Many people think of the samurai sword worn across the waist as the quintessential equipment of Japanese samurai, and, of course, they are not wrong, but to assume these individuals were limited to just their samurai swords would be a great and special mistake.
In fact, on the battlefield, the most commonly used weapons by Japanese samurai were usually the Japanese spear, the field katana nearly as tall as a person, and bows, including even the Fire God Gun; the Japanese sword was at most a backup weapon.
This consideration stems from the Warring States period in Japan, especially during its later stages, where the rate at which military units donned armor was incredibly high, rendering samurai swords, which were adept against unarmored targets, naturally relegated to a supporting role on the battlefield.
