Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago

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Ashigaru (peasant foot soldiers) were the main backbone of Samurai armies during the Sengoku Jidai, the real height of Samurai warfare. In this video we examine the origins and rise of peasant foot soldiers in premodern Japan.

This video is done in collaboration with "Samurai and Ninja History" and "Sengoku Studies戦国研究" Check out their Japanese peasant videos!
Samurai and Ninja History: youtube.com/watch?v=mhXLBoMf1p4&t
Sengoku Studies戦国研究: youtube.com/watch?v=34-GSWdIsl4

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Sources Used:
"Samurai Weapons and Fighting Techniques" by Thomas Conlan
"State of War" by Thomas Conlan
"A History of the Samurai" by Jonathan López-Vera
"Hideyoshi" by Mary Elizabeth Berry
"Samurai Battles" by Michael Sharpe
"Warriors of Medieval Japan" by Stephen Turnbull
Additional information found through the Japanese Wiki Corpus japanese-wiki-corpus.org/history/Ashigaru.html


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Music:
"Arctic Forest" by Akira Ifukube

Artwork and Images:
Classical art, which in most cases can be considered public domain.
Art from Osprey Publications.
Other modern artist renditions and photos, if you see your work in this video please contact me so that I can give you proper credit!

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#Samurai #History #Japan