Many sources state that during the Genpei war, battles were essentially large duels where opponents would shout their pedigrees and gallop into battle. Some sources claim that warriors would call each other out by name, and that warriors would call out challenges, duel, and “repeat until one side was exhausted”. I have doubts about this, because unless every warrior adhered to these strict rules, this would be extremely tedious, especially with individual bushi being hell bent on glory. It’s not far fetched, but there would have to be a large amount of restraint on behalf of all participants. In fact, in the moko shurai ekotoba emaki, we see Takezaki Suenaga rush ahead against orders twice to be the first warrior from Higo to engage the Mongols and take the glory for himself.

After the Genpei War, the Mongol invasions are said to have changed the way battle was done, as they ignored the rules of Japanese battle. General experience in those conflicts are said to have spurred technological improvements, like higher quality swords and the wider adoption of armor like haramaki and do-maru.

So when the grab for power began in the 1330’s onward, what was battle like? How did it change?

Bonus: how were Japanese war dead handled after all was said and done? What happened to decapitated trophy heads?