Sengoku Warfare Intensifies

1560

Across central Japan, rival daimyo concentrated their bases in massive hilltop castles and began hiring commoners as ashigaru foot soldiers armed with spears and matchlocks. Warfare shifted from small samurai duels to disciplined mass engagements. The Japanese military revolution was reshaping the archipelago independently of Europe. The shift to massed infantry mirrored European military revolutions, though the Japanese development was entirely independent.