Early Samurai AD 200-1500 by Anthony J Bryant

Author:Anthony J Bryant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Early Samurai AD 200–1500
ISBN: 9781472800381
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

The nature and style of the armour worn by warriors of the Yayoi Period is unclear. It is likely that it was a variation on that found in the kôfun of the 4th–7th centuries; but there are no surviving armours predating the kôfun, so there is next to nothing before the mid-4th century for us to study.

Much of what we do know about the design and construction of the earliest armours is due to Suenaga Masao, an armour historian who wrote a masterful and definitive treatise on the subject (Jôdai no Katchû, or Ancient Armour) before World War II. For the production of the book he also reconstructed virtually every type of armour that had been discovered to date—including all the variations. Almost every writer who has touched on pre-10th-century armours has referred back to Suenaga; and for those with an interest in the old armours, finding a copy of his masterpiece in a second-hand book store is like finding a buried treasure.

The armour that has emerged from the kôfun is of two types: tight-fitting solid plate cuirasses called tankô (literally ‘short shell’), and a skirted cuirass of lamellar construction called keikô (‘hanging shell’). These are names applied by modern armour historians; their original names are unknown. In the 8th–9th centuries an Imperial edict for the construction of several hundred suits of armour used the term ‘kawara’, related to the modern term for ‘tile’. Exactly what form of armour the edict referred to is not known, however.

The tankô was an hourglass-shaped cuirass, opening up the central front, with hinges of metal or leather on the right and sometimes both sides. The rear rose higher than the front, forming a neat covering for the upper back. The tankô had a tight waist, and was obviously individually fitted: some unearthed examples were obviously built for men with more of a paunch than others. It was supported over the shoulders by straps of cotton cloth which, judging by remains, were attached to the outside of the armour, rather than a more logical and safe inside fastening.

One of the near-uniform points of consistency on the tankô is the design: the plate which rides on the hips is one of two horizontal bands; there is another at breast level. The remaining plates were usually either triangular, or bands attached to the inside. They could be either riveted in place or attached with leather lacing. Classification of tankô found in tombs shows that there does not appear to be any particular correlation by period between those using rivets or leather strapping, nor was there any regional preference between the two, nor between triangular plates and solid lames—all forms were fairly well distributed throughout the period and over the various tumuli.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.