Samurai Armies 1550–1615 cover

Description

In 1543 three Portuguese merchants entered a turbulent Japan, bringing with them the first firearms the Japanese had ever seen: simple matchlock muskets called arquebuses. They proved a decisive addition to the Japanese armoury, as for centuries the samurai had fought only with bow, sword and spear. In 1575, during the Battle of Nagashino, one of the greatest original thinkers in the history of samurai, Oda Nobunaga, arranged his arquebusiers in ranks three deep behind a palisade and proceeded, quite literally, to blow his opponent's cavalry to pieces, marking the beginning of a new era in Japanese military history.

Table of Contents

The Golden Age · Samurai Armies · Samurai Battles · Sieges · Dress and Equipment: Samurai · Dress and Equipment: Ashigaru · The Plates

Product details

Published Mar 22 1979
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 48
ISBN 9780850453027
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 50 b/w; 8 col
Dimensions 10 x 7 inches
Series Men-at-Arms
Short code MAA 86
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Stephen Turnbull

Stephen Turnbull is widely recognised as the world…

Illustrator

Richard Hook

Richard Hook was born in 1938 and trained at Reiga…

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