The Japanese Samurai Armor, a little background
Japanese samurai armor
Japanese armor was developed throughout the fourth to sixth centuries. Japanese armor is known to be expensive and could take up to a year to be put together. The armor was also traded to other countries especially the Asian countries and sent as gifts to nation leaders.
The heavily detailed armor mainly consists of a metal breastplate that came in pieces to be tightly laced together in order to keep the armor from falling apart. They use lacquer on the metal armor to prevent it from rusting. The lacing of the armor was found to be an artistic ability in order to lace up warrior’s armor.
This artistic ability was called odoshi, and patterns of this process helped the samurai warriors to have the ability to identify members of a clan by the color of the cord that was used to lace up their armor. For instance, the Tachibana clan had yellow colored lace cords, the Taira clan used purple, and the Fujiwara clan used a light green cord.
The cords were also a sign of the rank of the samurai warrior. The tight and detailed lacing was more reserved for those of higher ranks and the wide lacing was used for more of the infantry troops.
This type of armor was called a tanko which is known as a short armor because of it consisted of just the breastplate. Throughout the centuries they continued to evolve and create better armor for the constant wars the Japanese warriors were a part of. The full suit of Japanese armor was known to have over 20 components to ensure full protection for the warrior’s body.
The metal cuirass was the metal breastplates, the helmet and face mask which was used to protect the entire head and face, armored sleeves for the arms and hands of the body, shoulder guards, and the greaves protected the legs. An armored skirt or type of apron which was to protect the upper thighs called the kusazuri,and the shin guards called suneate.
During the 14th century they added guards for the thigh area, and in the 16th century they added the mempo which is the face mask. The overall armor were heavy and thick for the warriors and required them to build their strength in order to wear their armors for hours to days at a time.
The early warriors used to wear one armored sleeve on the left arm with the primary goal of protecting the arm from the bow and arrow weapons to not get caught in the metallic sleeve. During the 13th century the blacksmith created matching armor sleeves for the purpose of protection.
It was found that some of Japan’s armor styles were adapted from the European armors. The samurai warrior’s main skill was using the Japanese Swords (aka Katana) and longbow know as the yumi. During the 15th century they introduced the spear which became a very popular weapon to use with the longbow. The Japanese name for it is called the yari.
During the late 1500s the Japanese were introduced to the cannon which were swivel-breech loaders called the kunikuzushi known as the Destroyer of Provinces. They found that this type of weapon to be effective in the meeting their needs. It weighed about 264 pounds and used chambers that weighed 40 pounds and fired a shot weighing 10 ounces. During the early 1600s they developed better engineering on the cannons to help it to fire more heavier shots weighing approximately 18 pounds.
The Japanese blacksmiths continued expanding their large array of weapons throughout history with the main attention that will help the samurai warriors to carry out the duties in a shorter amount of time and continues to be durable.
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