I wouldn’t go that far. The whole Way of the Sword and all that really kicked off when Miyamoto Musashi was around and that was the 16th century. He was a famed dualist with a sword and wrote The Book of the Five Rings, which is all about swordplay and techniques/styles/skills.

Did they use shields? I’ve wondered since playing a mod for warband that turns the game into Feudal Period Japan, but it’s also hard as fuck to not die because archers abound but the modder didn’t include shields because “samurai didn’t have shields.”

I was under the impression that long arms were the main weapon of choice, at least for the infantryman, which is usually the bulk of armies.