Were crossbows used by the Japanese?

Question

Were crossbows used in any significant way by the Japanese? If so, what period and how were they fielded?

I found some very brief references:

Jonathan Clements' "A Brief History of the Samurai" mentions an isolated late use. Post AD1000, iirc, but the index doesn't help me find the relevant section in the book. Could also be formulaic copying of earlier texts. I think you can safely ignore them after the end of the 9th century.

The Chinese varieties were well known in Japan and appear in dictionaries under the names 'oyumi' or 'teppo yumi'. Those preserved in Nagoya belonged to Tokugawa Mitsutomo (1625 - 1700), whilst the Metropolitan Museum's one has a partial signature '... Kunitaka'. One of the Nagoya ones has an alternative string and a half barrel that can be fitted to convert it into a pellet-bow. (See my article in the Royal Armouries Yearbook, Vol 3. 1998).

Answer 1

Actually, I can say Japanese ( being happening to be native Japanese well, ) did not use the crossbows almost at all throughout its entire history except for shortly before 10th century. ( I am sorry this is Japanese and Wiki site )

According to the above source, along with the increase of Samurai's gradual role throughout Japan ( up until, say, at least 6-7 century, even the northern part of Japan was not ruled by the central dynasty. ), the crossbows became not to be used by them due to the difficulties of the maintenance of them as well as the management, whereas long bows are comprably light and easy to maintain, so that after 10th century, it looks the crossbows completely disappeared. We can guess such a consequence by considering the size of Japan, I think. ( almost equal to California and Japan is a mountain-full country. )

So while crossbows were used widespreadly used in China, which is enormously large, on the other hand, Japan is tiny and there are many hills and mountains so that I or we can guess the Samurais preferred much lighter weapons than heavy ones such as crossbows.

By the way, I am wondering the phrase in your question.

What is teppo　yumi? Teppo means rifles, whereas yumi is a long ( or rather shorter ) bow. So that personally I guess the writer should have inserted a comma as Teppo, Umi ( Rifles, Bows ( We called the crossbows "DO".))

And regarding Oyumi ( I have no idea what that means ), since Mitsutomo Tokugawa lived in peacuful era ( the final battle ended in 1615 ), so that it may be possible he invented or imported from China the crossbow.

I like reading books about the warring era in Japan too, but I have neer ever heard even there was a battalion or an unit comprised only of the crossbowers for 30 years. ( Although there were many units comprised only of bow users before the rifles were imported and widespread. )

---

Per the request by Courtny Cotten at the comment line, I would like to show you 4 pictures of wars during war era.

1. Nagashino War : Nobunaga Oda vs Takeda family, 1575.

   Can you see any crossbowmen groups? No, only what I can see are Spearmen, Rifle units, Horsemen group. ( Please note after the import of Teppo, bowmen became less and less important. ( But you can find one bowman at around down left and 2 bowmen at around the center ( between rifle groups ( Kindly check with due attention )))

2.　Sekigahara War : Ieyasu Tokugawa vs Toyotomi subordinates AD1600

Same. Can you find anyone?

Kindly refer to the below 2 so that you can see clearly from earlier dates Samurais used bows as their main weapon ( before Teppo came ):

3 Ounin War Many warlords vs many worlords. 1467-1477

You can find bowmen but not crossbowmen.

4 Paited late 13th century, about his ( as a symbol of the Samurai's ( actually drawn by himself ) great play defending Japan from Chinese ( Mongolian ) Invasion 1274 or 1281

Thank you. Please have good days.

Answer 2

The O-Yumi, a large crossbow essentially acting as a siege weapon was used, but the typical crossbow itself was eschewed; the samurai did not like the crossbows as much as their Yumi, which were also considered spiritual tools. Additionally, there were complaints about the issues in training soldiers to use the crossbows and technological issues present in crossbows, such as difficulties in loading while on the move, and

In addition, there Japanese would have encountered serious technological problems producing crossbows. The main difficulty would have been one of available materials: the same limited choices of construction materials that determined the development of the distinctive Japanese longbow would have complicated the design and manufacture of hand-crossbows as well. Crossbows, Karl Friday

Japanese Crossbow

Oyumi

Yumi

It would seem, therefore, that early medieval warriors lacked interest in using hand-crossbows, and that this indifference toward hand-held crossbows predated the bushi, having been shared by the ritsuryo military apparatus as well. This apathy is easy to fathom, when one considers the technological benefits and limitations of the weapon.Crossbows, Karl Friday