Heavy Ashigaru infantry

 Although the term "Age of Strife" refers to the last twenty years of the 13th century, a Yatai's period of profound instability, for a seventy-year period or so the Cherry Empire was rocked by a whole succession of dynastic clashes and clashes between powerful rival clans, which saw the rise of a new class of soldiers. The territorial militia (or Infantry Soldiers), or the Ashigaru.

This type of soldier was not unknown even in earlier centuries where it had been used by both demon kingdoms and military clans.

The real current revolution (probably borrowed from the Taizheng Empire) is the creation, especially during the reign of Go-Akira, of a class of heavily armed soldiers who form a middle ground between the actual Bushi military class and the militia class.

Indicatively, this reform is not sitting well with the military class, but there is no doubt that a heavy infantry, but even the most conservative of the military clans have realized the usefulness of such troops.

Heavy soldiers wear metal banded armor. A helmet also made of metal, while shoulder straps and other defensive accessories are made of bent and lacquered bamboo.

Weapons include a sword (a wakizashi, not a Katana) and the yari spear (a kind of pike) with which they fight in closed formation.

Pictured is a Daiasu clan guard protecting the entrance to a clan castle.