Category: Well I thought it was neat!

While much of Japan’s early history was dominated by cavalry battles that often involved only small numbers of men, the spread of warfare into cities caused the addition of the infantry or Ashigaru.

At Sekigahara this involved both spear men and also musketeers firing in organized volleys.

While the musket men, who fired from behind protective fences were the key to destroying the enemy cavalry charges.The straw jackets were an ancient form of rain gear similar to a grass roof on a hut.

Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats Toyotomi Hideyori, and many other clans of Western Japan at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate, the last shogunate in Japan, and also bringing the country under a single ruler.