What was the standard Japanese army composed of during the 16th century?

by inkisdorian
ParallelPain

TL;DR: In the Sengoku some horsemen, archers, and gunners, and lots of pikes, but really all over the place.

There's no such thing as "standard", as every clan is different (I'm just learning it was the same in Europe, but anyways). Composition also changed very quickly as first samurai cavalry gave away to mass infantry bow-spear armies, and then spears and especially bows were increasingly given up for guns.

Let's take a look at some of the clans in central and eastern Japan in the late 16th century:

Hōjō:

Samurai Mounted Yari Bow Misc Inf Guns Flags Total Year
宮城 四郎兵衛 泰業 8 17 1 5 2 3 38 1572
池田 孫左衛門尉 6 12 1 4 1 2 26 1581
岡本 八郎左衛門 1 6 7 1 15 1581
井田 因幡守 27 40 20 28 20 10 145 1587
小曾 戸丹後守 5 20 2 27 1590?
太田 源五郎 500 600 40 270 50 120 1,580 1590

What we can see straight away is that there are incredible fluctuations even within a single clan. But except for Sir Ozone's what seems to be a gunner team, there's a heavy reliance on spears and mounted men. Spears make up between a third and half of the force, and it would appear the earlier we go the more spears were used in general, though this sample size is very small so we need to be cautious. Mounted men make up about 20~30% of the force. Though it's important to note that not all mounted men are cavalry. Many are officers. We can also see that guns are used in the same number as bows or greater, but both make up less than a tenth of the force usually.

Takeda

The Kōyō Gunkan estimates that at the height of Takeda Shingen's power, he could mobilize 52,023 men (it's actually 51,978 if you do the math, so the author made a mistake). Of which, 9,121 are "knights" (騎), 6,373 are ashigaru, and the rest are essentially squires of the "knights". For many reasons, especially because the Gunkan itself say so, we shouldn't think the 9,121 are cavalry. For the make up, here are some surviving muster:

Lord’s Name Mounted Pike Bow Mochiyari Guns Flags Total Men Year
大井左馬允 0 30 5 2 1 1 46 1562
大井左馬允 5 31 5 2 1 1 45 1562
大井左馬允 4 18 4 3 1 1 38 1564
武田兵庫肋 3 10 2 5 5 3 28 1571
小田切民部少輔 6 19 6 6 6 3 46 1576
大日方佐渡守 4 1 2 1 1 9 1576
市河助一郎 1 6 1 2 2 1 13 1576
大滝宮内左衛門 1 1 2 1 1 6 1576
嶋津左京亮 1 4 1 1 21 1578
勝善寺 1 1 1578
玉井源右衛門尉 1 1 2 1578
原伝兵街 1 1 1 1 1 5 1578

Once again a huge variation. But we can perhaps guess (it’s at best a guess) that while Sir Ōi in the 1560s brought half or more spears, 10% cavalry, and 15% range stuff with bows far outnumbering guns, by the 1570s, even before Nagashino, the Takeda were bringing more guns, roughly equal number of bows and guns. Polearms still dominate, with still around half the force being made up of polearms (though less than Sir Ōi in the 1560’s, with two to four polearm to every bow/gun. Mounted remained roughly 10%.

We do know that prior to Nagashino, Katsuyori gave praise to men who brought guns to muster. After Nagashino, it was required (though bringing bows instead was apparently fine).

Uesugi

Kenshin’s general muster in 1577 is as follows:

Lord’s Name Yari Unarmed Guns Flags Mounted Total
上杉景勝 250 40 20 25 40 375
山浦国清 170 20 20 15 20 250
上杉景信 54 10 4 5 8 81
上条政繁 63 15 2 6 10 96
琵琶島弥七郎 106 15 10 10 15 156
山本寺定長 50 10 2 3 6 71
松本鶴松 81 15 10 8 10 124
松本同心 20 - 3 5 6 34
本庄秀綱 150 30 15 15 30 240
吉江佐渡守 50 10 4 5 7 76
吉江同心 26 - 1 1 1 29
山吉豊守 235 40 20 30 52 377
直江実綱 200 30 20 20 35 305
吉江資堅 60 15 5 10 15 105
香取弥平太 90 15 5 7 15 132
河田吉久 60 20 5 7 15 107
北条高定 60 20 7 7 11 105
小国刑部 80 15 10 10 10 125
長尾景直 50 15 3 3 10 81
中条景泰 80 20 10 15 15 140
黒川清実 98 15 10 10 15 148
黒川同心 27 - 1 1 2 31
色部顕長 160 20 12 15 20 227
水原隆家 58 10 5 6 8 87
竹俣慶綱 67 10 5 6 10 98
新発田長敦 135 20 10 12 17 194
五十公野信宗 80 15 10 8 11 124
加地彦次郎 108 15 10 10 15 158
安田新太郎 90 20 10 13 15 148
下条采女正 32 10 2 3 5 52
荒川弥次郎 32 10 2 3 5 52
菅名与三 47 10 6 6 9 73
菅名同心 2 - 1 1 1 5
平賀左京亮 54 10 4 5 8 81
平賀同心 8 - 3 3 3 17
新津大膳亮 54 10 4 5 8 81
新津同心 4 - 2 2 2 10
斎藤朝信 153 20 10 12 18 213
千坂景親 36 10 2 4 6 58
柿崎晴家 180 30 15 15 20 260
新保孫六 40 15 2 3 7 67
竹俣小太郎 46 10 3 5 6 70
山岸隼人佐 30 10 2 3 5 50
安田顕元 60 15 5 5 10 95
舟見宮内少輔 70 10 5 6 10 101
Total 3606 650 317 369 567 5509

As it’s the same year it’s easier to compare. And yes same old all over the place. About 6% of the force is made up of gunners, which is less than half of the Takeda in the same period, assuming Sir Ota and Takeda Nobuzande (Hyōgo) are representative. It’s fairly close or slightly more than the Hōjō though. Also of interest is the large number of polearms even in 1577, and the number of “unarmed” men (about 12%). We don’t know if these are support troops, if archers are now counted as “unarmed”, or both. Mounted is still about 10%.

Oda-ish

Akechi Mitsuhide (the guy who betrayed and killed Oda Nobunaga in 1582), [wrote in 1581] (http://www.city.fukuchiyama.kyoto.jp/fukuchiyamaisanWEB/siteibunkazai/komonjyo/katyuugunpou.jpg):

... Bring 6 men to muster for every 100 koku. Gather men at that ratio.
Between 100 and 150 koku: 1 armour, 1 horse, 1 sashimono, 1 yari
Between 150 koku and 200 koku: 1 armour, 1 horse, 1 sashimono, 2 yari
Between 200 koku and 300 koku: 1 armour, 1 horse, 2 sashimono, 2 yari
Between 300 koku and 400 koku: 1 armour, 1 horse, 3 sashimono, 3 yari, 1 flag, 1 gun
Between 400 koku and 500 koku: 1 armour, 1 horse, 4 sashimono, 4 yari, 1 flag, 1 gun
Between 500 koku and 600 koku: 2 armours, 2 horses, 5 sashimono, 5 yari, 1 flag, 2 guns
Between 600 koku and 700 koku: 2 armours, 2 horses, 6 sashimono, 6 yari, 1 flag, 3 guns
Between 700 koku and 800 koku: 3 armours, 3 horses, 7 sashimono, 7 yari, 1 flag, 3 guns
Between 800 koku and 900 koku: 4 armours, 4 horses, 8 sashimono, 8 yari, 1 flag, 4 guns
Those with 1000 koku: 5 armour, 5 horse, 10 sashimono, 10 yari, 1 flag, 5 gun. One mounted man can count for two.

So this gives us out of 60 men, 4 or 5 mounted, 10 polearm, and 5 gun, 1 flag, and maybe 5~10 other guys fighting on foot and who knows how the rest are equipped or if they’re just support troops. It’s likely the same as the Uesugi, probably a mix of support troops and freely equipped men like archers. It’s interesting to see that no one specific archers anymore. But we know they’re still used because they are still mentioned (will get there).

But in general mounted men made up about 10% of the total muster (except for the Hōjō who had more mounted men). Where both bows and guns are mentioned, bows first outnumber guns, but guns were employed at increasingly greater numbers, reaching about the same number by the early-mid 1570s, at which point bows disappear from the muster records (but we known they're still used). Polearms make up the largest number, of men. In the 1560s and 1570s, half of the men were armed with polearms. Even by the 1580s and 1590s, where mentioned polearms made up at least a third of the men, or at least of the weapons ordered to be brought, and is at least 2:1 bows and arrows if not higher. And where mentioned, pikes well outnumber other types of polearms. And a lot of flags were used. Like 5~10% of the men were just there to wave flags or something.

But really it's all over the place.