The term “Sohei Warrior monks” refers to the monks of the various Japanese Buddhist temple communities, including those of Nara and Mount Hiei. The term warrior monk comes from the translation of Sohei, “so” meaning a Buddhist priest or monk and “hei” meaning soldier or warrior. The monks tended to be belligerent to the point of foolhardiness and the Nara and Miidera monks were heavily suppressed after allying with the “wrong” side during the Gempei War (1180-85).
Monastic forces consisted of a hard core of trained warriors but the bulk of armies were made up of less well-trained and/or motivated members of the temple communities. Their overall effectiveness has probably been overrated by Hollywood and most wargaming rules systems. One well known tactic was to place their portable shrine, containing the kami (or spirit) of the temple, in front of the battle line and dare all comers to try and take it!
Mounted Sohei Superior Saburo
Sohei Sergeant (1)
Sohei Sergeant (2)
Sohei Creed Bearer
Sohei Temple Guard
Sohei Temple Guard with nodachi heavy sword
Sohei Temple Guard with tetsubo heavy club
Sohei Temple Guard with paired swords
Very nice figures and scenery! 🙂
Thanks John. This project has taken a long time and hopefully will be finished in the next few months. still a lot of scenery and figures to go.
Those are great- really like them.
Cheers,
Pete.
Thanks Pete
Well done Dave, I think your assessment of the effectiveness of monkish forces is spot on. They actually picked the winning side in the Gempei War, it just wasn’t winning yet when the Taira gave the monks the chop!
You have excelled yourself dear boy! Minis and terrain are both outstanding! Always loved those scroll illustrations and you have really captured their spirit.
Very impressive!
Looking good.
As said above, very nice figures and scenery there mate.
Cheers Roger.
Ditto on the previous comments, but I enjoyed the history as much as seeing the nicely painted figures.