How to Lay Siege to a Samurai Castle in the Late Sengoku Period

Take the battle to the Warhammer 40.000 universe and play Tacticus for free: https://play.tacticusgame.com/SandRhomanHistoryOct Use the code "OCTHELLO" for 50 Blackstone and 20 energy Siege warfare in Japan differed fundamentally from that in Europe. While European sieges were revolutionized at the end of the Middle Ages by the emergence of artillery and bastion forts, guns and siege engines played only a minor role in Japan. Instead, Japanese armies often favored direct assault tactics to capture fortresses. Japanese castles were also designed with a different defensive approach in mind. Rather than relying on a massive outer wall to stop the enemy, as in Europe, Japanese defenses were based on the principle of defense in depth. Attackers were forced to navigate a carefully engineered labyrinth of death, where defenders launched counterattacks, ambushes, and rained down stones, arrows, and bullets. The second half of the 16th century witnessed numerous spectacular sieges, during which fortresses were burned, undermined, or even deliberately flooded. In this video, we explore how to lay siege to a Japanese castle during the Sengoku period. Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/sandrhomanhistory Paypal (thank you: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SandRhomanhistory Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sandrhoman Check out our all sorts of military history, military SIFI and military fantasy books that we recommend here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/sandrhomanhistory Check out these books on Japanese history by our partner Zeughaus Verlag: https://www.zinnfigur.com/en/Books-Media/Books/Japan/Weber-Till-Samurai-Armies-of-the-Late-Sengoku-Period-Volume-I-Anatomy-of-a-Samurai-Army-in-the-16th-and-17th-Centuries.html https://www.zinnfigur.com/en/Books-Media/Books/Japan/Weber-Till-Samurai-Armies-of-the-Late-Sengoku-Period-Volume-II-Castles-and-Sieges-Artillery-Heraldry-Clothing.html https://www.zinnfigur.com/en/Books-Media/Zeughaus-Verlag/English-Books/Weber-Till-Text-Lunyakov-Sascha-Illustrations-Bakumatsu.html Bibliography Conlan, Thomas D., Instruments of Change: Organizational Technology and the Consolidation of Regional Power in Japan, 1333- 1600, in: Ferejohn, John/McCall Rosenbluth, Frances (eds.), War and State Building in Medieval Japan, Stanford 2012, pp. 124-158. Conlan, Thomas D., Samurai Warriors. Weapons and fighting techniques of the Japanese warriors 1200-1877, Stuttgart 2009. Friday, Karl F., Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan, New York 2004. Kuehn, Thomas, A Military History of Japan. From the Age of the Samurai to the 21st Century, Santa Barbara/Denver/Oxford 2014. Sasama, Yoshiniko, Senryaku, Senjutsu, Heiki (= Strategy, Tactics, Weapons Vol. 2), Tokyo 1994. Tamaru, N. (ed.), Senryaku,senjutsu,heiki jiten 2 Nihon Sengoku hen (Rekishi Gunw gurafikku senshi shirizu), Tokyo 1994. Turnbull, Stephen, Japanese Castles 1540-1640, London 2003. Turnbull, Stephen, Chinese Influence on Japanese Siege Warfare, in: Kleinschmidt, Harald (ed.), Warfare in Japan. London/New York 2007, pp. 415-428. Turnbull, Stephen, The Samurai Sourcebook, London 1998. Varley, Paul, WARFARE IN JAPAN 1467-1600, in: Black, Jeremy, War in the Early Modern World, London 1999, pp. 53-86. Weber, Till, Bakumatsu. From Samurai to Soldiers – Japan in the 1860s, Berlin 2023. Weber, Till, Samurai Armies of the Late Sengoku Period Volume I: Anatomy of a Samurai Army in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Berlin 2009. Weber, Till, Samurai Armies of the Late Sengoku Period Volume II: Castles and Sieges, Artillery, Heraldry & Clothing, Berlin 2021.