"About samurai sonae compositions (1555-1600)" Topic

So, I am basically a noob when it comes to wargaming, but it had captivated my interest for a couple of years now. The period and location I were going for were for me easy to decide. The scale of the figures, however, was another tale but I eventually decided to go for 10mm (Pendraken, in their range I only miss teppo armed samurai). I have looked at some rulesets but thus far I have not found any to my liking of detail and historical accuracy. So, I started to work on my own ruleset…

Anyways, what I am here to discuss is an army composition or rather a composition of a division with an army called the sonae. A Sonae is in a way an army within an army. According to Gunbai they would be between 300-800 men in size. Although not explicitly state, I assume these numbers resemble fighting men. The sonae contains multiple units (kumi) of different types. EValerio has created clear images on how these kumi look like. I based my kumi on his findings but also on the original source itself, uploaded by Rekishi no Tabi to Flickr (shamefully not in a high enough resolution), a hanging scroll of the Matsuura (Turnbull) as well as various other secondary sources and translated primary sources.

With my current findings and interpretation, I have the following composition for an army around 1555-1600:
108 mounted samurai, in 12 units of 9.
240 foot samurai, in 16 units of 15*.
50 yumi ashigaru, in two units of 25.
200 teppo ashigaru, in 8 units of 25**.
200 nagae-yari ashigaru, in 8 units of 25.
For a total of 798 fighting men, the total size including supporting elements (banner bearers, grooms, guards, attendants, and officers) would be 1434 (this still excludes messengers and the overall command of the sonae).

Every unit will be based per five fighting men for infantry and per three for mounted samurai on 40x40 bases. The captain of each unit will be based individually on round bases.

A few things still cause me a headache:
-The usage of cavalry and their composition remains unclear to me. I currently follow EValerio's diagram in a way but do not distinguish between teppo, yumi and yari cavalry but rather plan to simple create a mixed unit; predominantly melee focused. I have come to the impression that based on (modern) horse size and weight that cavalry charges were likely not a thing except perhaps for the regions that had access to the Kiso horse (which the Takeda would have). The Kiso horse comes closes to the smallest ‘warhorse' in Europe (Rouncey; used for scouting and skirmishing).
-Army size and composition, what I currently have is a generalisation which is fine, but I would like to gather more data.
-Specialized samurai, as in teppo and yumi samurai. In what numbers would they be supplied? Currently considering having two units of both (30 teppo samurai and 30 yumi samurai, leaving 120 samurai armed with yari (and naginata)).

*In reality it would be closer to 8 units of 30 foot samurai (28 according to EValerio for the Takeda), but for balancing reasons I choose to separate them by subdivision. This assumes that all the foot samurai are armed with a yari, I still have to figure out how to apply teppo and yumi samurai as most sources simple distinguish only between foot samurai and mounted samurai.
**for every three ashigaru armed with a teppo, there are two archers.

Gunbai, link
EValerio, TMP link
Rekishi no Tabi, link
Turnbull, Samurai Warfare
Cummins, Samurai arms, armour & the tactics of warfare (I highly recommend this book, it is a translation of a primary source)(Still have to give this a good read).
Frois, The first European description of Japan, 1585.

As mentioned, the above post kumi will be based per section/squad of five or three fighting men. The bases will be 40x40mm; the figures will be from Pendraken:

A captain base, assignment to most units will look as follows:
1 Mounted captain – Mounted general/bannerman*
1 spear carrier – Yari ashigaru (likely adding a sheath on the spear blade)**
1 groom – Yari ashigaru (with the spear removed)
1 banner bearer – Yari ashigaru (spear replaced by a banner)
2 guards – Yari ashigaru

Teppo ashigaru unit consists of 5 bases:
2 yumi ashigaru – Yumi ashigaru
3 teppo ashigaru – Teppo ashigaru
1 samurai squad leader – Foot command (officer)/Katana samurai
1 samurai spotter – Foot command (officer)/Katana samurai

Yumi ashigaru unit consists of 5 bases:
5 yumi ashigaru – Yumi ashigaru
1 samurai squad leader – Foot command (officer)/Katana samurai

Yari ashigaru unit consists of 5 bases:
5 yari ashigaru – Yari ashigaru

Yari samurai unit consisting of 3 bases:
5 yari samurai – Yari samurai (and perhaps a few armed with a naginata)
5 attendants – Yari ashigaru***

Cavalry unit consisting of 3 bases (without captain base):
3 mounted spear samurai – a mix of yari and naginata cavalry (and perhaps a few armed with a bow; unless there are dedicated bow cavalry)
3 groom – Yari ashigaru (with the spear removed)
3 attendants – Yari ashigaru****

These were the units I am quite certain about; some speculative units are below:

Yumi cavalry unit consisting of 3 bases (without captain base):
3 Yumi cavalry – Mounted yumi samurai
3 groom – Yari ashigaru (with the spear removed)
3 spear carrier – Yari ashigaru

Teppo cavalry unit consisting of 3 bases (without captain base):
3 Teppo cavalry – Mounted Teppo samurai (however, Pendraken does not have this figure).
3 groom – Yari ashigaru (with the spear removed)
3 spear carrier – Yari ashigaru
3 loaders – Teppo ashigaru

Yumi samurai unit consisting of 3 bases (without captain base) either with three or five samurai per base:
3 yumi samurai – Yumi samurai
3 spear carrier – Yari ashigaru
1 samurai squad leader – Foot command (officer)/Katana samurai or yari samurai

Teppo samurai unit consisting of 3 bases (without captain base)either with three or five samurai per base:
3 Teppo samurai – Teppo samurai (However, Pendraken does not have this figur).
3 spear carrier – Yari ashigaru
3 loaders – Teppo ashigaru
1 samurai squad leader – Foot command (officer)/Katana samurai or yari samurai

Foot guard (consisting of 3 bases):
5 yari samurai – Yari samurai (and perhaps a few armed with a naginata)
10 attendants – Yari ashigaru*****

Mounted guard (consisting of 3 bases) (without captain base):
3 mounted spear samurai – a mix of yari and naginata cavalry (and perhaps a few armed with a bow; unless there are dedicated bow cavalry)
3 groom – Yari ashigaru (with the spear removed)
6 attendants – Yari ashigaru

General base (one per sonae):
1 Mounted general – Mounted general/bannerman
1 spear carrier – Yari ashigaru (likely adding a sheath on the spear blade)
1 groom – Yari ashigaru (with the spear removed)
2 banner bearer – Yari ashigaru (spear replaced by a banner; nobori and a standard)
4 guards – Yari ashigaru
1 musician – Foot generals group (musiscian)

*EValerio mentioned that it was probably a luxury for the Takeda to use solely mounted captains. That it weakens the overall army by having less cavalry available. I think this does not have to be the case, having the captain mounted gives the captain a better view and could ride around the unit to give orders. Something I see as advantageous.
**EValerio shows the captain of the teppo ashigaru to be a samurai (yumi ko gashira).
***Most of these attendants are shown without weapons however, some sources that I read suggest that samurai had fighting attendants with them, so I choose for that.
****EValerio shows them with spear carrier, however I followed the same reason as above.
*****The additional attendants represent the elite/richer status of the samurai of the guard units.

EValerio, TMP link

I found this very instructive. I at the point of giving up my intention of creating 10mm Samurai army because of a lack of suitable rules that reflect the use of Sonae formations. I have thought about making my own but I lack sufficient knowledge of the period to do so at this time. I will follow your progress with interest. Good luck

Thank you Grahambeyrout!

Today I had some time to browse through "The book of samurai – Samurai arms, armour & the tactics of warfare" by A. Cummins, it is a translation of the Natori-ryū scrolls. The following details are from pages 118-119:

The seven-layered formation
1. Ichi no saki – the first troop* (vanguard)
2. Ni no saki – the second troop
3. Wakizonae – flanking troops
4. Hatamoto – commanding troop
5. Ushirozonae – rear troop
6. Konida – logistics and baggage train
7. Yūgun – reserve troop

The scroll explains the following about a division of 10.000 men
3.000 should stay within the castle
7.000 should venture out to fight
The 7.000 men are divided into four troops:
Vanguard – 10 units of 300 (3.000 men)
Command group – 6 units of 500 (3.000 men)
Logistics – 2 units of 300 (600 men)
Scouts – 1 unit of 400 men

It then instructs to take 2 units of the vanguard, 1 unit of the command group and one unit of the logistics to form a reserve sonae of 1.400 men. "which are called kenbutsu no sonae – observing troops. In a winning battle they are called shimari zonae, finishing troops, and they also serve as shingari – troops who defend the retreat."
The source notes this 7.000 strong force is a small number and that for a smaller force "divide accordingly". I assume it is meant that the division stays the same but each unit as fewer men. It is also noted that a larger force might choose to divide their units, depending on the situation.

The source then goes into the assignment of 20.000 men:
1. 5.000 men defend the castle
2. 3.000 form the hatamoto command group
3. 3.500 men form the first troop, 7 units of 500
4. 2.100 men form the second troop, 7 units of 300
5. 3.000 men form the flanking troops, "six units each of 500 should be the flank troops stationed on each side of the hatamoto command group."
6. 900 men form the rear sonae, 3 units of 300
7. 1.500 men form the reserve troop, 5 units of 300
8. 1.000 men form the logistics, 2 units of 500.

If you count these numbers, you end up with 19.000 men; 1.000 men short of the 20.000. Calculation error of the translator or the writer? The flanking troops are vague for me. Would this be one sonae or two sonae. And would it be 3.000 men on either flank or 1.500 men on either side?

Gunbai suggested that a sonae would be between 300-800 men and that an army could have up too 30 sonae ("A Damyou was expected to deploy at least one sonae, but in the latest part of the Sengoku jidai warlords like Tokugawa Ieyasu had 30 sonae under his comand." link The Natori-ryū scrolls state that they can be up too 3.500 and seems to suggest that a sonae could even be larger and simply divide the number among more units. I still have to figure out what these units are called and what their make up is.

Turnbull lays out a hypothetical command structure for a daimyou c.1590 in his book Samurai Armies 1467-1649:
Under the Sōtaishō or Ikusa bugyō are the different taishō:
Samurai taishō 1 – Kumigashira 1 – Kiba mushagumi (mounted samurai)
Samurai taishō 2 – Kumigashira 2 – Kiba mushagumi (mounted samurai)
Samurai taishō 3 – Kumigashira 3 – Kachigumi (foot samurai)
Ashigaru taishō 1 – Teppō kumigashira – Induvial arquebus squads, each under a teppō kogashira
Ashigaru taishō 2 – Yumi kumigashira – Induvial arquebus squads, each under a yumi kogashira
Ashigaru taishō 3 – Yari Kumigarshira – Induvial arquebus squads, each under a yari kogashira

Perhaps the units, mentioned in the Natori-ryū scrolls are the taishō's units with numerous kumigashira's.

Sources:
Gunbai, Sengoku Period Warfare: Part 1 – Army and Formations link
Turnbull, Samurai Armies 1467-1649
Cummins, A & Minami, Y. The book of samurai – Samurai arms, armour & the tactics of warfare, pp. 118-119.

Just a few correction and notes.

The number of troops do number the 20000 not 19000.You must have missed something when adding the numbers.

As for your observation of the flanking troops I think the easy answer is the correct one. The flanking troop are 6 detachments of 500 placed on each side of the command group, so 1500 from either side.

I suspect each flank would be entrusted to an overall commander.

As for the incongruency between Cummins and the other sources…

Well, I would take Cummins with a boatload of salt.

What I've read from him seems heavily sensationalized, and frankly sloppy. He apparently doesn't speak Japanese either and relies on Minami's translations which he then apparently edits so that it seems "right" to him.

As for Sonae based rules I'm revisiting Chipco's Chrysanthemum Throne as teppo and samurai work as detechments.

Cavalry is independent but probably can be turned on detachments as well, or flat out replace the samurai detachments.

Rabelais on these boards as adapted Tenkatoitsu and uses Battles in the Age of War for smaller battles.

Berg geit I have been studying your basing system with interest. I was thinking more or less along the same principles on basing although my instinct was towards 30mm sq bases with fewer figures. A yumi cavalry base for instance would consist of one mounted samurai and 3 foot attendants . The number of bases in a unit would vary between 6 and 10 depending on the power of the daimyo. The problem is of course that that makes for a lot of bases. I think I need to rethink. Can I ask whether you plan to mount your figures randomly, or in a regular formation. Generally with feudal armies I stick to random formation to give an irregular look, and because I take the base, rather than the number of its figures as the unit, I often vary the number of figures on the base.
Narcisista Thank you for the rule suggestions. I do not know Tenkatoitsu but will investigate.

Narcisista, thank you for your feedback!
I have calculated the numbers for the third time and indeed it 20.000.
That can indeed be true, but I would think that it might be more difficult to coordinate two sides if both sides were attacked at the same time. Perhaps it has to do with the 7-layered formation, that there are two sonae of 1500 men with each a commander?

Anyways that thought has become void, I have looked into Cummins and indeed. I am going to let his books, thankfully I only got two, gather dust. I should be more diligent and properly investigate authors before I buy books.

I am going to look into Chrysanthemum and in Rabelais adaption of Tenkatoisu.

Grahambeyrout.
I have noted the problem with bases as well (and how expensive it would be). I am still wrapping my head around that. I am planning to display the ashigaru and yari samurai in need rows. The attendants of the samurai might be a bit more dispersed. The samurai armed with bows and guns will be more skirmish like and therefore also a bit more random. The same will be applied for the cavalry.

I think a feudal army does not necessarily have to be unorganised, it would probably depend on the training they received. If I am going to make an early 16the century samurai army then the figures would be more randomly based to reflect less professional units. I think that the 40mm sq bases will be large enough for the infantry; perhaps the samurai skirmishers and cavalry require 40 by 60mm bases.

I am considering the possibility to have a base represent the unit rather than the fighting men, but I want to resemble the army on unit level as well. in how far it is reconstructable. But rule wise it would be trivial of course, as the rules would consider a base of a certain unit to have a certain strength. I am considering, however, to ditch the concept of the squads on one base and go for a kumi sized base instead (which would decrease the number of bases significantly). A small dice could represent the strength of the unit. I currently have no idea yet how I am going to simulate moral, and in this way, it could be two dices per unit. One representing strength and the other representing the moral of the unit. (Pendraken has 5mm dice and dice frames).

Another possibility would be to have, what in Cummins was described as a unit, and which I think Turnbull says are the kumi under a Taisho. Meaning having large bases that represent multiple kumi but I haven't worked out this idea yet.

In regards to the flanking forces I think it would be the job of the HQ to coordinate them and they probably wouldn't handle them as a single element.

I went poking in Japanese wikipedia and it seems they have the sonae marching order of a Sakai sonae from mid Edo period, so not necessarily accurate, but what I found was the organization level above the sonae, which is the Te, which shoulf be the level of force a Daimyo with a han assessed over 100000 koku should be able to bring to bear.

I'm trying to find a decent translation.

And found a workmanlike translation.

It also includes the Tokugawa or part of the Tokugawa deployment during the siege of Odawara wich strongly resembles the 20000 men deployment you described.

Hmm, that could be a possibility.

Gunbai also describes the te Te but as being a collection of Sonae. link Can you link the translation, or the wikipage (in Japanese) you used?

Sorry, intended to link last time:

ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/備
sn-japan.com/sengoku/sonae.html
link

And, yes a Te is a collection of Sonae in the same way, a brigade is a collection of batallions.

Now what remains to be seen is how soon this type of organization was formalized, because I'm not sure it would be before the 1580s.

Edit: Rabelais blog for his Sengoku project.

link

Thank you! No worries.

The siege of Odawara happened in 1590 and the article did seem to suggest it was older, ableists perhaps in a more primitive form. The artwork of the Takeda formation seems to me to be about Sonae and that would be around 1560 (of course it is very well possible that the artist simple made what he knew from his own time, once saw a scene from the Genpei war with horo with a frame, which didn't exist at that time yet). But for now, I will just put it in the late Sengoku period.

Rabelais has some interesting stuff. His latest entry about the Sengoku army organisation is quite interesting. I have once seen that diagram before. The Kokujin are also in the game Nobunaga's Ambition Sphere of influence and Nobunaga's Ambition Sphere of influence Ascension. In English they are referred to as tribes and clans can try to influence them. If your influence is high, they will aid you in battle and pay tribute, if they are fully loyal you can intergrade them into your clan. Have not yet put much thought into units from a different source other than the Daimyo himself and his direct vassals.

I have given the scale and bases once again some thought. Going for 6mm instead, I first did not want them because their range was limited but I am planning to acquire a resin 3D printer. They can print 6mm and it is cheaper in the long run. Project Wargaming gave me that idea, he has created a range of crusader mini's and created a samurai range. Planning to create my own models and have been working on that for three evenings.
YouTube link

I had made a rough calculation on the Te I am going to create; roughly 6200 combatants and a total of roughly 12.000 figures. The whole Te will have over 300 bases, instead of having a unit existing out of multiple bases, they will all be based on one base.
One sonae will have the following units, 762 fighting men:
2 or 4 x Tsukai-ban (messengers) – 1 figure per base.
8 x Yari kiba mushagumi (horse) – 12 figures per base.
2 x Teppo kiba mushagumi (horse) – 12 figures per base
2 x Yumi kiba mushagumi (horse) – 12 figures per base
8 x Yari Kachigumi (samurai) – 15 figures per base
2 x Teppo Kachigumi (samurai) – 12 figures per base
2 x Yumi Kachigumi (samurai) – 12 figures per base
8 x Nagae-yarigumi (ashigaru) – 25 figures per base
8 x Teppogumi (ashigaru) – 25 figures per base
2 x Yumigumi (ashigaru) – 25 figures per base

The Hatamoto sonae will also have these type of units:
Go uma-mawari shu (Mounted guard) – 12 figure per base
Kachi-shu (Foot guard) – 15 figures per base

I do have to figure out how to balance the archers and the gunners, as there are currently more archers as gunners in the army (130 archers and 120 gunners). There should be more guns than bows.

It is the Hojo army, after long deliberating on it, to create (other contesters were the Kato and the Shimazu clan). I am interpreting the coloured regiments as the sonae and using EValerio's images as a guide.

The vanguard will be the Yellow Sonae under Hojo Tsunanari
The second line will be the Red Sonae under Hojo Tsunataka
The left wing will be the Blue Sonae under Koga Kubo
The right wing will be the Blue Sonae under Tominaga Uemon
The Hatamoto will be lead b Hojo Ujimasa
The rear will be the Black Sonae under Tame Suo no kami
The reserves will be the White Sonae under Kasawara Noto.

For an impression here some pictures of the Red Sonae concept(note the colour of the armours and clothing will differ, the ashigaru will always be armoured in black thoughts):

Left to right:
Attendant
Ashigaru with Teppo
Ashigaru with Nagae-yari
Ashigaru with yari
Ashigaru with yumi
Nobori bearer

Left to right:
Samurai with teppo (their base won't have a nobori but I will give them extra-long sashimono, EValerio showed them on the samurai archers and on the ashigaru with teppo)
Samurai with yari
Samurai with yumi (Same as with the samurai teppo)
Kogashira for teppo
Kogashira for yumi
Kachi-shu (Hatamoto Sonae)

From left to right:
Mounted samurai with teppo
Mounted samurai with yari
Mounted samurai with yumi
Go uma-mawari shu (Hatamoto Sonae)
Mounted Gashira

A cannon and some other stuff I have modelled. Currently working on an Ashigaru, organic shapes are quite difficult.

I solved the issue with the ratio of bows vs guns.
In the book Warriors of Medieval Japan by Turnbull there is an extract from the Zohyo Monogatari (2005, 129):
"On the matter of the disposition of the archery corps, stand one archer in the space between two matchlock men, to cover the arquebuses reloading"
So, it seems that they are simple integrated both types of soldiers; opposed of an independent yumi ashigaru gumi and the hybrid teppo ashigaru gumi. Or rather did away with the archer unit and retained the hybrid unit. Hence, I will dispose of the archer unit. Meaning one sonae will have 96 archers and 144 gunners.
Curious enough, Turnbull (2008) mentions on page 101 that a gunner squad (five men) had one archer attached to them; though he does mention that this would differ from daimyo tot daimyo.

Turnbull (2008, 101) on the same page also mention that a kumi could consist between one and six squads. Some miscellaneous reading online, most by EValerio, has made me decide to have units of ashigaru and samurai two thick instead of one row. An ashigaru kumi will now consist of 30 ashigaru (six squads) and samurai bases have merged into a 30-man unit (they were supposed to be 30 men to begin, existing out of 2 squads of 15 but for balancing reasons I had separated them which is something I now deem unnecessary.). Cavalry bases will now have 10 mounted samurai opposed to 12 and the specialised missile cavalry has been abandoned. A cavalry unit will represent a mix of cavalry and infantry; with some of the mounted samurai armed with yumi or teppo (or bearers of yumi and teppo attached to a samurai armed with a spear). The base won't deal missile damage, as there will be too few missile troops, but I might give them the option to "snipe" an enemy officer which adds penalties to that unit. The missile samurai on foot will have bases of 15 samurai.

Currently a sonae will have the following units:
10x cavalry = (100 samurai and 100 armed attendants) 200
4x missile samurai = 60
4x foot samurai = 120
6x yari ashigaru = 180
8x teppo ashigaru = 240
Total troops = 800
Total bases = 32

The hatamoto will have the following units:
14x cavalry = (140 samurai and 280 armed attendants) 420
12x missile samurai =180
8x foot samurai = 240
10x yari ashigaru = 300
12x teppo ashigaru = 360
Total troops = 1500
Total bases = 56

I have also finished the basic model of the ashigaru archer, gunner and pikemen (might rework the heads but I doubt that it matters on 6mm figures). The pike is a placeholder, I will use pins for the spears, pikes and naginata.

I was reading an article of Japanese horses earlier today which may be of interest. It was comparing the smaller Japanese horses of the time with the smaller stature of Japanese humans and how the ration between them is similar to the ration between Western horses and troops. Link to the original article : link

Wargaming Resources, thank you for the link! Samurai cavalry is an interesting topic and quite elusive too. I have written a couple of years ago, a terrible, essay on samurai cavalry as well. I truly must look into it again, but Usagitsuki did a great job.

Like Usagitsuki, I have also looked into the comparison between European and Japanese horses. Important to note are that Middle ages is a long period, in which the sizes of horses can change. There are also different categories of horses in Medieval Europe. I did not use academic sources on this point in my essay and neither did I look into the size difference throughout the Middle ages. I did look into the different types of horses in the Middle ages and their role. You have for example the heavy and expensive Destrier, the lighter Courser and the pony-like Rouncey 1. Japan has different breeds of horses, but Kiso seems most suitable for warfare 2. The Kiso and the Rouncey seem to be the closest to each other in size and height (Note I think that weight is more important than hight, as mass is important in a cavalry charge).
Kiso: 135 cm, 250-300 kilo 2
Rouncey: 147 cm, 450-500 kilo 1
1. link
2. (The original site has removed this page, it was an exhibit on native Japanese horses at the International Museum of the Horse.)

In my conclusion I state roughly the following:

The usage of horses (during the Sengoku Jidai) would have likely depended on the period and on the place (access to the right breed of horse). With the right horses, a cavalry charge would have been possible, on poorly trained units but with the development of more professional ashigaru and the adoption of pikes and guns the usage of cavalry charges would be greatly reduced. However, horses would allow samurai to swiftly move on the battlefield and safe their stamina for fighting on foot; among the support of attendants. The horse would show the status of these elite warriors, in a period in which the lines between commoners and nobility faded.

An update on the 3D models:
The polearm base models are finished (some of these can also be used as banner bearers).
The teppo base models are finished.
Began with the yumi base models.

After the yumi models I am planning to work on non-combatants and officers on foot (ammo bearers, artillery crew, teppo officer and generic officers with spears, batons and signal devices, drummers, conch shell signaller etc).
After that comes the cavalry (sword, polearm, teppo, yumi and officers) but also the packhorses.

When all the base models are finished, I am going to create all the ashigaru units (by replacing the samurai helmet with jingasa's, remove the sode and the haidate). The samurai, for them I need to rework the helmet as I forgot the straps and the masks. I am also planning to create at least one other type of cuirass, a few different types of helmets and one other type of sode (larger and flatter). Then I might work on warrior monks and some illustrious individuals but those are the least important to me.

I am not yet sure what I planning to do for the banners, if I am going to print them or create them from crafting materials.


A block of pikemen after an example. I plan to make my lines two deep, but the image showed three rows.


Made the armstrong gun for fun and a future project.