The AskHistorians Podcast is a project that highlights the users and answers that have helped make /r/AskHistorians one of the largest history discussion forum on the internet.
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This week's Episode:
/u/TasfromTAS interviews /u/shakespeare-gurl about a topic that has nothing to do with Shakespeare: Medieval Japan. The Heian period and particularly the "pirates" of that time are covered, along with the Tale of the Heike and some general notes about working with Japanese primary sources.
/u/shakespeare-gurl has pre-suggested some resources:
The Tale of Heike translated by Hellen McCullough is a standard translation - she has additional articles if people are interested in more about the historicity of the tale.
Rethinking Japanese History by Yoshihiko Amino expands terracentric history outward into the sea and ocean.
Lords of the Sea: Pirates, Violence, and Commerce in Late Medieval Japan by Peter Shapinsky should be released this summer, but he has a couple of papers on the same topic, and a digitized dissertation if people have access to academic libraries.
If you want more specific recommendations for sources or have any follow-up questions, feel free to ask them here! Also feel free to leave any feedback on the format and so on.
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Thanks all!
Coming up next fortnight: We have an interview from Tas with /u/tobbinator and /u/Domini_canes on the Spanish Civil War.
Great interview! Kudos to fellow Japanese flaired /u/shakespeare-gurl. Excellent points, particularly about the complicated imperial succession and dispelling samurai mysticism as well as seafaring history. There was so much content packed into this interview!
A small point about the bows.
The bows they used during the Heain period were basically the same bows that are most iconic, the yumi. Supposedly, Japanese bows have been using asymmetrical bows for hundreds of years.
They are huge! I've used them myself and they are much taller than I am (though I am pretty short at only 5'4 or 160cm) and it is true that they are not held in the middle.
And surprising as it might be they DO shoot those very same bows from horseback. The name for this practice is known in our day as yabusame. They would use these bows on horseback as well as on foot.
Eventually, when the Sengoku period came and common folk were conscripted into armies, foot archers would also adapt these bows for massed volley fire.
What's interesting is that when you use these bows, there is a tendency for the arrow to rise and fall toward the right of your target so an archer would have to learn how to naturally compensate for this.
I do not have as much experience with other bows but when I play around with modern reflex bows, they shoot straight instead of having a, I guess you would call it a lean or yaw?, to the shot.
All in all, really great stuff. AskH always putting out amazing content.
I wouldn't mind doing one of these myself! Where do I sign up??? It seems boat loads of fun.
