[Zenzei]

I'd definitely take an awake pretender with Jomon that either boosts your starting army enough or is capable of taking indies alone. This is because Jomon starting arny isn't very good imo and you need those provinces around capital to get more resources for serious troop building.
For example: awake W9 blue dragon, dom str 5, order3/prod1/cold2/misfortune2.

For early strategy I would go with lots of samurai archers featuring flaming arrows. With this in mind I would research thaumaturgy 2(communion+remotes), conjuration 3(phoenix power), enchantment 4(flaming arrows) first. Cast flaming arrows via communion made of 5 of those mages with S2 and 2 randoms. After flaming arrows have been acquired you can continue straight to enchantment 6 for arrow fend, which is also super good and happens to patch up that lack of shields nicely.