Gunbai: Ancient Japanese Warfare

Iron and Steel Technology in Japanese Arms & Armors - Part 1: Iron Sources Japanese blacksmith in an Edo period print,    Switzerland, Museum of Ethnography of Neuchâtel, sources here If you are into swords and armors to some extent, you might have fallen into archaeometallurgy and science; if this is the case and you want to go deep inside the nature of Japanese metal artifacts during the middle ages , you might found this series of articles interesting. Although the history of Iron in Japan is rather long and old (yet not the oldest as someone claimed in the past !) this series will be specifically dedicated to the late Muromachi and Azuchi-Momoyama period (namely the 16th century). I'm far from being an expert, and actually I'm still learning a lot in this field, so that's my disclaimer: I might have missed something here and there, and I might be wrong since I don't have neither the experience nor the academic background to be precisely accurat...

Horo (母衣) - Samurai Cape A detail from " 一の谷合戦図屏風" where  Kumagai Naozane  is depicted  wearing an Horo on horseback. The Horo ( 母衣 ), also written with the characters  袰 ,  幌  and 保呂,  is a type of Japanese cape associated to the Samurai class. It is quite unique as a form of cape and it was worn by the Japanese mounted warriors on the battlefield of the Heian and Kamakura period. It was a mantle-like gear worn on top of the O'yoroi when on horseback. When riding, it was flapping or if tied to the hips, it blew up like a sail and it is assumed that it was worn for threatening the enemy and to enhance the majestic appearance of a mounted warrior. An horo fixed on the back of the armor, from  軍用記 7巻. [3] You can see how the cords were fixed on top of the shoulder area and on the hips. However, when not being inflated by the wind, the Horo was hanging  down in an unsightly manner and so a fr...