Yamato Kyubushi

Overall strategy
Yamato Kyubushi - Yamato archer guards. These units are ostensibly the best archer unit, and function in a way as a "mini-siege" weapon for the Japanese, having an attack bonus versus fortifications. They are also very accurate, and suffer only in that they are costly to train and equip, and don't do well against cavalry, especially the more heavily equipped units of the Eurasian mainland.

Use these units to suppress enemy infantry and towers from afar, but always keep a good body of Shoen retainers around them to keep enemy cavalry at bay. Their body armour can allow them to survive sorties by light cavalry, but not lancers or shock cavalry.