Please remember to check out the other channels and the playlist. If you would like a copy of the Book of Samurai, click here www.amazon.com/Book-Samurai-One-Fundamental-Teachings/dp/1780288883/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2Z0DSA5H6UGQ3&keywords=book+of+samurai&qid=1680697447&sprefix=book+of+samurai%2Caps%2C246&sr=8-1
My mother is 100% Samurai blood descended from the Heike who ruled Western Japan in the 12th century. They were on the losing side of their arch rival clan the Genji at the great sea battle of Shimonoseki. I would love to know what design, and size boats they used in that battle. After their defeat the Heike survivors escaped east into what is today Tochigi Prefecture. This is where my mother and her ancestors for generations came from. My Dad a WWII US Army veteran landed on Honshu Japan direct from Manila right after the surrender. He fell in love with the place, and never went back to New England where he was from. He met my mom, fell in love, got married, and had 6 kids. He being a New Englander loved the sea, and boats. He had two rowing dories, and a diesel powered Sea Bright Skiff built while there by a boatwright in Yokohama, and he was always amazed at the skill, and quality of materials and workmanship of this craftsman. I would like to get a copy of that Japanese book on Samurai boats. Do you have a name of the book, and the author? Thank you for this video, very interesting.
One of the few military history aspects practically not known in the west...I searched for Info on this about 10 yrs ago and was very frustrated by such little info in the west....great job.
I don't think your quality has gone down personally. Having videos with a mix of complexity is rather important in teaching. Japan and naval warfare should be extremely important being that its an island chain. Love to see more on this subject. I think naval warfare before the 1600's is highly under represented in general. In Europe you don't see anything on Galley warfare that dominated the high medieval and early renaissance period. In the early medieval period you talk about the viking longship but nearly all that is mention is them landing on the shore. Very little is talked about with ship to ship combat.
I'm really happy to have found your excellent channel, you are filling in gaps of knowledge that many people have wondered about. That said, occasionally when you read Japanese I get a Mike Myers flashback(s) and I can't help but laugh. No disrespect meant.
Now I wonder about Genpei War Ships, before the Mongol Invasion where I often heard the Japanese doesn't really have a navy, but more of Samurai and Attendants on whatever boats they can find where they would board Mongol Ships and take it over.
To make a better comparative study, Japanese ship technology should be discussed along side Korean, Chinese and even European naval technologies; the Koreans adopted well in that war and innovated a lot while Chinese ships were the pinnacle of navies especially the treasure fleet of the Ming where the ships were floating cities compared to everyone else's floating fortresses and even after they scuttled their fleet, their remaining vessels were still shoulders above most and are on par with the best of Europe's.
Personally I get confused with the names cuz I don't speak Japanese only a few words. But let me say it's very interesting hoy semi ancient cultures created things. Thank you for the information
While I found it informative, I thought this would tell me more about the specific types of ships used by the samurai during the Sengoku Jidai. The ones which CA drew most of their inspiration for the naval units used in Shogun 2. That's why I found the video title a little misleading and felt it didn't really give me the information I was looking for.
You need to do a more technical video 😅 go through each part, it's perpous and why! I'd watch an hour + video like that Also can you cover the construction techniques used for Sengoku era boats as well as both the timber properties & sizes typically available. You've already got the sectional drawings, like those from the ship construction book Yamato, but after comparing timber properties & typical available sizes and shapes with western equivalents please start discussing boat construction with a transverse cross-section near the 筒/筒鋏/帆柱 and another near the stern & prow, going part by part explaining the reason why it's so and stating hypotheses as to why Japanese boat ribbing is the way it is (cut from a single wide strait timber and not a curved timber), as well as, why the planking is so wide and why it is what a western shipwright might call “carvel planking” Next a longitudinal section along the mid hull shows the prow & stern construction as they also are quite unique, again going part by part, it's name, purpose, and the reason why it's as it is Finally, please cover rigging, oars & rudders in the same detail After you have done this for the major ship types of the Sengoku era could you please do so for the Japanese ships build to Western designs, like the Sant Juan Bautista, covering the tradeoffs & issues that had to be made to accommodate the available Japanese timber properties & sizes To me a Seppings style construction makes more sense than how they achieved the result they did with the materials they could get
@@AntonyCummins If it’s too complex for a video break it down into ship types and do a series Like an episode on typical currents around the Japanese coast, some of the fastest in the world, and vessel draught, shallow so there’s less surface area for the current to push against Also shallow as most of the ships are also riverine vessels and would sail strait up to Kyoto, from the Sea of Japan, stopping around Chushojima to offload heavy cargo This use case and the way they were “docked” by drawing them up onto beaches or on flat areas at high tide is why the keel is so wide (sometimes has keel width extensions also) to prevent it sinking into soft sands/silt, whilst the base is not flat and starts high on the keel to reduce the surface area on the sand/silt, reducing friction, when pulling a boat up or pushing it into the water Also lots of shallows, sandbars, rocks and islands to navigate around, a long scratch in the keel is better than a hole in the planking The currents & typical uses of the ship combined with the weather and geography feed into why the mast is collapsible, if you're constantly rowing against the wind or the wind is insufficient as the river is in a valley or in the wind shadow of mountains... You don't want the drag of all that rigging Also all the low bridges... However, the wind is mostly just not very strong, certainly not enough to overcome a lot of the currents if you had a deep-draught ship, getting the boat up to any speed let alone planing is quite a challenge Beaufort scale 1-4 is typical, usually on the lower end, I've only seen 5-7 a hand full of times outside of typhoons A big ship wants a 5/6 to get moving at any speed, 3+ at a minimum Talking about Japanese ships going upriver, they would sail straight up to Yamagata castle from Sakata... All the way up the Mogami River... We're they fighting for bragging rights with a Viking longship?
Thanks again Anthony. This may seem pedantic, but I'll go ahead. Did these ships use nails or did they utilize the perfect fitting wood joint fittings that they used in architecture?
Speeking of the Book of the Samurai series when is the 3rd one going to be published or is that the one you said you needed to get a new publisher for?
