Samurai Weapon Graphics
And recently, many new people began to contact me with a request to return to the topic of samurai weapons, and give it, so to speak, in retrospect.
We have already given colorful photographs of Sengoku armor. The story of a gunshot weapons it will be necessary, but as long as the court and the case, it makes sense for the story about the original weapons of medieval Japan to attract materials from the Japanese magazine Armor Modeling. The magazine, by the way, is very interesting. True, there are no drawings in it, but there are wonderful photographs of BTT models, dioramas created by Japanese and foreign modellers, descriptions of new model armored vehicles and technological work methods.
It just so happened that I started getting it ... from the 1989 year, and that's how I have been receiving all these years continuously. Rather, he began to receive the basic magazine “Model Graphics”, and then he added “Armor” to it. I learned a lot of technological methods precisely because of this magazine. Printed there and my articles on the BTT, reviews of Russian model novelties. 10% of the text is in English, so it’s quite enough to figure out what is being said.
Now here again from the room to the room is “samurai graphics” - very accurate black and white drawings of samurai and their weapons with a detailed story about what, how and where. In general, this magazine is an excellent source of information and a guide for illustrators.
So let's start with the 1 drawing.
1. In this figure, two samurai are fully armed. But at different times, that is, its genesis is evident. Both are dressed in the horseman’s classic armor - o-yoy, but only the right samurai of the Heian era (794 - 1185 gg.), And the left one - later, the Muromachi era (1333 - 1573 gg.). But not just Muromachi, but the Nambokuto era (1336 - 1292 gg.) Entering into it. Since the Japanese warriors were horse archers, it is not surprising that they did not have shields and at first there was no protection on their right hand. There was no protection for the throat, and on the top of the helmet was a hole in tehen or hachiman-dza, which was used for ventilation or to let out the end of the eboshi cap, which played the role of a comforter. Fukigaeshi - the lapels on both sides of the helmet were very large and did not allow the samurai to hit the neck or face in front of the side. They spring strongly and extinguish the blow. The armor was heavy, box-shaped and consisted of plates superimposed on top of one another. The cuirass was also lamellar, but it was always covered with silk so that a bowstring would slide on it. Shoes are heavy boots lined with bear or boar fur. The sword, tati, was suspended from the obi belt on the strings with the blade of the blade down. The size of the bow is from 1.80 to 2 meters, so you could shoot from it at a great distance and send arrows with great force. The warrior on the left wears the same armor, but both hands are already protected, a hambo face mask appeared - the option “saru bo” (“muzzle of the monkey”) and Nodova’s collar. Sikoro, an assassin, took the form of an “umbrella”, the Kuwagata “horns” appeared on the helmet (they appeared already in the Heian era, but then they were still becoming fashionable), often of enormous size. The most interesting thing on it is the "pants". In fact, these are not trousers, but a haydate shell armor, the ends of which are tied at the back on the hips. Shoes are light sandals, as many samurai at this time have to fight in the capital of Kyoto as foot soldiers. Hence the weapon - a sword-shaped blade naginata on a long pole.
2. This picture again shows the samurai of the Heian era in the armor of o-war. In the rear view, the large o-soda shoulder pads, which played the role of flexible shields, are clearly visible. They were attached to their shoulders, but the cords tied on their backs with a beautiful agemaki bow did not allow them to fall down on their chests. A very important place in the equipment of a samurai archer was a quiver - an ebirah, not at all similar to European ones. It resembled a wicker basket (or it was made of wood and varnished), in which a bunch of willow rods or reed stalks were located along the length of it. Between them, tips just down and inserted arrows. They carried such a quiver behind their backs, but so that their “basket” was right at hand. And the right hand, but not for the feathered end, but for the shaft at the tip, the samurai took out an arrow from it. The quiver was supposed to be a ring for a spare string - tsurumaki, and the string was called a tzuru. It was worn on the belt near the sword, with some aesthetes slinging a small sword Shoto, or tanto dagger, into its hole. In ashigaru - "light-footed" or peasant infantrymen, the quivers were also, but simpler - in the form of a woven shoulder box. See lower right.
3. In this figure, the varieties of the ebir quiver and a bunch of rods for attaching the tips are very clearly visible. Thanks to this fastening, the sharpest tips of Japanese arrows did not get dull! The arrow was called me. The tip is I-no-me. In the picture from top to bottom: the tip is togari-ya, kira-ha-hira-ne, hira-ne and the lowest one is watakushi. Interestingly, the bows of the samurai were asymmetrical and the lower end was shorter than the upper, which was convenient for the rider who shot from such a bow from a horse. Much in the Japanese art of kyudo shooting would be incomprehensible to Europeans, and even inaccessible to the understanding of a modern person. For example, the Japanese believed that the shooter is only an intermediary, and the shot itself takes place without his direct participation. It is carried out in four stages. The first is a greeting, the second is preparation for aiming, the third is aiming and the fourth, and last, is the launch of an arrow. It was necessary to enter into a certain rhythm of breathing and achieve peace of mind and body - dojikuri, after which he was ready to shoot - yugumae. But the hanare shot itself was fired only after the bow was raised above the head and then lowered to the aiming line. It was believed that it was not necessary to aim. Or rather, you do not need to think about the goal and feel the desire to hit it. On the contrary, it was necessary to “merge with the deity” and think about the path along which the arrow would go, and then ... it would hit the target itself! The range of an aimed shot from a saddle did not exceed 10-15 m, although it was possible to shoot from a Japanese bow at 200 m. But we are talking about an aimed shot, which could only hit a samurai in armor with an o-yoroi, hitting an unprotected place with an arrow.
The importance that was attached to archery in the past is evidenced by the fact that in historical sources called the samurai "a man armed with a bow."
The Japanese historian Mitsuo Kure reports that the most primitive bows were made from azus, me-yumi and keyaki. Their power was small, so to increase it increased the length of the bow. Even at the end of the Heian period, most of the bows were made from the listed materials.
However, even then the methods of manufacturing bows gradually improved. Scraping the rounded front surface (“back”) and gluing the bamboo stripe made the bow more flexible and powerful (fuetake-yumi). It is not surprising that the next step was to place the wooden base of the onion between the two bamboo details (sanmai-uchi-no-yumi). But the process of cultivation has just begun. Glued composite bows retained strength for only two years, so the masters strengthened them by wrapping reed or rattan with fibers (Tomaki-no-Yumi-shi sigo). The length of the bow varied from 180 to 250, see. The bow of the siget was asymmetrical, with 36 turns of the reed over the handle and 28 of turns under it, but in the subsequent period there was also an inverse relationship. Theoretically, reed or rattan onions were supposed to be varnished and not to use a white string, but in practice there were many varieties of amplification.
For greater strength and power, composite bows were made from several wooden and bamboo planks glued together (high-yumi). It is known that the range of such bows was 132 m along a flat trajectory. This distance is equal to the length of the veranda in the temple of Rengyo ogin (Sanjusangando), where every year holidays were held, the participants of which shot at targets located at the end of the veranda.
The length of the arrow was measured in the width of the "fists and fingers." The largest of the known arrows had a length of twenty-three fists and three fingers, the middle one was twelve fists, but, of course, the width of the fists was also different. There could be three or four rows of plumage. For each variety of targets, different arrowheads were intended: to pierce armor or hand shields, cut through the lacing of armor, leave ripped wounds, etc. “Whistling arrows” imported into Japan from China; they were called kabura (kaburai), that is, turnip, their tip in flight issued a whistle. Usually they were shot, announcing their intention to start a fight. In any case, the Japanese used them during the invasion of the Mongols, but they ridiculed their custom. It seemed strange to them why to shoot arrows “just like that,” when everything is already clear. It’s necessary to shoot people ... True, hitting such an arrow into an opponent’s helmet could cause a contusion, but still the arrows of the priests were used mainly for ceremonial purposes.
4. The change of methods of warfare in the Sengoku period led to a decrease in the length of the bow. The samurai led the hikes of foot archers, no longer belonging to the samurai class, and these infantrymen were more comfortable to handle with shorter bows, so their arc was shortened to 198, see. It was reinforced with five turns of reed, with an interval of one shaku (30 cm) between the turns. Ashigaru’s quivers were woven and resembled a narrow basket. The commander of archers, ashigaru (co-gashiru), did not shoot himself, but he had a special measuring cane with which he determined the distance to the enemy and gave the command at what angle to shoot arrows. He also had to help the arrows to the shooters who shot them all. But at the same time, he had to know exactly what he was shooting at the target, and not just wasting arrows. Together with the archers, servants of vacato acted, dragging boxes, in which there were at once a hundred arrows. All this allowed the archers to maintain intense shooting for a long time.
5. Japanese "throwing machines" (if you can call it the fixtures that you see in this picture). Were simple but functional. Kamnemety reminded Mongolian. They were driven by the living power of the peasants. Or even simpler - cut down a tree in front of an enemy castle, trimmed a part of the trunk to a cone - here's a “throwing machine” for you - pull it back and ... drop what you want. The Japanese used as explosive bombs with a body made of iron and a wick passing through a hollow tube with a handle and wheels as shells. On the walls of the castle hung heavy stones and platforms with a load of cobblestones. Cut the rope - here they are on top and fell down. And since they were installed in rows, one after another, it was deadly to climb in this place on the wall.
6. Only in the era of Azuti-Momoyam (1573 - 1603) the Japanese riders began to fight more with spears (you can see in the drawings bishimon jari spear dedicated to God Bisyamon), and not with bows and wearing armor (in any case, cuirass) approaching designs to the cuirass of the Europeans, although here they had their own original solutions. For example, these are one-piece forged cuffs, neo-do or nio-do, or the “torso of the buddha.” Why "buddhas" and not buddhas? The fact is that among the samurai, the Pure Land sect enjoyed great popularity, the followers of which believed that the Buddhas, that the sand grains on the river bank, and that it was enough to proclaim a prayerful appeal to Buddha Amida to be saved! At the very warrior kataragui-kirass-to or "monk's torso".
7. From all the ancient skill of horse archers in Japan to this day, the Yabusame school lived in which they teach the art of shooting a Japanese bow from a horse. For yabusame competitions, horsemen dress in traditional costumes of hunters — they wear sun hats and hides made from deer or boar skin. Quivers for arrows are used either by ebira or utsubo.
8. In this photo from the yabusame contest, arrowheads of boars are clearly visible. Previously, they were shot at foxes. Then the foxes were replaced by dogs. Then the dogs were dressed in protective suits ... Today they refused from the dogs, replacing them with targets.
9. The rider passes the distance and must hit the target (rope) with an arrow from the tips of kira-ha-hira-ne.
10. A competitor yabusame shoots from a Japanese asymmetrical bow.
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