Gunbai: Ancient Japanese Warfare

Taihō (大砲): Japanese Cannons and Artillery Two different types of Japanese cannons, also known as  ōzutsu. From  武道藝術秘傳圖會 [1]. Cannons, and artillery in general, have been almost completely overlooked when it comes to Japanese warfare, despite the massive amount of works dedicated to the proliferation of guns in the 1550s , during the Sengoku period. This attitude towards Japanese cannons have many reasons behind it (Turnbull I'm looking at you) , and it was likely generated by Edo periods ideals boosted by the Tokugawa Shogunate, which by that time period had the monopoly on the production of said weapon. However, during the 16th and early 17th century, the situation was quite different. Yet it is fair to say that these weapons didn't play a significant role on field battles  for a very simple reason: Japanese terrain. Being a heavily forested and predominately mountainous island, carrying heavy artillery pieces throughout Japan must have been a nightmare,...

Sekiro ( 隻狼 ) : A Historical "Review" This is something definitely new for this blog; I'm going to talk about a videogame! And if you are not familiar with my content but you were looking for the review itself of the game Sekiro ( Fromsoftware, 2019) I want to be honest, you are not going to find a normal review below here. In fact in this post, I want to talk about the history and the context in which the game is set: Japan during the Sengoku period ( 戦国時代 ). To be fair, I know that it is a game and it supposed to have fantasy elements in it, but nevertheless it is a good opportunity to talk about the true history behind the setting and the aesthetic of the game itself. Sekiro is extremely bounded to some aspect of Japanese culture and if you are looking for those elements, especially the martial ones , this post is definitely for you. First of all , I have to say, I'm impressed. Besides the gameplay, the map design, the plot and characters involved in th...