be used to rouse the troops, calling them to battle, as well as to summon allies onto the field, to set marching pace, and to encourage troops as they approached victory. Horagai were conch shells used as trumpets or horns, to issue orders across the battlefield. A complex system of conch calls came into use by the height of the Sengoku period. Many yamabushi were renowned for their skill with a conch, and were hired into feudal armies as kai yaku, or trumpeters. Gongs and bells were often used for related purposes, though these were rarely brought onto the battlefield. Rather, they would be kept at camp, and used primarily to rouse the army to battle, and to signal warnings of approaching enemies and the like. It is rumored that in Uesugi Kenshin's war camp, the first bell meant to stop eating, the second to put on armor, and the third to move out onto the battlefield. Much like the Buddhist temple bells used for the same purpose in the Genpei War, later 'war bells' were bronze, and fairly large; they would be struck by a wooden hammer from the outside, not by a clapper on the inside like Western bells. Other devices, such as wooden clappers (hyoshigi) were sometimes used in urban war camps, or urban skirmishes, to set time and encourage troops. But the range of their sound is quite limited, and thus so was their use on larger battlefields. Messages and messengers Communications were, of course, not only necessary on the battlefield, but between battles as well. Takeda Shingen famously set up a system of fire beacons across his Province of Kai, so that he could be notified in the capital of Kofu as soon as his rival Uesugi Kenshin made a move. Wooden towers were filled with combustible material, and as each was lit, the next, some distance away, would see the signal and light theirs. Once an army was on the move, scouts were often sent to provide reconnaissance, and messages needed to be transmitted between elements of the same army, or between allies, speedily, and without the information falling into the hands of the enemy. A number of systems of protecting their intelligence, and ensuring its safe delivery came about. Often, written messages would end with 'you will be informed of these things by the messenger.' By not placing the entire message in writing,