Umawari - Umawari

Japanese: 馬廻 - うままわり

As it says in the Taiheiki, "Yoshisada surrounded the horse of an army with more than 7,000 soldiers who had been defeated by the umawari." The term umawari refers to the group of soldiers around the horse of the commander of an army, and by extension, it refers to the mounted samurai who always accompanied their lord as the commander in chief and served as his guard when he went out to battle or to visit shrines and temples, and who formed the core of the army as a sort of guard. The term umawari came into use after the Nanboku-cho period, but the existence of umawari had existed in samurai families long before that. Given the nature of the task, men with particularly excellent martial arts and physical strength were selected for the job.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

〈義貞ハ兼テヨリ馬廻ニ勝レタル兵ヲ七千余騎囲マセテ〉(〈《太平記》〉)とあるように，一軍の大将の乗っている馬の周囲を馬廻と言い，転じて合戦や社寺参詣などの出行の際，つねに大将である主君の周囲にいて護衛の任に当たり，全軍の中核をなした親衛隊的な騎馬の平侍を指す。馬廻の語は南北朝期以降みられるようになるが，馬廻の事実そのものは，それ以前から武士の家に存在した。任務の性格からしてとくに武芸･体力にすぐれた者を選抜してこれに当てた。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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