Pre-Samurai Warriors - Kofun/Yayoi Era, Japanese Iron Age
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- What warriors did Japan have when Rome was a military power in the west? A presentation on Iron age warriors in Japan and their weapons, armour and battle.
古墳時代
A Roman legion was the largest unit of the Roman army, consisting of centuries as the basic units.
For most of the Roman Imperial period, the legions formed the Roman army's elite heavy infantry, recruited exclusively from Roman citizens, while the remainder of the army consisted of auxiliaries, who provided additional infantry and the vast majority of the Roman army's cavalry.
A legion consisted of several cohorts of heavy infantry known as legionaries. It was almost always accompanied by one or more attached units of auxiliaries, who were not Roman citizens and provided cavalry, ranged troops and skirmishers to complement the legion's heavy infantry.
From the time of Gaius Marius onwards, legionaries received 225 denarii a year; this basic rate remained unchanged until Domitian, who increased it to 300 denarii. The soldiers did not receive all the money in cash, as the state deducted a clothing and food tax from their pay. To this wage, a legionary on active campaign would hope to add the booty of war. Slaves could also be claimed from the prisoners of war and divided amongst the legion for later sale, which would bring in a sizeable supplement to their regular pay.
All legionary soldiers would also receive a praemia on the completion of their term of service: a sizeable sum of money and/or a plot of good farmland; farmland given to veterans often helped in establishing control of the frontier regions and over rebellious provinces.
Samurai were the military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan.
In Japanese, they are usually referred to as bushi or buke.
By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class. The samurai were usually associated with a clan and their lord, and were trained as officers in military tactics and grand strategy. While the samurai numbered less than 10% of then Japan's population, their teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in modern Japanese martial arts.
As aristocrats for centuries, samurai developed their own cultures that influenced Japanese culture as a whole. The culture associated with the samurai such as the tea ceremony, monochrome ink painting, rock gardens and poetry were adopted by warrior patrons throughout the centuries 1200-1600. These practices were adapted from the Chinese arts.
In general, samurai, aristocrats, and priests had a very high literacy rate in kanji. Recent studies have shown that literacy in kanji among other groups in society was somewhat higher than previously understood.
Some samurai had buke bunko, or "warrior library", a personal library that held texts on strategy, the science of warfare, and other documents that would have proved useful during the warring era of feudal Japan. One such library held 20,000 volumes. The upper class had Kuge bunko, or "family libraries", that held classics, Buddhist sacred texts, family histories, as well as genealogical records.
A samurai was usually named by combining one kanji from his father or grandfather and one new kanji. Samurai normally used only a small part of their total name.
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This is Thrand! Excellent video.
Thank you for watching, Thrand, I appreciate!
I was looking forward to it!
ThegnThrand hail.
Who are you?
He is a good fellow content creator, check out his channel! Definitely recommended
I for one would like to see more on this era.
Youngimperialist , There's almost no written history from that period of Japanese history so virtually everything to read up about it is speculative.
Hey Metatron how about a discussion of events where samurai fought against foreign forces, such as the Mongol invasion, invasion of Korea (fighting against Chosun/Ming forces), fighting Spaniards in Philippines, and fighting in Thailand as mercenaries?
There's also the time they kidnapped the king of Okinawa.
Wut Samaurais Came invaded the philppines? How come learned that in History Class. BTW im a filipino born and grew up in the philppines.
They came as pirates to attack a small Spanish force. Look up the Cagayan battle.
Unfortunately Mongol fleet got screwed by typhoon. Samurai vs Mongols would’ve great. Both great warriors with different styles.
Yeah especially since not much information is out there on their engagements. Just some vague accounts of samurai challenging the Mongol force to one on one duels and the Mongols shooting poison arrows. Also a small battle scene on youtube from a japanese show. I read somewhere that the japanese employed night fighting tactics where small boats of like 15 samurais would board Mongol ships hidden by darkness and wipe out entire crews, and then repeat several times. That would be badass to see as a battle scene.
Awesome video! Please feel free to continue with videos on the pre-Samurai eras! Even the Jomon Cultures appear interesting as little of them as I have an understanding of. I have heard a 'Final Jomon Culture' referenced at about 325BC, around the death of Alexander the Great.
of course, the problem there is that pretty much all military history from that period is either based on oral tradition or highly speculative, Here he's going back about as far as you can without getting into myth and legend territory (although I wouldn't mind a video on that either, it would just be kind of different)
Last time I was this early there were people who weren't demonetized on youtube.
Yayoi is prehistory, the later part of the Kofun (Tomb) phase also known as the Yamato Period is recorded history.
Hey Metatron, could you please do a video on military style archery in Japan and how it differs from Kyudo? I've done a little research and found some interesting differences but with your knowledge of Japanese I'm sure you could find out much more than I could!
Jack Meeks yes! This please!
while we're at it how about a comparison between western archery and japanese archery historical and modern.
Here is a nice article about Japanese war bows if you are interested
gunbai-militaryhistory.blogspot.it/2017/07/yumi-japanese-bow.html?m=1
Thanks! That was a great read.
Thanks Luca for always bring well researched information to our attention rather then baseless speculation that is so common on the internet.
Wow, another excellent video on Japanese history and I really enjoyed it. You have inspired me to study Japanese History, Martial Arts, Bushido etc all thanks to your videos. Thank you very much and I look forward to your Date Masamune documentary. Keep up the great work Metatron!
So glad to here that you're doing a video on Oda Nobunaga. So glad that we agree that he's the greatest of all daimyō in history.
This was a amazing video I am very happy as a korean that you know the three kingdoms and also you indeed said baekjae correctly
Your pronounciation of Baekje was spot on the first time! Don't sweat it! :)
Great video. You should check with Chinese and Korea histories and how they affected Japan's armor and weapons patterns in trade and warfare.
Excellent video. I hope we see more content like this in the future. I absolutely love antiquity era east Asian history. I hope you do more videos on things like the 3 Kingdoms of Korea Goguryeo, Silla, Baekje, and the Gaya confederacy.
9:04 thicc
All right Metatron, consider me as a new member of your Patreon! I was planning already to join because I really wanna watch your documentaries, but now that you put in also Sengoku Jidai, well...I'm definitely coming! I'm eager to see what you have to tell about Date Masamune, although my favourite Sengoku Jidai Daimyo was, and still is, Uesugi Kenshin! :D
Metatron, you productions values continue to improve! Such amazing content my friend, congratulations!
Awesome, I was looking for more information on this stuff, it's actually surprisingly hard to research if you can't read Japanese and/or don't have access to an academic library with lots of PRJs.
Metatron, you should do a video on Chinese and Korean armour of the same period, so we can see how they influence one another
It's basically just China influent the other two.
I love your videos, but the last 3-4 ones I wasn't really interested in, but this new video is exactly why I subscribed to you awesome channel!
In my project on Japanese history in 7th grade for studying the military system of pre Samurai japan, I learned some of this, but you have even more useful info than I! If only you made this video a year and a half ago, I would find great use of it! Nice job, keep it up!
I always have wanted to learn about pre-Samurai Japanese troops but I always thought there was pretty much no information on them, so I'm very happy to see this video be made.
Tanko armor, huh? I bet it offers good protection but encumbers more than thiefo armor.
Madao i had to throw a saving roll against facepalm with that joke... Critical fail...
Didn't laugh at the joke. Laughed my ass off to your reply though. Thumbs up on that one mate. Critical fail indeed.
Congrats
Get out!
I had to read it a few times to get the pun
I was looking for exactly this ! Thank you so much
Kofun means tombs. During neolithic period in Northeast Asia, dolmens were built along the line from Shangdong peninsula, Manchuria, Korea and Kyushu Japan. I guess the builders were related to Yayoi people. In ancient time, Chinese people called people in Shangdong peninsula 'eastern barbarians' which means they were different from Chinese. Those stone tombs made a transformation to mounded tombs(墳丘墓), further to keyhole tombs(前方後円墳) which found both in Japan and Baekje/Kaya in Korea. Another Korean kingdom of Silla during three kingdom period, the rulers tombs style was the same with those of Xianbei, the non-Chinese northern rulers of North Wei, Sui and Tang in China. The Battle of Baekgang should be the fight between Dongyi (東夷, Yayoi tribes like Baekje/Japan) and Donghu(東胡, Xianbei).
Referencing your patreon trailer, love it when you speak in the actual language depicted. It gives a more local feel, enhancing the mood. Please do that more often. I don't mind reading the subs.
gather around kids, metatron is giving a history lesson 🙌
Dr. Urbani---I will be in Palermo March 2018. I would be honored to meet Salvo. Yes you certainly. Watanabe Ken acted in Date Masamune and was very good.I do not know if that series was carried in Italia. Damned good video! Sincerely a fellow closet Oriental----Dr. P BTW,I am surrounded by Koreans, but I have yet to develop a Korean "ear".
You'd make a great japanese voice actor. Your pronounciation sounds a lot cleaner and clearer than most of the japanese people I came to know
This is one of the few documentaries that I've ever seen where someone talks about Japan before the samurai. Even people talk about Samurai they tend to only look at weapons and armor from the Sengoku Jedai, not from before. Deadliest Warrior is one glaring example since they compared Vikings circa 10th century vs 17th century samurai.
THANK YOU THANK YOU!! The Kofun and Yayoi ages were so cool.
What an excellent and informative video. Great to hear about this little known epoch.
These type of vids were the best !
Thanks Metatron for another amazing video! I hope you make more talking about this period of Japenese history. In the last year, I have studied about early Korean history, and I really enjoyed the new insights on early Japanese war culture clashing with Korea during the 3 Kingdoms period. Fascinating stuff I tell you! Thanks again!
Very nice. I often wondered about this topic, but never heard much or even tried to search honestly. But very cool hearing someone talk about it
I would love to see more videos on this subject. So much more interesting than what is put out by TV channels.
thanks, been interested in this period and the battle between Tang & Yamato around Korea specifically recently
I cant believe I havent seen this one yet! Here from your using a helmet as a shield video
Same, and is a pity I lost this good content for soo much time. Otherwise I would have vouched for more...
Wh-wh-what! Just as the video was getting interesting is was over! I want more, *much more* on the history of Japan, China and Korea. Make more videos now!!! A whole series of them.
Wonderful as always :) Fantastic approach to the subject!
OMG i was just pondering about that topic a couple of days ago!
thx for spreading out wings of knowledge yet again Metatron :D
Please more! Also the korean peninsula and china!
(There you go, content material for years! ;D)
Great video! Awesome education and entertainment!! Please can you do a video about pre roman Europe.
Resident of Korea and amateur Korean historian here. Your first pronunciation of Baekje was closest. In Korean the J (ㅈ) is pronounced like the j at the begining of the Japanese "ji" in this case, but when at the start of a word, it is more like a soft English "ch." I would have made the emphasis on the first syllable stronger.
However, Silla or Shilla is pronounced with a soft "sh" like in the Mandarin Xi despite starting with the s (ㅅ) letter. I believe this is a rule about the i (이) vowel changing the ㅅ from an aspirated "s" to a "sh" sound.
An interesting video to look into might be looking at the cultural and economic impact of the relationship between Yamato and Baekje and the integration of the Baekje refugees that came to Japan following their defeat.
Hessan's County He's Italian not anglo there's no English pronunciation for him,he will read them with an Italian accent and grammar.
@@nomennescio8862 He asked viewers to leave a comment if they knew the pronunciation. Hessan's County was politely complying.
Would love to see more dedicated videos about this period
Dear Metatron,
Though I am following your videos for quite a long time now, I have took the time to comment until now. This had to change. I really wanted to tell you how much I loved your videos. Being a student in Japanese Studies and in archeology, the scope of your channel matches perfectly with my passions and interests. A big thank you to you!
I am particularly interested in the pre-Heian Japan (especially Jōmon, Yayoi, Yamato and Nara), so I would be very grateful if could find the time and motivation to make some other videos on elements those periods.
Thanks again and hello from Kyoto!
I have a suggestion. I’d like to see a video on the bibliography you would recommend for anyone interested in general history and warfare history. I’m really curious about those illustrations of early warriors from the iron age and the factual basis for their conception.
Excellent video Raph!!!
Great video my friend! Please do make videos on Yayoi Jidai and more on the Kofun period!
Thanks for the video, it was educational to a degree; For me...
Awesome! Learned a lot today :)
Great video, at the end I wanted more, it didn't feel like sixteen minutes
伽耶=Kaya/Gaya (also called 任那=Mimana/Imna) fell in 562, before the battle of Hakusuki-no-e. After the fall of Kaya, the Yamato remained allies of Baekje. The battle of Hakusuki-no-e of 663 between the Baekje-Yamato alliance and the Silla-Táng alliance started after the crown prince 扶餘豊=Buyeo Pung who was until then living in Yamato as a "人質" (some sort of hostage) returned to Baekje to reestablish the government which had fallen in 660 when his father 義慈=Uija was taken captive along with other government officials by the Táng. About the number of boat sunk, it's unclear like you said, but it's also important to remember that history is written by the victors and that the Japanese haven't started recording such events before the 8th century with the kojiki and the Nihongi. As for the Taika Reforms, it started in 645 before the battle of Hakusuki-no-e, not after, and rather than military reforms it was more political reforms (led by the Fujiwara no Fuhito attempting to replace the old uji-kabane political system and to overthrow the Soga clan which had become too powerful after they had defeated the Mononobe clan and Nakatomi clan). Though it's true the new political system was copied on the Táng system. From the 7th century until the 9th century Japan imported a great number of things from China. [By the way, I love your channel.]
I was waiting for this!!
Hi Metatron! Fascinating video! It gave me an idea for a topic I'd love to see you cover. The idea is; how swords first came to be. It really seems like it would make an intriguing video. Stay awesome!
Wow! I love that preview!
So glad you made this. Always was curious about early kapanese warriors. Not a subject my liberal college was willing to teach.
A very informative video
Yeah finally a vid about japan again! Love it :)
one of the things i love most about japan is their style of fire arms ....they had some nice looking matchlocks
Love it, i would like a lot for you to talk about Kuasanagi Sword and Tombo giri spear, this mythical weapons of japan, and maybe about Kojiki and nihon shoki etc
very good job
Kusanagi? In Atsuta Shine?
Please make more of this, I was actually just looking for info on this time - its so interesting. This is off topic but, can you do a video on life in medieval japan, kinda like the towns and, life expectancy of medieval europe.
pls do more videos on this periods, very rarely are they explored
One topic I would love for you to discuss about is the acts of kindness warriors have done (be they knights, samurai, or other kinds of warriors and they can range from group acts to an individual warrior's acts). With so much talk about the various acts of violence and cruelty warriors have committed, I'd like to hear about the lighter and more uplifting side.
Hey, I would love to know more about Ancient Danish military. Especially anything you can find out about battles around the time of the battle of illerup ådal.
Great videos. Can you do a video on just the pre samurai swords?
Hi Metatron, could you do a video comparison on Nioh about IRL VS In-game weapons & armors?
I am very surprised to found out some of the weapons & armors in Nioh are actually a re-creation of real life weapons & armors especially for some real life characters that exist at that time.
Very interesting indeed & thanks.
I know samurai were actually cavalry archers (or at least far more than any other kind of soldier) but anime and video games have made me always think of samurai as foot soldiers entirely dedicated to swords...
This is true, but the use of the bow became less and less popular over the years, and eventually fell out of fashion. Sengoku era samurai were more about big spears (some even becoming straight up shock cavalry like european knights) and guns than bows, and during the Edo Period the katana became much more important due to the long-lasting peace.
So that cliché of the katana-wielding samurai on foot is actually true if you're talking about Edo-era samurai, however they most likely wouldn't be wearing any kind of armor (or only to show off).
huh I've never heard of them as shock-cavalry (I did know about them using yari and naginata though). I would have assumed the bow came back into fashion during the edo period as well (as kind of a historical relic) but I am far from an expert on japanese warfare/social customs.
As far as tradition goes the bow never went out of fashion, because obviously it's tradition. I was mainly talking about what they used to fight with.
Shock cavalry was pretty rare, but the Takeda were famous for that during the Sengoku Jidai. Wich was a very bad timing for them because pike & shot started to become popular in the same era, with devastating consequences for them.
Metatron if you are referring the "Taika Reform" to 「大化の改新」, it is mainly a political reform (land reform) where all the power was centralized to the Japanese Emperor. This reform took place in AD646, before the "Sea Battle of Hakusukinoe". After the battle, fearing an invasion from Tang, Emperor Tenji did strengthen the military, including the construction of forts and castles. As far as my understanding the "Taika Reform" had nothing to do with any military reform, except for the fact that the Emperor took full control of the military.
You think you could do a video on the samurai fleets and their training regiment, the diet and lifestyles? In the military doesn't matter what period
Finally! I really am curious what does a pre samurai and katana Japanese soldiers or warriors would wear and use.
Does anybody know, was there any influence to japanese warfare by Ainu? I am most interested in the origin of yari jutsu and is it connected to Eastern Siberian warfare.
Great video
I think a video about the development of Japanese cavalry would be very interesting. First would be the pre-samurai Japanese cavalry which did have stirrups since 5th century. Samurais were originally horse archers and the development of Japanese charge cavalry especially under Takeda Shingen could be very interesting to see as well.
It would be cool to find out more about the Yamato period too :-)
It could be noted that during the Kofun period the Yamato court had a prolonged struggle with the Kumaso tribe of Kyushu island, identified as Jomon remnants who took into use some Japanese features while still basically Jomon culture.
And we can also be quite sure that though we don't hear much of it, there must have been a continuous small scale struggle with another remnant from the Jomon culture, the Emishi up in northern Tohoku. Thus struggle didn't break out in a main conflict until the 8th and 9th centuries but that can only have been the end struggle against this people. They must have been relatives of the still to this day surviving Ainu people at Hokkaido and formerly southern Sakhalin and the Ryukyu islands too.
Hi metatron I am your follower from few times. I love your video, this was particularly interesting for me because I am a student of east Asian archaeology who will be graduate this 10th December with a work on shipbuilding in yayoi period. Yayoi period is very interesting for the Emerge of war between chieftains in yayoi jidai. In "the illustrated companion of japanese Archaeology" (2020) steinhaus et al. You can find some interesting rapresentation of wooden shild, armor and weapons based on archaeological finds and iconography (dotaku). I think could be interesting for you to make a next video on war in yayoi era.
I wish it could be interesting for you, if you want to know more about boat could be an honor fort me to start a conversation with you😉😁
Ps. Ti saluto da napoli, se non si fosse capito dalle imprecisioni frutto del mio inglese sono Italiano pure io.
A video on the Taika reform would be cool.
I...must become a patron Date Masamune is my favorite Sengoku Jidai warlord as well.
So exciting to see the kanabou :D
Very interesting.
Great vid iv always been interested in this judai could you do a vid on the Ainu the the natives of Japan before the the inhabitants of the main land came over dont know much about them and thay fascinate me
Plz make a video on Chinese armour evolution
If you have the time; how about a video on Japanese archery from the pre-samurai and samurai periods? Maybe have to be in two parts, I don't know. Just a thought.
Intertesting. I know next to nothing about pre-Tokugawa Japan, incl. the rise of the Samurai, so I'd be very interested to know more about the history & society.
Would love for you to do the "Mongol Invasion of Japan". I saw a video documentary of it once and it was so Epic: The Mighty Undefeated-able Massive Mongolian Naval Fleet storming at Japans beach yet the Japanese was able to hold off this huge army and then a Tsunami finally wiped off the Mongolian naval fleet.
This would also make a great "Mongol Warrior vs. Samurai Warrior" Video for you to make in your Warrior V.S. Warrior comparison video series only this time it's an actual event that really happened in the history book.
Would always love more history
Please more videos on Japan!! 😁
Great video )
Raf, completely unrelated but I wanted to ask about the Roman legions in the winter. What did they wear in the snow? How did they deal with extreme winter weather and how did they clear snow?
If you had a choice which would u pick?
Praetorian guard or Centurion?
Antelao
Why not both?
Antelao , Sorry. My first response was just me being a jackass. I'd choose a centurion since Praetorians developed a nasty habit of murdering the Caesar.
I feel a centurion has more exposure to combat
Pick for what? Picking which one we want to be? Which one would beat takeshi's castle?
Xollob I dunno really. Let’s just say what you’d prefer to be 🙂
Can't have a proper Metatron documentary without FDA approved dose of cringe.
Love ya ;*
Oh, you have no idea. He's cringe worthy even by weeb standards. Imagine the lengths this guy goes to just to speak like a samurai. Not even the dialogue in Kurosawa's movies is this stilted. xD
I don't believe the dialogue was stilted at all to be honest, my Japanese pronunciation/intonation and the pauses of speach I use come from meticulous imitation of native speakers, after 8 years of studies. A part from that, I don't mind being called cringe worthy, since I know it's often (unfortunately not always) done with affection.
Your Japanese pronounciation is perfect, as far as I can tell, and I wasn't referring to that. I meant the dialogue was "stilted" as in the lines sound like straight out of a samurai anime... The entire thing reminds me about otaku originally being a pronoun, and understanding that it refers to you makes you an otaku. And as a fellow otaku, I say this with affection: dressing up in a full suit of samurai armor and stating, in archaic language (which of course is about as historically accurate you can get without being completely incomprehensible), that you are a samurai and know nothing but the battlefield... that's the definition of cringe worthy.
Oh c'mon, how old are you? Just because he does things differently from others doesn't automatically mean he's cringe worthy.
PS. I bet you don't even have any samurai armor of your own.
I also thought he sounded like an anime, but I've been watching Metatron long enough to know he's not a weeb. As far as cringe goes, I think most people think diferent is cringe, but mostly because others dont dare to try certain things.
I would like to learn more of early Japanese military history please.
Your stare penetrates my soul!
:O
Awesome patreon trailer!
すげー
ありがとうございます
You should make a video about Katori Shinto Ryu, its one of the oldest Kenjutsu Schools that still teaching in Japan.
I actually saw a lot of these at the Tokyo national musem. Very interesting items. Also the earlier swords are very similar to Chinese style at the time.
Metatron, I would welcome any insights and information you can give us on Japanese history and society. I appreciate it when you anchor things in time by comparing points to what is going on in European society-that helps me integrate my world view.
What was the utility of that turban like thing putted in great helms during the crusades? I'd appreciate the response
Cegesh I thought they where for cooling like actual turbans
Can you cover the weapons, armor, and armies during the 3 Kingdom period of Korean history?