Sengoku Period Horses

 

    

            And this here is part of the problem. The statue here depicts a quarter horse not a Japanese horse of the period. Quarter horses, western horses were imported to Japan somewhere between 1860-1890. In 1894 they were present in the Sino Japanese war. Prior to this the modern horse did not exist in Japan.

Prior Horse blog

            What does that mean? It means all wargames and modern movies and this statue are the foundation of a continually propagated lie. Sengoku period Cavalry did not charge! The cavalry charge did not exist. All because the horse in Japan at that time was too small!

            Because the horse was so small, the cavalry charge did not exist in the Sengoku period. The main reason is the armored samurai's weight prevent the horse from being able to gallop. The samurai weighted more than 35% of the horse's weight. The animal would only be able to jog. This means the is no velocity to a charge, and no mass of impact. 

            This is the size of the Samurai, Sengoku period, horse. I am 5'10". The horse's back is just above my waist. His head is roughly the size of my head. This life size model horse is at the Wantanabe Museum in Japan. The real life horse in the picture below is from Yamanashi, Japan.

            This is a modern Horse's head from Eaton's Ranch in WY. This is a quarter horse. His head is roughly 3 times mine. His back is at or over my shoulder.

Depiction of mount Samurai on traditional Sengoku period horses in movies.

    

                    What was the horse used for? Why was the Takeda cavalry so feared? The horse was used as transport and rapid redeployment. The horse could not charge, but moved faster than a man could. The ride arrived fresh and not fatigued. The mounted samurai fought from horseback for height advantage. The mounted samurai rapidly changed position and then fought on foot. The mount samurai also fought like the ancient Guals with retainers running along side. The mounted samurai did not charge.

            

Samurai reference art

 

                I am posting every from the last trip before I go on the next one. Not so much for anyone, but for me. On the road with pictures in the blog, I have all my reference material with me. All originals from everywhere I went in September 2026.

Wantanabe Museum Tottori, Japan part I

 

This is in Tokyo

            West of Osaka on the coast is the city of Tottori. It is easy enough to get to. One train but you need a reserved seat to avoid the milk run train. Reserved seat is 2ish hours. Milk run is like 5 hours. Once in Tottori you will need to take a cab. Uber works there for the ride back. The Wantanabe Museum is why you came all this way. I can't say it is the largest collection of original armor, but it has to be..

               I was blown away. Just what is kicking around is more than any place I have ever been to. They have examples of every style common dudes like me could identify. There are banner poles. What is not in the Wantanabe Museum is weapons.

    

            And these are just the ones not behind glass!

War Fan

                Most every chainmail example is the same. The links are not what we are use to. The roman and Knight chainmail was much tighter and smaller rings.

                A scale model from the Edo period of a traditional Samurai period horse. Its tiny. You would look like a little kid riding a dog.