Why did ancient Japanese warriors wear masks when fighting?

Protective masks and intimidating masks are mostly ferocious and have two functions of intimidating people ideologically. Secondly, the mask is also a symbol of the general's status.

Mask is a special accessory in Japanese armor, which has Japanese national characteristics. Masks can hide the warrior's face and intimidate opponents. Japan's art of war book says: killing by force is not as good as killing by skill, and killing by skill is not as good as killing by gas. Paying attention to overwhelming the enemy from imposing manner is also the ideological background of the widespread application of masks.

Masks can be divided into three categories, including half-face, cheeks and mask (total face) according to the degree of covering the face. However, the latter two are usually called cheeks. Cheeks are mostly made of iron, covering the face below the eyes. The average cheek will have a tuft of beard, often animal hair such as bear hair.

However, some cheeks will use long beards, so it is estimated that the hair of other animals, such as horse mane, should be used. As handmade products, there are many kinds of cheeks. Including sunburned cheeks, monkey cheeks, flat monkey cheeks, martial cheeks, fierce cheeks, Weng cheeks, laughing cheeks, ape cheeks, imperial cheeks, beautiful cheeks and so on.

Extended data:

Japan is a nation that attaches great importance to blood sources. Armor and weapons are widely collected and protected because they are often heirlooms of samurai families and symbols of aristocratic descent.

Japanese armor is made of iron, leather, hemp rope and gorgeous decoration. It is a luxury that can only be used by upper-class warriors, but its actual protection is not so good. In a word, flashy. The foot at the back should be the foot of Muromachi during the Warring States period, and its structure is similar to that of western plate armour. In addition, the front seat of the Japanese samurai helmet is very distinctive and unique in the world.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Japanese Armor