Armour in Japan has a history that goes back as far as the 4th century. Japanese armour developed enormously over the centuries since its introduction to the battlefield. It was worn to varying degrees by numerous classes; most notably by the samurai (and by default the ashigaru), and was seen on the battlefield both on mounted and foot troops. The pinnacle of Japanese lamellar armour is generally accepted as being the ō-yoroi (大鎧?, literally 'great armour') type.
Read more about Japanese Armour: History, Construction, Individual Armour Parts, Auxiliary Armours, Clothing Worn With Japanese Armour, Auxiliary Items Worn With Japanese Armour, In Popular Culture, Individual Samurai Armor Parts, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words japanese and/or armour:
“I am a lantern—
My head a moon
Of Japanese paper, my gold beaten skin
Infinitely delicate and infinitely expensive.”
—Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)
“Seven to eleven is a huge chunk of life, full of dulling and forgetting. It is fabled that we slowly lose the gift of speech with animals, that birds no longer visit our windowsills to converse. As our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armour themselves against wonder.”
—Leonard Cohen (b. 1934)