07-24-2006, 03:18 PM
It should also be noted that in the civil wars of the 15th-16th centuries the samurai and their ashigaru (light foot) supporters pretty much dropped the old individualistic glory-hound style of fighting and fought in dense ranks armed with long spears. Romans fighting a Japanese army of this period would be facing something resembling a formation of Swiss pikemen, a very different proposition from the Japanese armies of earlier centuries.
Pecunia non olet