Tosei Gusoku (当世具足) - Body Coverage Explained

Japanese Armor Body Coverage Explained

Warriors of the Takeda Clan donning their armor, Utagawa Sadahide (歌川 貞秀) -  武田勇士揃

As I said before in a previous post, for any serious "Armor Enthusiast", there are some questions that suddenly come to mind when looking at a full harness.
Last time I've covered the weight, today I wanted to focus on the "How much does it protect you?" question.
Now, Japanese Armor is an huge topic; to make this article "short enough", I will speak about some different configurations (the most protective ones - and thus the heaviest) used to protect the warrior on the battlefield of the Sengoku Jidai. This analysis will cover the Tosei Gusoku (当世具足) type of armor, when it was fully developed, around the early/mid 16th century, and most of the time I will talk about the 25+ kg armor setup.

I've decided to do this post using some anatomic sketches and armor sketches to illustrate how all the armor components worked together to make the richest wearer almost invincible into the battlefield.

Because the average comment about the armors developed in Japan is that "those protective gear were light, with a great number of weaknesses to ensure a good freedom of movement".
This is one of the most annoying stereotype for me; the idea that Samurai armor had many weakspots to make them able to fight easily - as if covering obvious vital spots would have hinder the mobility in a tremendous way. Well, today we will debunk this idea.

The "race" between protection and mobility has always been the most important problem of armorer. In Japan, according to the warrior preference (and budget) a good compromise between these two factors was often made for those who fought on the battlefields.

They did deploy heavy suit of armor to defend themselves, which covered them head to toe; follow me through this article to debunk all the myths regarding Samurai's armor weaknesses.



HEAD

The head is one of the most important part of the body, and in any part of the world during the "Middle ages", head protection was always the priority.

Around the early to mid 16th century, a new type of battlefield helmet was created in Japan; the Hineno Zunari Kabuto ( 日根野頭形兜 ). Being made with large plates (usually 3 to 4) it was easier to make and offered great protection against any type of weapons: swords, polearms of various type and projectiles weapons.
In this specific draw, the head, which was "suspended" with a padded liner called Ukebari (浮張), (in a pretty identical fashion to European helmets) is completely covered by the Hachi, or the bowl, and the nape and neck area are protected by the Shikoro (錣), a close fitted model which was called Hineno.
 
Attached to the helmet there is a mask, a regular Menpō (面頬) which enclosed the face, with a Guruwa (or Kuruwa - 曲輪) , the Japanese "gorget". The Guruwa protects the throat by covering the front and the sides with metal lames.
The cord used to fasten the mask was made of thick silk, sometimes with a core of mail rings or hemp.

When wearing this setup, the major weaknesses is the area of the mouth and the section in between the helmet and the mask, although it was essential to let the warrior see and breathe in order to be able to fight. When facing a volley of arrow or arquebus fire, all he had to do was looking at the ground to allow his helmet peak (Mabisashi - 眉庇) to cover his eyes.
Is also possible that a spear point might get in the zone between the mask and the shikoro, but it won't deal much damage; most of the face and throat were enclosed by the mask itself, and this is still a quite rare event due to the angle needed to strike.
Sometimes, to add even more defense to the inside of the shikoro, a "mail curtain" called Shitajikoro ( 下錣 ) was added underneath. Sometimes the Shitajikoro could be made of kikko brigandine or lamellae too. It is usually seen on the widest shikoro types, design to deflect incoming strikes to the sides.

Talking specifically about the mask, the most common combinations were two;

On the left you could see a full Menpo with a Guruwa: this was defenitely the most protective configuration. However, even a lighter and less restrictive Hanbo (半頬 ) with a normal Tare ( 垂 ) offered enough protection to the face. The sides of the throat and back of the neck were protected by a brigandine collar made of Kikko (亀甲), with metal plates sewn inside a padded cloth.


TORSO

The second most important section of the body to cover is the torso; almost every vital organ is there, so ensuring a good protection is fundamental to survive.

One of the most important piece of equipment to wear is the Manchira (満智羅). It was worn under (and sometimes over) the armor to cover the armpits, the shoulders and the neck, but also to provide padding under the armor. There were many configurations: brigandine, mail or a combination of the two. Sometimes they were also covered with clothes like hemp or silk brocade. This is roughly the equivalent of the European arming doublet. Sometimes, the Kote - arm harness - were attached directly to the manchira, making the process of donning armor much faster.
In addition to that, a basic padded Shitagi or Kamishimo was worn as garment under the armor.

Mail armor Manchira

A cloth covered Manchira

But the most important piece of armor protecting the body was the Dou (胴):

This specific illustration depicts an Hotoke Dou (仏胴), a style emerged in the mid 16th century. It was made with a single thick breastplate and a backplate, hinged at one side. It was usually internally padded around the shoulder area, although wearing a Manchira underneath was already enough.
It came with a collapsible set of lames that made the Tassets (Kusazuri - 草摺), which protected the upper leg, the groin and the back too. The lames composing the armor were slightly doomed, to fit the leg anatomy and prevent sliding to some extent when fighting.
The armor for the torso was the most strongest part of the armor: its shape deflected weapons attack and could even stop early firearms shots.

However, looking at the picture is easier to see that there are two main weak spots: 

Here in the breast area you can see a basic type of the upper section of the breastplate, the Muna-ita (胸板). It's easy to notice that the area around the throat is essentially not protected, neither the area around the arms, the armpit, both in the front and at the sides. In addition to that, the cords holding the armor are exposed and could be easily cut by swords.

To solve these problems, there were several configurations;

The throat was again protected by the Tare (or the Guruwa) of the mask, and the cords were covered by separated metal plates hinged or laced to the armor, called Gyouyou (杏葉).

These two metal plates also covered a little the so called frontal armpit area, working like small "besagews"; some armors like the one of Soma Yoshitane (相馬義胤) had a double pair of Gyouyou which covered even more the area. In addition to that, the upper edges ( the gold edges) of the armor were rolled and reinforced with lacquer to make a "blade stopper" surface.

Here you can see a full close up of an armor in Lisbon, Portugal, with Kote, a Tare, Gyouyou and Sode to cover these zones mentioned before.

Wearing a Manchira underneath also covered most of these zones:

And last but not least, separated hanging plates called Wakibiki (脇曵) could be worn both over or under the armor to cover the sides of the armpit:

While talking for the lower torso, in the section of the abdomen is clear that there is a gap in between the breastplate and the tassets, a "mid-riff".
This zone is a dangerous area; with the development of Tosei Gusoku, this gap was increased to ensure a better range of movements of the hips and for comfort. However it came with a price; there is indeed a space that doesn't protect the low abdomen and also the cords holding the tassets, the Yurugi no ito, are exposed:

There were many solutions to this problem; is fair to notice that even in the "basic" scenario, were the gap was left there, a thick and heavy padded silk belt, the Uwa-obi (上帯), was worn over the cords, protecting both the silk laces and the abdomen. Sometimes the belt could have been made of mail - the so called Kusari Obi (鎖帯):

But this wasn't the best and the most protective solution.

An additional plate could have been added to the latest section of the Dou, the Hotte, fastened with rivets working in slots. This section overlapped with the tassets, but didn't protect directly the laces. However, the silk section could have been protected by the obi belt.
Sometimes the additional metal section was directly placed on top of the laces section, covering them entirely.

An armor in the Royal Armouries of Leeds has this particular feature;

Another practical and really defensive solution was replace the Yurugi no ito section with solid plates. This avoided both problems of the gap and the cords.
The famous armor of  Akechi Hidemitsu (明智秀満) exposed at the Tokyo National Museum has this feature.

The tassets present two splits at the first two rows. It is assumed that this was done for thrusting the katana and wakizashi underneath the kusazuri. This was probably the most defensive solution.
Another simple and quite easy configuration was to replacing the laces with mail or kikko brigandine sections, both as standalone piece but also as patches:

With this configuration both laces and low abdomen were protected.
Last but not least again, under the armor, an arming garments similar to a manchira was worn around the belt zone, made of kikko or mail sewn inside a padded clothes. This could have been worn both under or over the yurugi no ito; it was called Kyushu ate.

ARMS

Moving to the limbs, if you paid enough attention you would have seen that in any configurations mentioned since now there wasn't a proper defense for the armpit itself, a zone which by its nature needed to be protected by a flexible material.
You might already guessing how the Japanese solved this problem.

Any way, the arms were important body parts but not as vital as the torso or the head, so the protection was slightly lower both in terms of weakspots and thicknesses of the plates used.
However, heavy style of Kote existed too:

This type of Kote is known as Tsutsu Kote (筒籠手), and were quite similar to European arm harness. Is the most defensive configuration of Kote.

The lower arms (under the elbow) was protected by three hinged plates which covered the arm for 3/4 of its total surface, leaving a small section on the inside, which was protected by mail armor.


The space in between the upper and lower arm was filled with mail which connected the lower with the upper plates. On the elbow region, a circular plate protected the elbow (Hijigane - 臂金): although not as protective (and as restrictive) as European couter, it was there to prevent heavy blows to directly break bones underneath. However, this is one of the most susceptible zone against blunt force damages.

The inside of the elbow is probably one of the weakest part of the armor. The mail pattern used here (Koushi-gusari - 腰鎖), in order to achieve maximum mobility and no restrictions, had some squared holes. The holes dimension varies a lot, on some armor they are quite small ( less than 1 cm squared), but they are always present.
This is a typical Japanese design, a compromise needed in order to reduce the pressure of the mail on the joint when it flexes, to increase the degree of flexion and extension and to reduce the weight too. 
However, it is fair to notice that this pattern would still protect from cuts, and when the arm is bent over, the squared holes in the pattern get "stretched" to minimize the gaps.
The upper arms is protected again by three hinged plates which covered the biceps area in the same way as the lower armor. The shoulder was protected by other small plates laced together. This zone of the arm was usually less armored, and rarely big plates were used like in this example: most of the time to cover the upper arm and the shoulder, mail and small plates or brigandine patterns were used.
This was done because the area was generally protected by the pauldrons, the Sode (袖).

In the 14th century, new types of Sode were developed, which roughly resembled European pauldrons in function.
Some of them were slightly doomed to fit the arm anatomy, other were hinged to cover better the entire surface, like in this example. They are called Tsubo Sode (壷袖). The Sode were made of laced lames to achieve maximum mobility, and offered a double protection with the Kote in the upper arm area. Sometimes they were directly fixed to the arm and to the shoulder, to avoid any lateral movements and to allow the plates to stay in place.

However, even more sophisticated, heavier and protective style of Kote existed, entirely made of plates, where the space in between the lower and upper arm was covered by several lames made of kozane laced together to allow flexibility, instead of mail; here is the example:

All the right reserved to Renbu Antique

The armpit itself was protected by a section of mail attached to the Kote, called Soe-Wakibiki (添脇引) which worked like European voiders. Sometimes metal plates were added in the mail pattern.
Now, moving to the inside:

The inside is probably one of the weakest part of the armor ( but also one of the less exposed). They actually present the same mail pattern used in the inner elbow region, to avoid any possible hindrance. This style is called Uchimawashi-gote (打廻籠手). Anyway, this pattern was still able to stop cuts, which were the most common attack one could receive in this zone; a direct thrust, given the dimension of the arm and the speed at which it moves in combat, is highly unlikely. This solution also decreased the weight of the arm harness.

It is important to highlight that on some example, full mail was used in lieu of the Koushi-gusari for the inside of the elbow and on the inside of the arm. Sometimes even small plates were sewn on the inside to add further protection, like in this example

Moving to the hands, there were several configurations developed in Japan to protect this part of the body.
As you may already know, the role of archery was really important in Japan, and thus the fingers needed to be free in order to operate a bow, and later on, firearms. However, exceptions were made.

This is the standard type of Japanese gauntlet, the Tekou (手甲). The hands and the fingers were covered by plates, while the wrist by mail to allow better mobility. On most examples, only the thumb is fully covered by plates, while the others fingers are exposed. It wasn't a serious issue since, when holding a weapon, the fist was closed.
However, sometimes mail or leather gauntlets were worn undearneath to give some protection to these fingers.
But is fair to notice that others configurations existed:

This is a type of Japanese style miten gauntlet. The construction is similar to a standard Tekou, but more plates were used to cover the fingers usually exposed. The plates were connected through mail armor. All gauntlets armor pieces were also sewn to a foundation of clothes like hemp or silk.

Another type of miten type of gauntlets, probably inspired by European models, was used in Japan. Is quite rare, and I'm not sure if it was ever used during the period of warfare; there is a pair preserved at the Met, and they are dated Edo period. A similar version of these type of gauntlets was directly connected with mail to the vambrace, instead of being detached. Anyway, it is interesting to notice how the lames overlapped, connected by crossed laces instead of mail.

A final configuration with separated plates to protect the fingers connected by mail armor was also used in Japan. It was quite rare to see this configuration, but there are few surviving elements presenting the fingers covered in plates. These plates were directly sewn to a leather gauntlet underneath.



LEGS

The final body part we are going to consider are the lower limbs, namely legs and feet. The Japanese, given the climate and terrain conditions in which they fought, are quite famous for their lack of lower legs protection; but we actually know that exceptions to this rule existed.
Is worth notice that the groin and waist area is protected by the tassets which are not present in my final drawings.

The tights were covered with the Haidate (佩楯), an apron style of leg armor. It was placed on the waist, under the Dou, and then connected to the breastplate by the loop you can see on the belt zone. 

The protection usually started few centimeters below the waist, since this area was covered by the tassets. Most of the time cloth reinforced by bands of leather was used in this zone, sometimes the armor was connected to the belt by mail pattern, but this was almost never done.

The armored zone in this example, is composed by medium sized plates (Ita haidate - 板佩楯 ) sewn to a cloth foundation and connected through crossed laces. The plates overlapped slightly, offering better protection and allowing the pieces to be wrapped around the legs.
Some Haidate covered 3/4 of the legs, leaving only the inside and the back of the tight unprotected. The apron was taken in place by two straps tied to the leg, called Fungomi (踏込み), occasionally covered in mail.An additional layer of mail garments could cover the inside an the back of the leg, but I haven't included it in the picture above.
The Haidate usually covers the knee zone, overlapping with the knee guard of the Suneate.

The Suneate (臑当) were the piece of equipment dedicated to the protection of the lower legs. This configuration I've drawn is called Tsutsu Suneate (筒臑当), and is made with three plates hinged together to fit the leg anatomy. The knee is enclosed by three separated plates which forms the Tateage (立挙) and it is also covered by the Haidate; with this overlapping, when the knee is bent over, no body part is exposed.

The knee guard is connected to the rest of the shinguard by laces, to make it flexible. Sometimes mail was used in lieu of the laces. The armor was held in place with additional cords.

One detail that is usually seen on Japanese greaves is the fact that they leave the back of the lower leg exposed. However, an additional plate could be worn to cover this area, it was called Yoborogane (膕金) (the black plate in my sketch).
During the late Muromachi period, mail instead of plate was preferred to protect the back.

Finally, the feet were protected by the Japanese sabatons, the Kogake (甲懸). Sometimes made entirely of brigandine or mail, plate and mail was the most common combination. The plates were hinged and connected with mail sections, in a similar way as Kote and Tekou were made.
Under the armor components, lightly padded clothes like the Kyahan (脚絆), Kobakama (小袴) or the Tsubo hakama (壷袴) (a combination of the aforementioned garments) were worn to provide basic protection (these garments are not present in my drawings).
Here you can see the full setup:

FINAL SUMMARY

If you managed to read up to now, I have to thank you for your time; I hope you enjoyed this detailed analysis, although long and sometimes too technical.
Anyway, I wanted to spend few sentences to sum up all the weaknesses you could encounter when facing an heavy style of Japanese late armor with the most protective configuration.

A  black and withe sketch made by me to show you the heaviest and most protective possible configuration of Tosei Gusoku. Proportions and details are not entirely accurate but it could give you a good idea.

Head: The zones in between the eyes and on the mouth is not protected by any type of armor. The mask itself doesn't protect too much against heavy blows.

Torso: The frontal armpits are protected by secondary layer of protection like mail or flexible brigandine, that could be pierced to some extent. The armpit itself is protected by mail which has the same problem.
The groin are exposed by attacks coming from the ground.

Arms: The section in between the plates of the lower and upper arm is made essentially of mail, which could be pierced to some extent and doesn't protect too much against heavy blows. The inside of the elbow and the inside of the arm are protected by a mail pattern, which could prevent cuts but will suffer against piercing and percussive weapons.
The inside of the hand is not protected by any type of armor.

Legs: The zone under the tassets are protected by clothes and the lames of the armor could slide off leaving this area exposed. The inside and back of the leg is usually not protected by armor, neither the plant of the feet nor the back of the knee.

As you can see the "weakspots" on later armor are quite small in number an hard to reach or to exploit ( you can see my article about mail armor here.) This is why new polearms and techniques were developed during this century of warring states, and I have discussed that topic here.
If you are interested in seeing the real configurations that inspired my drawings, please feel free to have a look at my personal pinterest page.
If you liked this article please feel free to share it or leave a comment, I'll appreciate it!
Thank you,

Gunbai