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A man wearing Samurai armor and jinbaori (sleeveless jacket) turns around, 2019. Scholars agree that Japanese armour first appeared in the 4th century, with the discovery of the cuirass and basic helmets in graves. [1] During the Heian period (794–1185), the unique Japanese samurai armour ō-yoroi and dō-maru appeared. [2]
For the most part the ō-yoroi was a rich man's armor and not used by lower ranking samurai. The armor was mainly worn by the higher ranking samurai on horseback. The lower ranking soldiers had armor that was similar to the ō-yoroi, but had fewer components, was lighter, and lacked the decorative markings of the higher ranking samurai. [4]
Tankō, worn by foot soldiers, and keikō, worn by horsemen, were both pre-samurai types of early Japanese cuirass constructed from iron plates connected by leather thongs. During the Heian period (794 to 1185), the cuirass evolved into the more familiar style of armour worn by the samurai known as the dō. Japanese armourers started to use ...
Antique Japanese (samurai) sangu, the three armours of the extremities, kote (armoured sleeves), suneate (shin armour), haidate (thigh armour) Sangu is the term for the three armour components that protected the extremities of the samurai class of feudal Japan.
In the Sengoku period in the 16th century, when the scale of war increased and the guns called tanegashima became popular, the armor styles called ō-yoroi and dō-maru became outdated. As a response to the popularity of tanegashima, the armor style of tosei-gusoku (当世具足) was created.
Kikko armor was made for every class of samurai or soldier, high or low. George Cameron Stone [3] referred to kikko as "brigandine" when he said "in Japan, brigandines were often used". He further described this "brigandine" as "small hexagons", "the plates [being] of steel or hard leather", and that "occasionally they covered the whole body".
Lamellar armour reached Japan around the 5th century, predating the rise of the samurai caste. [4] Early Japanese lamellar armour, called keiko, took the form of a sleeveless jacket and a helmet. [9] The middle of the Heian period was when lamellar armour
In the book Japanese Arms & Armor Introduction by H. Russell Robinson, there is a picture of Japanese riveted kusari on page 58. [12] This quote from the translated reference of Sakakibara Kozan's 1800 book, The Manufacture of Armour and Helmets in Sixteenth Century Japan , shows that the Japanese not only knew of and used riveted kusari , but ...