Gunbai: Ancient Japanese Warfare

Tankō (短甲): Kofun period laminar armor A classic Kofun period warrior wearing tank ō  armor, from  短甲冑着用男子図. Before reading all of this, I have to say that this article was made possible thanks to the book of Mr. Trevor Absolon: " Samurai Armour: Volume I: The Japanese Cuirass: 1 (General Military) . Bloomsbury Publishing " . Without his work, this would not have been possible. If you want to buy his book, I strongly recommend to do, since aside few flaws it is probably one of the best books on the subject in English. One of the first armor associated with the Japanese culture is the so called  Tankō (短甲 ) , a solid clamshell cuirass made with riveted or laced iron plates used during the Kofun period ( 古墳時代 ), in between the 4th and 6th century. Although it is often said that this armor was the first type of armor developed in Japan , it wasn't; armor have been used in Japan since the Yayoi period, and the Tank ō  was neither an entirely Japanese design. In...