“Japanese Monk armed with a large two-handed club. Good against cavalry and buildings.”—In-game description
The Yamabushi is a melee heavy infantry unit in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties that is unique to the Japanese and can be trained either by Shogun Tokugawa or at the Consulate when Japanese Isolationism is chosen as Konsha Yamabushi. It is armed with a kanabo club and excels at defeating cavalry.
Overview 
Edit
Yamabushi are like European Pikemen, as both are relatively fast heavy infantry units with large attack bonuses against cavalry and light infantry.
However, they have better stats in anything, except cost, as they cost five more food than Pikemen. They are tougher and stronger, but their main difference and advantage is the fact they have a ranged resistance. While not enough to help them survive an onslaught with Skirmisher-type units, groups of Yamabushi are much better at facing them than Pikemen, who die faster from their volleys.
It is recommended to train them from the Shogun rather from than the Consulate, as it provides a mobile Japanese army with cheap anti-building units (particularly if the Onin War card is chosen at the Home City), and anti-cavalry cover for their Yumi Archers in the early game.
In later stages of the game, Samurai should be preferred, though.
The Konsha Yamabushi have +10% hit points and attack than the regular Yamabushi.
Upgrades Edit
The Yamabushi is automatically upgraded in every Age up starting from the Fortress Age. However, only the regular variant whose name changes to reflect this.
- Disciplined Yamabushi (+20% hit points and attack)
- Honored Yamabushi (+30% hit points and attack)
- Exalted Yamabushi (+50% hit points and attack)
Further statistics Edit
As the (Konsha) Yamabushi is unique to the Japanese, only improvements available to them that are shown in the following table.
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Cavalry, light infantry, buildings |
| Weak vs. | Skirmishers, archers, artillery |
| Improvements | |
| Hit points |  Infantry Breastplate (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Maya Cotton Armor (+20%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
|
| Attack |  Carib Kasiri Beer (+10%) Mapuche Tactics (+50% siege attack) Zapotec Cult of the Dead (+20%) Yoga (+5%) Master Lessons (+10%)
|
| Speed |  Incan Road-building (+20%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
|
| Sight |  Town Watch (+2)
|
| Creation speed |  Standing Army (-25%) Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
|
Home City Cards Edit
As the (Konsha) Yamabushi is unique to the Japanese, only other civilizations' TEAM cards that affect them are shown in the following tables.
| Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the (Konsha) Yamabushi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Dutch
|
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Infantry Hitpoints
| Infantry gets +15% hit points |  | 10 |
Indians Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
| All units get +5% hit points and attack |  | 25 |
Iroquois Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Scout Infantry
| Infantry gets +8 LOS | | 10 |
Japanese Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 Onin War
| Infantry gets +33% siege attack | | 40 |
 Good Faith Agreements
| Consulate armies/units train time -50%; Consulate shipments/technologies cost -40% (-400 export for Brigades) and arrives/are researched twice as fast (except Brigades) |  | 1 |
- The Good Faith Agreements card only affects Konsha Yamabushi.
Russians Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Dueling School
| Infantry train time -25%; banner army train time -12% | | 25 |
Spanish Edit
| Card | Description | Age | HC level |
|---|---|---|---|
 TEAM Hand Infantry Attack
| Melee infantry gets +15% attack | | 10 |
 TEAM Inquisition
| All units get +10 LOS | | 10 |
Trivia Edit
- The Yamabushi are one of several anti-cavalry units in the series to use a club, the others being the Mapuche Ironwood Clubman, the Nootka Clubman, and the Nootka War Chief from Age of Empires III, as well as the Katapeltes from Age of Mythology.
History Edit
“Unlike the sohei warrior monks of the same period, the yamabushi were an order of loosely banded mountain hermits who had retreated to the mountains of Japan in pursuit of peace and worldly abstinence. The yamabushi were disciples of Shugendo, the study of man’s relationship to nature, and strived for spiritual enlightenment through the purging of outside influence. Over time, the yamabushi became the caretakers of all forms of obscure occult knowledge and were often sought after as healers and guides. In addition to their study of nature, esoteric imagery, and religious texts, the yamabushi also trained in the martial arts.
By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the scattered yamabushi began to show an interest in affairs outside their mountain havens, and began to form loose groups known as konsha, which took orders from a central temple. Banded together in this way, the yamabushi, like their warrior monk brethren, the sohei and the ikko-ikki, suddenly held political power in a region where clans and kingdoms were constantly toppled. These warrior monks fought alongside samurai in many campaigns of the Sengoku Period, until they were eventually crushed by the powerful daimyo Oda Nobunaga.”
Gallery Edit
