Examples
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The
Ii family's Red Combination |
| The
Ii family adopted the red color for all their troops'
armor. |
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Iron
Rust Base Armor |
| Because
of the climate in Japan iron armor seldom had a shining
surface, so a finish called "Sabiji" was developed,
which kept the iron from rusting further. One example
of this armor has five pieces of good quality iron. The
helmet is constructed of 62 pieces of iron. The armor
is well made and all pieces are intact. |
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Simple
Armor [Okashi-Gusoku] |
| This
example is a NCO's armor which belongs to his master.
The armor is simple protects the gut, and is well-made.
A lord kept many pieces of well-made simple armor for
his men. Okashi means "to rent," and Gusoku
is "simple armor." Gusoku also was called "Okegawa-dou(a
barrel)" because it was made with five or six bars. |
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Okashi-Gusoku
Red |
| This
red colored Okachi-gusoku is from Kawagoe-han, which was
located about fifty miles northwest of Edo, or Tokyo.
It is rather large and could be worn any warrior. |
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Gunner's
Gusoku |
| Musket
shooters wore a simple helmet called a "Jingasa,"
which was wide and light -weight; its design made loading
and shooting easy for it did not obstruct the shooter's
vision or motions. The face protector, "Menpou,"
was also eliminated. |
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Chainwear[Kusari-Katabira] |
Under
the kimono Samurais sometimes wore protectors made of
woven chain similar to the chain mail used in the Middle
Ages in the West. This is an example of Kusari-katabira.
A thick cotton base jacket is covered by chain mail the
iron rings of which are 8mm in diameter. The edges of
the jacket are of stitched-on leather. The helmet is composed
of 24 iron sheets and the chain mail portion which protects
the neck is long. The mailed gauntlets are attached to
the sleeves of the jacket the gauntlets are flexible enough
for fighting and they might have been sufficiently strong
to protect against some sword cuts. |
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Accessories
for Armor |
| Shown
are many kinds of flags, a cap, a hair band, a pair of
gloves, a pair of shoes, a pair of foot gear called "Waraji,"
a belt, a sword belt, a fan, a command stick with attached
tassel of many strips of white paper, and a flag pole. |
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Cloth
Coats Worn on Armor
[Jin-Baori] |
| Usually
they have no sleeves. It has a big family crest on back
which shows what family he belonged. |
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Two
Helmets |
| The
helmet on the left is high rank helmet with 16 sheets
metals. The other is a simple and popular one which was
used with Okashi-gusoku. |
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