Japanese history - the wargamers view vrs modern view thoughts for the 2025 list

[LeslieIan]

In the Muromachi Samurai list in the historic note The following statement is made:-

"Thought this period the traditional samurai focus on the Bow and the Sword was in decline"

These two statements to me to be wrong in light of modern thinking.

Swords where never a primary weapon on the battlefield during the Samurai period, "There was also a noticeable rise in the number of swordsmiths around this time. In the late Heian period, Shimokawa Ushio records references to 450 smiths, compared to 1,550 in the Kamakura period and 3,550 in the Muromachi period. This is not to say that archers, both mounted and on foot, were obsolete just yet. In fact, records of battle wounds analyzed by historians Thomas Conlan, Suzuki Masaya, and others show that in the Nanbokuchō period (1334–92) arrow wounds were more prevalent than any other battle injury. Trawling through 175 documents, Suzuki found 554 identifiable injuries in addition to 44 fatalities. Of the injuries, 480 (86.6 percent) were caused by arrows; 46 (8.3 percent) by bladed weapons; 15 (2.6 percent) by rocks hurled by sling or rolled from hilltops or fortresses; and 6 (1.1 percent) by spears. Suzuki postulated that even during the Nanbokuchō period sword use was much less a factor in battle than projectile weapons.", taken from The Art of Killing swordsmanship in medieval japan


Even later in the period of warring states " Suzuki Masaya's research reveals that of the 584 wounds logged in war records from 1563 to 1600, 263 were inflicted by guns, 126 by arrows, 99 by spears, and 30 by rocks. Only forty warriors suffered sword lacerations, and twenty-six were felled by a combination of weapons. On the basis of this analysis Suzuki contends that although swords were certainly brandished in the fray, they were more useful for removing the heads of fallen foe (kubi-tori) than engaging in actual combat. The kubi-tori were cleaned up and presented for inspection as "invoices for payment" for services rendered. Skullduggery was rampant, and samurai often picked through battlefields, claiming crowns off cadavers that they had not even felled." Remember the Naginata is a blade weapon.

So should there be more Archers in later Japanese  Armies?

[LawrenceG]

Skullduggery was rampant, and samurai often picked through battlefields, claiming crowns off cadavers that they had not even felled.

Is this the origin of the term "skullduggery"?

[LeslieIan]

Skullduggery was rampant, and samurai often picked through battlefields, claiming crowns off cadavers that they had not even felled.

Is this the origin of the term "skullduggery"?

No. Skulduggery was originally an Americanism, a variant of Scottish sculduddery "fornication, lewd conduct, obscenity." In American usage, skulduggery has cleaned up its act and means only "dishonorable dealings, trickery." Neither sculduddery nor skulduggery has a reliable etymology.