-edu profile.

[@user-tm8jt2py3d]

I didn't know enough to have proper questions, but I will sub to you

[@MrGksarathy]

Quick question. You say samurai in other parts of the country may not have been as heavily cavalry based as previously thought. Does that mean samurai weren't engaging in horse archery all that often?

[@budoka_gaijin]

Thank you for bringing up the Kiso horse in your paper. I respect Dr.Conlan's work, but that always bugged about some of his conclusions about calvary in samurai warfare. Especially using an NHK video from decades ago. I remember when I studied at the University of Hawaii, I would get into arguments with some Professors over this.

[@TalesofDawnandDusk]

As someone who translates Heian Period literature, I can say that the warriors of the East were heralded as being extremely strong and fierce, though they were also seen as uncouth and backwards by the aristocrats who lived in the west though this perception largely changed by the time of the Warring States Period when the idea of warrior and aristocrat had largely merged together.

[@MoonMoverGaming]

Sounds similar to how the Romans would often characterize the "barbarians" to their north.

[@nont18411]

Yoritomo changed their perspective

[@TalesofDawnandDusk]

@@nont18411 I wouldn't say that. Even in Tsurezuregusa Yoshida Kenko makes references to the incivility of warriors as opposed to cultured aristocrats, but with Yoritomo they had to at least acknowledge that high culture and noble blood wasn't the only thing that could move heaven and earth like they naively assumed. They could no longer ignore the reality of war and warriors but they were none too happy about it. The eventual merging of warrior and aristocrat was something that took centuries to fully develop and, I'm guessing, really became prominent in the Warring States Period due to how important warcraft became. People are much more likely to support and revere warriors as nobility when war is everywhere.

[@EvilCorp420]

Thanks for the insight

[@jameshill8493]

You ever read any spooky old Japanese ghost stories?

[@outsideiskrrtinsideihurt699]

Bro finally! Gunsen deserves so much more attention for all the research he does for use English speakers. Hopefully we can normalize using sources when talking about feudal Japan here in the west instead of going straight off of observations like many sword creators have.

[@eagle162]

I think we're starting to get there.

[@gunsenhistory7919]

Thank you! I hope to produce more content of similar quality in the future!

[@nont18411]

OG Hojo: usurping OG Minamoto and becoming the true power of the Kamakura shogunate. Later Hojo: got usurped by the Later Minamoto, which would become the Tokugawa shogunate. What goes around, comes around.

[@sukitron5415]

Glad to see the Hojo getting some more love, I've always liked them

[@mikotagayuna8494]

To clarify, the Awa province mentioned here is the one situated in Boso peninsula in contrast to the Awa province in Shikoku.

[@scandisamurai8899]

As an O-Yoroi enthusiast, I can't thank you enough for this video 🙏🙇‍♂⛩

[@freshhands9461]

Super interesting for me, that beneath all these flamboyant Japanese embellishments, their helmets were actually totally practical, almost modern in their design. Also, "controlled rusting" 😍

[@Chrispy7502]

You use such great artworks to help visualize these events and people. I would love to see a video dedicated to these kinds of paintings and artworks.

[@redwa11er]

I'm so thrilled to see you delve deeper into the technical side of Samurai armour. There's so much to learn about this topic that it's kinda overwhelming. Gunsen is a great place to start though. I hope future samurai depictions will take into consideration the styles of armour more appropriate for the time. Pop culture tends to see the Sengoku jidai through the fancier lense of the Edo Period.

[@semp224]

Lemme grab my popcorn and WATCH AGAIN! THANK YOU THE SHOGUNATE!

[@arnaudledardpontabrier8959]

you should make videos longer for those who are teachers as me

[@TheCCBoi]

Great video, it would be great to have a complete series on samurai/ Japanese warrior armor throughout history.

[@michaelbui6618]

Please do a video of samurai from Kyushu and western Japan from the same period.

[@cjclark1208]

Samurai armor may be lacking in overall protection compared to others, but the drip is phenomenal.

[@eagle162]

I wouldn't say that, it can get very protective.

[@ricardodemarco3486]

@@eagle162yeah. For that same period, european full harnesses may have been superior to japanese counterparts but this doesn’t mean that japanese armor was bad by any means. “If something is not the best, then it is bad” is a fallacy on it’s own.

[@eagle162]

​@@ricardodemarco3486okay I would also not call a particular suit of armor Superior or inferior no matter the country. Fully armored knights lost to ottoman soldiers who wear less rigid armor but I'm not going to call ottoman armor Superior.

[@hugom2418]

Please check out the original research paper the video is based off. Japanese armor is heavily misunderstood and it does a fantastic job at explaining its strength. It’s extremely protective

[@benerdick_cumberbiatch]

​@@ricardodemarco3486Generally Europeans weren't wearing full harness by this point and wore three quarters plate.

[@johnpittsii7524]

Thanks for the video ❤

[@klappspatenkamikaze]

Your content is so awesome!

[@briz6259]

Great video

[@HydrikMasqued]

Love your videos man, I was a massive lover of Shogun 2 and your videos always gets me want to get back into it and the Shogunate mod in CK3

[@emanuelkobylanski6762]

interesting video as always

[@pulpogigante]

Thank You Excellent 👍😊 Exposition always learning with this channel.

[@DionysianLovecraftian]

Wonderful presentation

[@saberserpent1134]

Very cool video on dō and kabutō typology!

[@eddierudolph8702]

Wow, this is one of my favorite videos from you, but that is my main area of interest, military history and mounted warfare.

[@hugom2418]

Highly recommend the original paper then! The video is a good overview but truly only scratch the surface

[@imitradisv]

あなたの素晴らしい仕事を続けてくれてありがとうww)

[@TheEternalMack]

Stay on top with your deep doves because you make Shogun 2 Total War and playing as a daimyo in Europa Universalis 4 so much more awesome!

[@yukimurasanada5209]

so was the takeda cavalry only special due to Masakage Yamagata and his badass skills as a leader and Shingens wisdom on how to utilize them? must be fun to be so skilled you become a myth

[@gunsenhistory7919]

It is a bit of tall tales from the Edo period. The primary source that mentions the Takeda and their cavalry is the account of Ota Gyuichi, but even he singles out the men of Obata from being skilked riders from western Kozuke in the Kanto.

[@-RONNIE]

Thank you for the information personally I prefer the Mogami do when it comes to Japanese armor. It reminds me of the Brigandine which I also choose over plate armor for the mobility

[@Ose-here]

i think mogami dō is more similar to a coat of plates in cases

[@joaomanoel3197]

Muito bom

[@Romellenios_Lanz_Daemos]

Ayy I know the artists of the thumbnail 😀

[@minamotonokuroyoshitsune3237]

I have a question how would the Tokugawa Shogunate send messages to the Ming Dynasty? Through Joseon or maritime routes to china?

[@ryanwingfield6092]

I have a question - do you ever use Japanese sources for your videos? I feel like it must be necessary at some point because the amount of English-language information avaliable for this period is so limited.

[@TheShogunate]

Yes on occasion when there is not enough solid information readily available in English. However then I have to rely off of methods to translate the info which is not always reliable.

[@hugom2418]

The paper referenced on this video uses a variety of primary Japanese sources as well.

[@ryanwingfield6092]

@@TheShogunate Have you ever attempted to learn Japanese? I hear it's quite difficult but I think it would be worth it for this channel.

[@cavalier2097]

Interesting history of Japan. It seems there was a japanse ancestor in my bloodline. Probably mixed with an chinese greatgrandparent

[@felixjaeger1635]

When it comes to metallurgy- thicker layer of alloy doesn't always mean better ballistic protection. The Japanese sometimes used kinda sandwich type of design, where a layer of iron was placed in between layers of steel, granting some kinetic absorption capabilities because of different physical properties of aforementioned materials. As to the raised rivets- I call bs on that and contribute the highten ballistic protection capabilities to the way in which plates were interlocking with one another, and to the shape of the dome overall. This topic of "fireproof" samurai was popularized with the public via movies like "heaven and earth" and of course shogun 2 total war- a video game. As to its historical accuracy, of portraying them as a unit and attributing them with certain elements of equipment is still a matter of debate. Now this would be an amazing topic for master degree thesis...

[@gunsenhistory7919]

I have to say, I was skeptical too at the beginning when reading through the material I had on the hoshi kabuto. However, it was pointed out to me that shot pellets were also fired from period teppō, and these had smaller and clustered bullets. There are some original mould for casting them from the period and their size is larger than the space in between those rivets. The idea is that these bullets will either hit square on the doomed rivet, compressing it and disperse force before hitting the plate, or hit in between two or more rivets to get the same effect, and possibly get deflected by the irregular surfaces. It is an interesting idea that should be tested. As for bullet tested items, there are few later period armors that show the bullet proofing, known as Tameshi gusoku, as well as the kabuto of Mogami Yoshiaki which was actually hit on the Siege of Hasedo iirc.

[@outboundflight4455]

Why are they the "New" Hojo clan? Did they just take the name because of its prestige? Did they have a lineage with the original Hojo of Kamakura jidai

[@thedragonofechigo7878]

Actually yes, Ise may have possibly had maternal relations to the Tokuso Hojo but there isn't any actual evidence of any lineal descendants linked to the Tokuso and the Odawara Hojo. Ujitsuna adopted the name due to the legitimacy of the name itself especially being based in Sagami.

[@outboundflight4455]

@@thedragonofechigo7878 interesting. A very wise way of taking advantage of your location.

[@Shimra8888]

Why didn’t Warring States Japan resemble Warring States China?

[@eagle162]

Because Japan is not China?

[@benerdick_cumberbiatch]

Because the warring states in Japan began over 1700 years after the warring states era in China ended, Japan also completely stopped being anything like China in terms of military or culture well over 500 years before the warring states era in Japan. You might as well ask why is the Battle of Adrianople in 324AD different to conflicts that happened this year in modern day.

[@loxodoncyclotis1823]

Because China's 'Warring States' period happened almost 2000 years before Japan's?

[@DionysianLovecraftian]

Because they are two different countries and also the time periods are waaay apart.

[@hanzohattori5908]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@osmancemuzun]

Why east but not north?

[@SpeedDemon_Editzzz]

Fuck Yessss some Gud Ol Samurai Goatness🗿💪🔥💯

[@nont18411]

OG Hojo > Later Hojo Literally the only clan that the newer version wasn’t as good as the original, unlike Taira, Fujiwara and Minamoto.