Medieval warriors and warfareWarfare in early medieval Japan
Reconstruction of early medieval warfare poses a thorny challenge. Until fairly recently, histo-
rians’ images of Heian and Kamakura era battlefield ethics and behavior were predominantly
shaped by analyses of literary wartales (gunkimono), particularly the Heike monogatari, the classic
saga of the Genpei War. Long assumed to have been built closely around accounts compiled
shortly after the events they portray occurred and preserved more or less verbatim henceforth,
Heike monogatari and other gunkimono beckon historians as detailed, and readily accessible, depic-
tions of early medieval warfare. As early as the 1960s, however, literary scholars had begun to
question the historical reliability of these chronicles, observing that much of the compelling
detail contained in their narratives was demonstrably manufactured of whole cloth.^22
The wartales are plagued both by distortions introduced by the entertainment or didactic
purposes for which they were produced, and by problems of anachronism and implausibility
introduced by the authors’ lack of familiarity with real battlefields.^23 On the other hand, the sorts
of sources scholars deem most reliable—diaries, letters, and other contemporaneous documents—
are maddeningly laconic in their discussions of battles. Most, particularly those dealing with the
period before the 1180s, tell us little more than the time, place, and results of encounters between
warriors. For a thoroughgoing understanding of early medieval warfare historians must, there-
fore, bridge these rather substantial gaps through careful analysis of sources that are fictionalized
to an uncertain degree.
These include pictorial, as well as literary records. One of the most promising avenues of
research is analysis of the numerous illustrated scrolls (emaki) that depict the wars and other
military adventures of the early medieval era. A dozen or so emaki produced during the late thir-
teenth and fourteenth centuries survive, although with the singular exception of Takezaki
Suenaga’s illustrated petition for rewards, the Mōko shūrai ekotoba, all of these scrolls postdate the
events they portray by a half- century or more.^24
We also have other literary accounts of warriors and warfare, ranging from anecdotes in tale
collections like the Konjaku monogatarishū to longer chronicles of specific wars, such as Shōmonki
and Mutsuwaki (which relate Taira Masakado’s rebellion and the so- called Former Nine Years’
War of 1051–1062), to epic sagas like Taiheiki, which spans some forty volumes. To be sure, all
of these are tales and stories, not historical records, and must be used carefully. But although they
have been embellished, they nevertheless reflect the perceptions—the images of warriors and
battles—of men who lived roughly contemporaneously to the events depicted. As such, many
historians argue, they come at least a step closer to portraying the reality of early medieval bat-
tlefields than the Heike monogatari and other gunkimono written centuries after the fact.
Researchers also make cautious use of some early variant Heike monogatari texts. The most
helpful of these is the Enkyōbon version recorded during the thirteenth century. These accounts
differ considerably—sometimes dramatically—from the more familiar Kakuichibon, and, if
approached with appropriate caution and skepticism, constitute indispensable sources of
information.
For the Kamakura period, we also have the Kamakura shogunate’s official chronicle of its own
history, Azuma kagami. As a roughly contemporaneous chronicle written by warriors about war-
riors, this text is arguably the most believable source for information on early medieval Japanese
warfare. Nevertheless, it covers only the years between 1180 and 1266 and is far from compre-
hensive even for that span of time.^25
A fifth, and highly promising, resource for information on late Kamakura and Nanbokuchō
era warfare are reports by warriors arriving for service (chakutōjō), post- action battle reports
(kassen teoi chūmon or kassen teoi jikkenjō), and petitions for rewards (gunchūjō). Some 1500 such