Were Samurai Cavalry
China cavalry however actually did a lot of damages and one of the main cause for some defeats of japan.
Were samurai cavalry. They were the well paid retainers of the daimyo the great feudal landholders. The effectiveness of this combination of cavalry and infantry helped to break enemy lines and was most dramatically demonstrated in alexander s conquests of persia bactria and northwestern india. The increasingly elaborate decorations on harnesses and saddles of the samurai suggests the value accorded to these war horses. Cavalry were now the predominant fighting unit and the older straight chokutō were particularly unsuitable for fighting from horseback.
They were particularly skilled in the art of using archery from horseback. Japan had superior projectile weapons and slaughtered korea and china infantries. The samurai tended to live on the land of which they were overlords maintaining their own martial family traditions such as castle building gunnery cavalry and even a mixture of astronomy and astrology while awaiting orders for war. They cultivated the bushido codes of martial virtues.
They were medium rather than heavy cavalry meaning that they were better suited to be scouts skirmishers and pursuers rather than front line fighters. The japanese samurai fought as cavalry for many centuries. The curved sword is a far more efficient weapon when wielded by a warrior on horseback where the curve of the blade adds considerably to the downward force of a cutting action. The archery skills of mounted samurai were developed by training such as yabusame which originated in 530 ad and reached its peak under minamoto no yoritomo 1147 1199 ad in the kamakura period.
Samurai fought as cavalry for many centuries and horses were used both as draft animals and for war. Japan samurai were very effective against main force of china and korea. I m also not entirely convinced that horse archers would have been primarily samurai maybe instead those of a lower class i m not entirely sure. Great cavalry charges of thoroughbred looking horses.
Samurai 侍 ˈ s æ m ʊ r aɪ were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early modern japan from the 12th century to their abolition in the 1870s. They had high prestige and special privileges such as wearing two swords. This poster from the akira kurosawa film kagemusha illustrates the classic view of early samurai cavalry. The myth of of samurai cavalry i am republishing this 2009 post because there is such a common misconception regarding medieval samurai cavalry.