forces were the samurai, the military caste of Japan who dominated Japanese society. Japanese society was divided into four castes: samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants, in that order. The samurai caste owned most of the land in Japan, had the sole right to carry swords and to execute on the spot any commoner who was insufficiently deferential, and were allowed to own horses and ride into battle. The standard samurai weapon by 1592 was the yari, a spear meant to stab, often with a cross-blade that allowed a samurai to pull his opponent from his horse. If samurai wished to cut his opponent rather than stab, the weapons were the ōdachi, an extremely long sword with a huge handle, or the naginata, a polearm with very sharp curved blade. The most famous of all the samurai weapons was the katana, a sword described by the British military historian Stephen Turnbull as "...the finest edged weapon in the history of warfare". Samurai never carried shields, with the katana being used to deflect blows. By 1592, the armor of the samurai was lamellae made from iron or leather scales tied together which had been modified to include solid plate to help protect the samurai from bullets. Samurai engaged in psychological warfare by wearing an iron mask into battle with a mustache made of horsehair and a "sinister grin" attached to the outside. Overall, 158,800 soldiers, laborers and transport troops (of whom a quarter had firearms) were prepared to take part in the invasion, with roughly a third of the force being armed fighting units (samurai, their attendants and ashigaru conscripts), while the other two thirds filled a support function (doctors, priests, secretaries, boatmen and labourers). Following table shows the forces of Gotō Sumiharu, who held the fief of Fukue (assessed at 140,000 koku) on the Gotō archipelago. Family records show he led a force of 705, with 27 horses, 220 of which were fighting men while 485 filled a support role. The breakdown of the fighting contingent was the following: General: 1 and his horse Commissioners: 5 with 5 horses Messengers: 3 with 3 horses Inspectors: 2 with 2 horses Mounted samurai: 11 with 11 horses Foot samurai: 40 Samurai attendants: 38 Ashigaru conscripts: 120 Another daimyō whose military service quota has been preserved in a written record is Shimazu Yoshihiro, whose contribution broke down to: 600 samurai 300 flag bearers 1,500