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Was the Sword Always the Soul of the Samurai? - From Mounted Archery to the Soul of the Samurai | Sleepy Facts About History
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When we picture the samurai, we almost always imagine a warrior with a curved sword at his hip. But the history of the samurai began not with the blade, but with the bow. For centuries, Japanese warfare was defined by mounted archery, with the sword serving merely as a backup weapon. This episode explores how the samurai evolved from armed servants on horseback to infantry officers wielding spears and matchlock guns, and finally to bureaucratic administrators wearing paired blades as legal…
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