- Oyumi
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Oyumi is the Japanese name for crossbow. During the sixteenth century, the oyumi was the exclusive weapon of ashigaru, but had been common on the battlefield then, both in the hand-held form and in the larger siege crossbows which fired stones.
The oyumi was a powerful and compact weapon, but its rate of fire was slower than the longbow (yumi). It first appeared in Japan in the seventh century and it quickly became an infantry weapon. However, as the use of conscripts declined, so did the infantry's use of the oyumi.
According to Japanese records, the oyumi was different from Chinese models, some of which were enormous and could fire several bolts simultaneously. In the ninth century, a Japanese artisan by the name of Shimaki no Fubito claimed that he had improved the Chinese version, and that his crossbow rotated so that it could fire stones or arrows in four directions. Use of the oyumi died out around the end of the sixteenth century, when firearms began replacing bows on the battlefield.
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