Japanese armour

Scholars agree that Japanese armour first appeared in the 4th century, with the discovery of the cuirass and basic helmets in graves.

[2] The Japanese cuirass evolved into the more familiar style of body armour worn by the samurai known as the dou or dō, with the use of leather straps (nerigawa), and lacquer for weatherproofing.

This was the first time matchlock muskets were imported, and as they became mass-produced domestically, samurai needed lighter and more protective armour.

[3] When a united Japan entered the peaceful Edo period, samurai continued to use both plate and lamellar armour as a symbol of their status.

[6] Every year on Children's Day, May 5, Japanese households display miniature samurai armor and kabuto (helmets) in keeping with the tradition of Tango no Sekku.

[2] In the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the most simple style of armor called hara-ate (腹当) appeared, which protected only the front of the torso and the sides of the abdomen, and was worn by lower-ranked fighters.

Later, kabuto (helmets), men-yoroi (facial armor), and kote (gauntlet) were added to the haramaki, and even high-ranking samurai began to wear them.

In this period, on the other hand, a new method called sugake odoshi (素懸縅) was adopted, in which the scales of armor were sparsely connected to each other by two cords.

[3] Additionally, the Japanese adopted the full plated armour known as "nanban dō-gusoku", the helmet and cuirass made of iron, the same form as that of a Portuguese Conquistador.

[16] Scales has changed to itazane (板札), which is made of relatively large iron plate or platy leather, and has improved its defenses.

Itazane can also be said to replace a row of individual honkozane or iyozane with a single steel plate or platy of leather.

[25] Edo period samurai were in charge of internal security and would wear various types of kusari gusoku (chain armour) and shin and arm protection as well as forehead protectors (hachi-gane).

Japanese armour was designed to be as lightweight as possible as the samurai had many tasks including riding a horse and archery in addition to swordsmanship.

[30][31] Tosei dou (dō) gusoku the so-called "modern armours" made from iron plates (ita-mono)[32] instead of individual scales (kozane).

Tosei-gusoku became prominent starting in the 1500s due to the advent of fire arms, new fighting tactics and the need for additional protection.