Other Japanese armor of Japanese armor

In the long ancient times, China and Japan also explored many styles of armor and developed many different forms of armor. It was through these early armor preparations that these mature armor with Japanese characteristics were finally developed. Among these ancient armor, the most important ones are short armor and hanging armor, which will be introduced below.

Short nails and hanging nails

According to the results of archaeological excavations, Japanese armor was born in the ancient grave era, beginning in the second half of the third century. Among them, short armor and hanging armor are the main representatives, while most of the preserved cultural relics are iron short armor. These two kinds of armor are relatively mature, so it is speculated that there should be other kinds of armor before this, but they may not be preserved in modern times because of the choice of bamboo.

Short nail is a trunk nail made of large strip nails, which is called short nail because of its small size, and its style is similar to some Greek breastplates. The opening of the short armor is on the chest, and the armor itself is used to wrap the torso, and then it is fixed with ropes or nails. The breastplate of the short nail is triangular, mainly protecting the abdomen, and the chest is relatively unprotected. Therefore, in order to enhance the protective effect, it is often equipped with an independent neck armor, mostly cortical. Among the short nails unearthed, there are both iron and leather, and there are more iron short nails. However, considering the social production level at that time, the production of short nails should be based on cortex.

Short nails

Many of them have been unearthed in Korea. This is because from the 1960s, the Japanese Nara court invaded Silla, conquered the land of Han Ge (now Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea), established the "Japanese government" to rule, and established colonial rule in South Korea. The short armor unearthed in Korea should have been imported from Japan at that time.

Hanging nails are mainly made of small pieces of leather or metal, so they are more flexible than short nails and convenient for users to exercise. The opening of the hanging nail is in the center of the front and fixed with a thread. On the shoulder, the hanging line on the front is tied to the take-up line on the back, and the weight of the whole armor is mainly borne by the shoulder.

retire

Ainu people still used it until modern times. The picture on the left shows the leather armor collected by Professor Shinxiong Ito in Huatai area (Huatai is the name of Sakhalin Island in Ainu language). Its manufacturing method is similar to small pieces of leather, and its style is somewhat like the bronze armor of Mycenae in ancient Greece, which may be inconvenient to move. Different from short nails, because most of them are made of leather or bamboo, there are very few unearthed objects. People know hanging nails mainly through the images on various pottery unearthed in ancient tombs. At the top right of the above picture is a statue of a samurai wheel in armor (the wheel refers to the humanoid and horse-shaped earth tools buried in ancient Japanese tombs). The weapons and armor of this statue are beautifully displayed, which is an important information for understanding the costumes of eastern samurai in the late ancient tomb era. On the head of the statue, there is a helmet with ribbed forehead, called a horn piercing helmet, with a cheek pad to protect the face and a fender to protect the back of the head, called a chisel. In addition, small clay particles are stuck on the armor, which means that the armor is nailed to the iron plate with rivets. The angle of attack will be introduced in detail below. The statue is wearing a hanging armor made of small iron plates, as well as shoulder pad, knee pads, arm pads, leg pads and shoes. The left wrist is wrapped in a leather case to protect the hand from bowstring injury. The quiver is carried on the back with the arrow pointing upwards (this is a unique phenomenon in the ancient grave era). In addition, bows can be found in more than ten places on the whole wheel statue, which shows that the armor was tied with a rope before it was put on. The hanging armor is pulled left and right with the right ring, tied with a rope, and the knee pads and leg pads are tied behind the legs with a rope. In addition, short sleeves are exposed at the lower part of the shoulder armor, which shows that the armguard is directly sleeved on the arm. The wheel statue has stable facial features, and the overall production can also be called uniform, which should be made by skilled workers. Around Ota City in the east of Gunma County, several well-made samurai barrels with the same characteristics were also unearthed, so it can be inferred that there were many cooperage there at that time.

Hanging armor was widely used in ancient China, so it is easier for China people to understand this kind of armor. The helmet used to hang armor is usually an eyebrow shield or a horn shield, which will be introduced in chapter 2. In the Nara era (7 10- 794), the hanging nail further evolved into a hip hanging nail, which is characterized by the fact that the thread on the shoulder is not suspended or stored, but integrated, worn on the head, and the thread is divided and drawn on the ribs on both sides.

Generally speaking, the ancient armor unearthed in Honshu Island (Yamato Imperial Court) is mainly hanging armor, while the short armor is more popular in Kyushu Island. Because most of the Japanese invaders sent to Korea started from Kyushu Island, the Japanese armor found on the Korean peninsula was mainly short armor. In peacetime, besides short armor and hanging armor, there are cotton-padded jacket armor from China. The so-called cotton-padded jacket nail refers to the nail piece sewn directly on the inner layer of clothes, and the nail piece is not directly exposed. This kind of armor was widely used at that time because it was good for defending bows and arrows. Correspondingly, with the widespread use of firearms, the development of cotton-padded jacket armor in China reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, the cotton-padded jacket is difficult to preserve because of the material, so it is difficult to see the real thing.

Japan is undergoing large-scale innovation (ancient Japanese coup in 645. Its main content is to abolish the autocratic system of heroes, learn from imperial China, and establish an ancient centralized country. Since then, it has sent envoys to China every year to learn a wide range of cultural knowledge from China. In the sculptures of Nara and heian period, people wearing Chinese armor such as bright armour can often be seen. From this period, Japanese armor gradually accepted the influence of China armor, and finally gradually formed its own national characteristics. For example, the big blow on the pocket of Dajia has the characteristics of the armor of the Tang Dynasty at that time, and the hanging armor on the crotch is the predecessor of Dajia.

There are also some special armor, which is not suitable for the above four categories, such as ninja armor, pirate armor and so on. However, these armor are often influenced by their popular styles at that time, and most of them have taken lightweight measures.

After entering the edo period, the original type of armor gradually developed in the direction of decoration, and its practicality declined day by day. By the end of the shogunate, the demand for practical armor increased greatly. Faced with this situation, the developed foot has the significance of portability. Moreover, there are also armor developed on the basis of feet. For example, if only five short grass pleats are kept and the trunk is miniaturized, the weight can be reduced. In addition, thick cloth is widely used to prevent swords. It is said that the Yoshioka family, who was defeated by Musashi Miyamoto in Kyoto, is famous for producing cloth that can prevent knife cutting, in addition to opening a Dojo. But personally, I doubt its actual effect.

The bags used are usually made of cloth, not traditional Japanese bags. It often appears in many river dramas that reflect the end of the act.