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A statue of a warrior dressed in a tanko armor of about AD 700.
A selection of arrowheads.
The two monk heroes of the Battle of Uji in 1180. They are fighting with sword and naginata across the broken beams of the bridge.
Sato Tsuginobu, one of the loyal followers of Minamoto Yoshitsune, fighting in the snow with a drawn sword.
Norimitsu crouched down and looked around, but as he could not see any sign of a bow, but only a great glittering sword, he thought with relief, “It’s not a bow at any rate.”33
He did in fact vanquish the robbers, but his evident relief that he was not up against anyone armed with a bow is very telling. Common sense, after all, states that a bow gave a skilled archer (as all samurai were trained to be) a considerable advantage over a swordsman, who could be shot or incapacitated long before he came within striking distance.
In addition to the absence of a sword mystique in the gunkimono, there is also an apparent absence of sword technique, with a shortage of references to anything resembling proper swordplay, either from the saddle or on foot. There is in fact only one incident in Heike Monogatari that suggests mounted sword combat, when two comrades support each other as they lead an assault on the Taira fortress of Ichinotani in 1184:
Kumagai and Hirayama both bore themselves most valiantly, one charging forward when the other gave back, and neither yielding to the other in strength and boldness, hewing at the foe with loud shouts while the sparks flew from their weapons.34
When not mounted on his horse, the samurai could wield his sword more freely, though he was still encumbered somewhat by the design of the yoroi armor. In this illustration to Heike Monogatari, we see Kajiwara Genda, whose horse has been shot from under him, fighting on foot with his helmet struck from his head and his long hair flying in the wind.
This passage is very ambiguous, however, because the account goes on to say that Kumagai’s horse had been shot in the belly. He dismounted and stood leaning on his bow, which would have been an unusual thing to do if he had discarded his bow for a swordfight. He then began to pull arrows out of his armor, indicating that arrowheads caused the “sparks” that flew off the two opponents, not sword blades. A samurai who had lost his horse would still prefer to use his bow, as long as he had arrows left. Only when he had no more arrows would he move on to using his sword. At the Battle of Shinohara in 1183:
Arikuni, having penetrated very deeply into the ranks of the foe, had his horse shot from under him, and then while he was fighting on foot, his helmet was struck from his head, so that he looked like a youth fighting with his long hair streaming in all directions. By this time his arrows were exhausted, so he drew his sword and laid about him mightily, until, pierced by seven or eight shafts, he met his death still on his feet and glaring at his enemies.35
The unusual situation of a battle fought completely dismounted is illustrated by the Battle of Mizushima (1183), which was fought from on board ship, and again we see a preference for the bow. The Taira had tied their ships together and created a flat surface using planking, but even though their horses had been left on land, the battle began with bows, which continued “until they came to close quarters, when they drew their swords and engaged each other hand to hand.”36 A samurai was therefore most unlikely to voluntarily abandon his bow for a sword, particularly when his enemy still had the use of a bow, as is perfectly illustrated in Azuma Kagami. In 1180 the Minamoto under Yoritomo were fighting Oba Kagechika:
When they encountered Kagehisa at Hashida Mountain, they turned their horses and attacked him. Caught without bowstrings and forced to use their long swords, Kagehisa and his men could not defend themselves adequately against the arrows and the stones, and many of them were struck. Although Yasuda’s men could not escape the enemy swords entirely, nevertheless, Kagehisa pocketed his pride and quietly took flight.37
On rare occasions, a brave samurai might approach an opponent with sword drawn, hoping, no doubt, that the demands of samurai honor would cause his enemy to hesitate to put an arrow into him. An example of this appears in Azuma Kagami:
Then Takatsuna moved up to the edge of the courtyard and released an arrow. This was the moment of the beginning of the Minamoto war against the Taira. A bright moon above made the night as bright as midday. Nobutō’s followers, seeing Takatsuna’s challenge, shot their arrows at him, while Nobutō, his long sword in hand, went forth round toward the southwest to confront Takatsuna. The latter discarded his bow, grasped his long sword, and facing his adversary to the northeast, engaged him in combat. Both excelled in bravery, but Takatsuna was struck by an arrow.38
So Takatsuna respects Nobutō’s unusual approach, but his more conventional comrades do not, with fatal results. The most famous example of a warrior armed with a cutting weapon taking on bows and arrows occurs in the Heike Monogatari account of the Battle of Uji in 1180. The retreating Minamoto army, accompanied by their monk allies, had torn up the planking on the bridge over the Uji River to delay pursuit by the Taira, and had taken their stand on the far bank of the river. One group of mounted Taira samurai charged out of the morning mist and went straight through the hole on the bridge, but then the fight began with a series of arrow duels and individual combats across the broken beams. Tajima, who was a sōhei (warrior monk) from the temple of Miidera, was one of those who mounted the bridge. He used his naginata (the sōhei’s traditional weapon) in a very unusual way:
Then Gochin-no-Tajima, throwing away the sheath of his long naginata, strode forth alone on to the bridge, whereupon the Heike straightaway shot at him fast and furious. Tajima, not at all perturbed, ducking to avoid the higher ones and leaping up over those that flew low, cut through those that flew straight with his whirring naginata, so that even the enemy looked on in admiration. Thus it was that he was dubbed “Tajima the arrow-cutter.”39
We may assume that the whirling of the naginata was designed to put the Taira archers off their concentration, rather than represent any serious attempt to deflect arrows. (An illustration of a monk whirling a naginata to this purpose appears on the picture scroll called the Ishiyamadera emaki). We may also reasonably assume that by the time Tajima mounted the bridge to perform his strange feat, he had exhausted his own supply of arrows, because he was followed onto the broken structure by his comrade Tsutsui Jomyō Meishū, who ran through the whole repertoire of samurai weaponry before retiring:
And loosing off his twenty-four arrows like lightning flashes he slew twelve of the Heike soldiers and wounded eleven more. One arrow yet remained in his quiver, but flinging away his bow, he stripped off his quiver and threw that after it, cast off his foot gear, and springing barefoot on to the beams of the bridge, he strode across.... With his naginata he mows down five of the enemy, but with the sixth the halberd snaps asunder in the midst and flinging it away he draws his tachi, and wielding it in the zig-zag style, the interlacing, cross, reverse dragonfly, waterwheel and eight sides at once styles of fencing, and cutting down eight men; but as he brought down the ninth with an exceeding mighty blow on the helmet the blade snapped at the hilt and fell splash into the water beneath. Then seizing the dagger which was his only weapon left he plied it as one in the death fury.41
When Jomyō finally rested after his exertions, he counted sixty-three arrows or arrow
