Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/196

 nised, the Japanese themselves did not generally obey the principle of the phalanx, though they sometimes copied its formation. Individual prowess continued to be the prominent factor in battles down to a comparatively recent period. The great captains Takeda Shingen and Uyesugi Kenshin, who flourished during the first half of the sixteenth century, are supposed to have been Japan's pioneer tacticians. They certainly appreciated the value of a formation in which the action of the individual should be subordinated to the unity of the whole. But when it is remembered that fire-arms had already been in the hands of the Japanese for many years, and that they had means of acquainting themselves with the tactics of Europe through their intercourse with the Dutch, it is remarkable that the changes attributed to Takeda and Uyesugi were not more drastic. Speaking broadly, what they did was to organise a column with the musketeers and archers in front; the spearmen, halberdiers, and swordsmen in the second line; the cavalry in the third line; the commanding officer in the rear, and the drums and standards in the centre. The spearmen were marshalled according to the length of their weapons, the long spears in front, the short in the rear. Incidentally the power of the Japanese bow is illustrated by the fact that when the range proved too great for the fire-arms of the time, the musketeers stood aside and the archers took their place. At close quarters the spears