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2 years ago in History By Naman Bhatia
How did the social and military status of the ashigaru (foot soldiers) rise in early modern Japan, particularly during the Sengoku and early Edo periods?
Initially seen as expendable peasant levies, the ashigaru became essential to 16th-century warfare and were eventually solidified as low-ranking samurai. What tactical innovations, socio-political changes, and policies under warlords like Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu drove this institutionalization?
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By John Answered 1 year ago
Their rise was driven by the tactical revolution of the Sengoku period. Warlords like Oda Nobunaga standardized pike formations (yari ashigaru) and, crucially, mass-produced matchlock firearms (tanegashima). This made disciplined, trained ashigaru formations, not individual mounted warriors, decisive. Their value skyrocketed. In response, successful daimy? began to professionalize them: offering stable stipends, imposing discipline, and separating them from farming. The Tokugawa shogunate finalized this by codifying the ashigaru as the lowest stratum of the hereditary samurai class (bushi) in the 17th century, turning a once-ad hoc levy into a permanent, if humble, part of the ruling military bureaucracy.
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