War & battles
Tactics, ashigaru, firearms, and decisive battles.
Guides
Battle of Sekigahara (1600): East vs West and Tokugawa victory
Battle of Sekigahara—21 Oct 1600, Ishida Mitsunari’s western army vs Tokugawa Ieyasu’s eastern coalition, betrayals, and the battle that opened Edo shogunate rule. (19 min read)
Samurai siege warfare: castles, starvation, and Sengoku storms
How samurai armies besieged Japanese castles—stone walls, encirclement, mining, guns, negotiation, and famous sieges from Odawara to Osaka. (19 min read)
Samurai battle tactics: formations, guns, signals, and ashigaru
How samurai armies fought in Sengoku and early Edo—unit types, horn and flag signals, gun volleys, cavalry roles, and why ashigaru outnumbered mounted samurai. (19 min read)
Samurai cavalry vs infantry: horses, ashigaru, and Nagashino
How mounted samurai and foot soldiers (ashigaru) shared Sengoku battlefields—roles, costs, when cavalry ruled, and when gun infantry ended charges. (18 min read)
Yabusame: mounted archery, samurai skill, and shrine ritual
Yabusame horseback archery—how samurai shot from the saddle in war and festival, gear (yumi, ya), famous shrines like Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, and difference from standing kyudo. (18 min read)
Naval warfare in feudal Japan: pirates, wako, and Sengoku fleets
How samurai-era Japan fought at sea—murakami pirates, wako raids, red-seal ships, battle of Kizugawa, and why coasts mattered as much as castles. (18 min read)
Clan warfare strategies: alliances, betrayal, and Sengoku politics
How Japanese samurai clans fought as coalitions—marriage ties, hostage oaths, ikki leagues, betrayal at Sekigahara, and why strategy was diplomacy plus rice. (18 min read)