Samurai Weaponry

The word 'samurai' means, quite literally, ‘to serve’. As feudal warriors on the upper echelons of their society, they had one purpose - to fight for their liege lord. In this article, we examine the principle weapons of the samurai.

Samurai started training from early childhood, so when they went into battle, they were fulfilling their ultimate purpose in life. Battle was the culmination of their life’s aim and experience.

Katana and Wakizashi

Obviously, those with greater martial training had an edge over their less accomplished colleagues. Samurai had a variety of weaponry with which to dispatch each other. The two principles swords of the samurai - the katana and the wakizashi - were razor sharp, with an extremely hard cutting edge backed by a softer steel substructure.

This meant that as the warrior sliced the edge across an opponent, the blade would continue cutting through to the bone - and sometimes beyond - as it followed the curve of the blade.

Yumi

In the earlier period of samurai warfare, many warriors used yumi (bows). These were of composite wood and bamboo construction. The bow was laminated to protect it from the elements. Arrows were of bamboo. The strength of a bow was measured by how many men were required to string it. Thus, a ‘3 man bow’ reputedly required the weight of 3 men to bend it so it could be strung.

Yari

Polearms were also used. Most samurai preferred the yari, or spear. There were a variety of techniques, or yarijitsu, associated with the use of the spear. Contemporary illustrations depict men being spitted on spears, sometimes several at once. If the warrior was mounted, the yari could also be used to deliver long slashing strokes.

Naginata

Some warriors used the naginata, which closely resembled the European glaive. This weapon was particularly favoured by sohei, or warrior monks, who are often referred to as ‘spinning their naginata like waterwheels.’ Some scholars believe the development of suneate (shin-guards) went hand in hand with the evolution of the naginata.

Nodachi

Another, less well known blade, was the nodachi. This was a two handed sword which resembled a giant katana. It was, however, a highly specialist weapon, although some warrior’s achieved fame through it’s use. One Makara Naotaka used a nodachi with a five foot long blade.

Kanabo

The tetsubo or kanabo was a wooden club clad in iron, with iron studs accounting for perhaps a third of the weapons length. It basically resembled a crude elongated baseball bat. It was reckoned good for breaking swords and horses legs and it’s weight meant that it could inflict serious blunt trauma even on armoured opponents. However, it’s weight also made it very cumbersome to wield. This weapon is associated particularly with oni, the devils of Japanese folklore.

Wounds

The treatment of wounds was primitive. One warrior is recorded as having endured 13 separate cuts and still managed to survive. Such cases must have been rare, as the wounds produced by high-quality steel weapons meant that most victims, if not killed outright, probably bled to death. In a medical manual of the 14th century, the following advice was given for treating stomach wounds;

‘Cover the intestines with dried faeces, then close the wound with mulberry root sutures and spread cat-tail pollen over the area. Activities to be avoided were anger, laughter, thought, sex, activity, work, sour foods and sake.’The faeces was probably horse dung.

For treating arrow wounds, a warrior might have his head tied to a tree so that he could not move whilst a comrade attempted to extract the arrowhead with tongs or even his bare hands.

Sources:

Turnbull, Stephen; Warriors of Medieval Japan, 2005, Osprey publishing

Mitsuo Kure and Ghislaine Kruit; Samurai: Arms, armour and costume, 2000, Crowood Press ltd.

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