Gunbai: Ancient Japanese Warfare

Kusari Gusoku (鎖具足) - Japanese Mail Armor A samurai deflecting arrows, wearing a typical Japanese Mail armor set (kusari katabira  -  鎖帷子  ) an ukiyo-e by T.Yoshitoshi ( 月岡 芳年 ) Japanese Mail armor, or Kusari Gusoku, is a quite complicated topic. Japanese armorers developed the highest number of mail combinations in the world, using different types of rings and patterns for defensive purpose, but also for decoration. In this article I'll try to give you a complete overview on the subject. HISTORY AND USAGE FROM HEAIN TO EDO PERIOD The use of this type of armor is rather " odd" . Although is possible that mail armor (commonly known as "chain mail": rings connected to each others which forms a dense wave similar to cloth ) was know and use since the early Heain period, we lack surviving examples. In the Heike monogatari ( 平家物語 ) we read the term " Kusari haramaki" ( 鎖腹巻 )  which roughly means "mail breastplates" and ...

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 ...