Did the Sengoku era Japanese use tents?

This research segment is particularly shorter due to the lack of research available on this topic. We are hoping to find more as we continue to tirelessly look for work from modern professionals and reliable translations of contemporary works. *** Bryant (1994) claims that, due to their size and difficulty in transportation, tents did not play a significant role in Classical and Feudal Japanese warfare and that billeting was often pursued as an option. However, encampments remained a common aspect of Japanese warfare. In fact, sources dating from as far back as the Heian and Kamakura periods repeatedly mention encampments and even defensive positions. Encampments could be used for anywhere between a few days to even months, particularly the latter if it was a siege camp. This would, and seems to, affect the dwellings of the soldiers in the army in such an encampment. In the depiction of the siege of Osaka castle, we see mixes of what appear to be A-frame shelters and likely bamboo/wood shelters that resemble very small houses to house troops, with simple stick fences around the outside possibly to divide the army into units:

The concept of longer-staying encampments requiring more ‘hut-like’ shelters for the soldiers is evidenced in the accounts of Oda Nobunaga’s campaigns, specifically from the siege of Nagashino (1575): 

“Raising the battlecry and firing their several hundred harquebuses all at once, they drove away the Takeda siege force, entered Nagashino castle, linked up with the castle’s garrison, and burnt the enemy’s hutment.” (Ota Izumi no Kami, 1575, trans. Conlan, 238). 

However, the above images shown so far are very much of ‘shelters’ rather than ‘tents’, which could explain the reasoning behind the concept of tents not often being used but encampments themselves being quite common. This produces a conclusion that says that built/constructed shelters were much more common than tents, which would also give evidence of a solution to the ‘carrying and transporting tents’ problem. Shelters could be made out of any materials that were nearby the army when it set up camp, which also saved the army from having to carry tents or shelters.  The few tents or sun shades that we have seen are generally constructed very much in the way as shown in the feudal illustrations below, and they are almost always shown with samurai or nobility. This could also give a clue as to why so few tents were used, as they were mostly used by the minority in society:

In summary, it is likely that:

1. While the Japanese had access to tents, their role in military campaigns was minimal. This is likely due to the fact that constructed shelters were more often relied on, and only the samurai or nobility (the minority) used tents.

2. While billeting at shrines or in villages/towns was an option, encampments are constantly mentioned in sources that cover centuries. 

3. The shelters that were constructed could have been made of various designs or construction. Two of these appear to be simple A-frames and ‘small huts’ made out of wood or bamboo. Both shelters are constructed within the same illustration, however the latter appears to be more common as the illustration depicts the besieging camp during a long siege. References: Bryant & McBride, Warrior Series: Samurai 1550-1600. London, UK: Osprey, 1994.
   

   T., D. Conlan. (2022). Samurai and the Warrior Culture of Japan, 471-1877: a Sourcebook. Indianapolis: USA, Hackett.
   

   Tokyo National Museum. (n.d.). Osaka Winter Camp Folding Screen. Retrieved from: https://webarchives.tnm.jp/imgsearch/show/C0096328?fbclid=IwAR34YBl_ao4GKX8vVUMV-hpvhm0QWVXCZvKvZsrn3qcvPhxZffOSZ42ZIkM.