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"100 Spears Worth 100 Pieces": The Impact Of Ashigaru On Sengoku Jidai, Austin W. Clark

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

In the year 1545, during the latter half of Japan‘s Sengoku Period or ―Age of Warring States‖, the minor samurai Ukida Naoie was assigned thirty men and a small fief in the province of Bizen. His task was to cultivate and defend this small corner of the province from the ambitious and power-hungry lords and bandits that abounded in the Sengoku Period, but Naoie set his sights higher. Given direct control over his thirty men, a mere garrison force of infantry, he used them to conquer and rule over neighboring fiefs in the province. His reputation and his army grew …