The
Ō-Yoroi is a prominent example of
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese armor. The term
ō-yoroi means "great armor." For the most part the Ō-Yoroi was a rich man's armor and not used by lower ranking samurai. Ō-Yoroi first started to appear in the 10th century during the middle and late Heian period, and came into widespread use in the
Genpei WarThe was a conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans and in late-Heian period Japan. It resulted in the fall of the Taira clan and establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192....
around the 12th centuries when the call for armor was at its peak. Significant aspects of this armor were designed for cavalry archers, so the armor fell out of favor in the fifteenth century when samurai shifted to mostly infantry tactics.
The Ō-Yoroi combines plate and lamellar elements.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'O-yoroi' Start a new discussion about 'O-yoroi' Answer questions from other users |
The
Ō-Yoroi is a prominent example of
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese armor. The term
ō-yoroi means "great armor." For the most part the Ō-Yoroi was a rich man's armor and not used by lower ranking samurai. Ō-Yoroi first started to appear in the 10th century during the middle and late Heian period, and came into widespread use in the
Genpei WarThe was a conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans and in late-Heian period Japan. It resulted in the fall of the Taira clan and establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192....
around the 12th centuries when the call for armor was at its peak. Significant aspects of this armor were designed for cavalry archers, so the armor fell out of favor in the fifteenth century when samurai shifted to mostly infantry tactics.
Construction
The Ō-Yoroi combines plate and lamellar elements. One specific advance over earlier armors is that the lamellae of o-yoroi are first laced together and then covered with lacquer, which enhances resistance to corrosion. The
cuirassCuirass , the plate armour, is formed of a single piece of metal or other rigid material or composed of two or more pieces, which covers the front of the wearer's person...
, (called a
dō), consisted of two parts. One (the
waidate) was a separate defense for the right side and the other part covered the rest of the wearer's trunk. The upper part of the
waidate was solid iron plate covered with leather. The lower part was laminated. When dressing for battle, the
waidate was put on before the rest of the cuirass and fastened with cords that tied around the body. The rest of the cuirass was also iron plate covered with leather on top with laminated segments below. Various supplementary pieces included rectangular lamellae shoulder guards (
ō-sode) and a fabric and plate sleeve (
kote) for the left arm.
GreavesGreaves may refer to*Greave, armour that protects the leg *Greaves Greaves is also a surname, which may refer to:*Jimmy Greaves, English footballer*John Greaves, English mathematician and antiquary...
(
suneate) made from lacquered iron protected the shins and joined over fabric leggings (
habaki). Specialized archery gloves were made from deerskin and boots were made of bearskin or sealskin.
During the life of Ō-Yoroi their metal of choice was
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
. Due to the weight of iron, armoires limited the use of iron to the most vital parts of the armor and used the leather for the remainder. Another workaround used was the alternating of one metal plate then a leather plate making a very strong armor with great flexibility with a usable weight. Overall the standard suit of armor was about 30 kg or 65 pounds. It was a big boxy armor that was for the most part inflexible and not form fitting. The boxy shape hindered the
samuraiis the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
from using the sword with the free, fluid motion vital in hand to hand combat, hence the use of
yariis the Japanese term for spear, or more specifically, the straight-headed spear. The martial art of wielding the yari is called sōjutsu. Yari measured anywhere from one meter to upwards of six meters . The longer versions were called ōmi no yari while shorter ones were known as mochi yari or tae...
.
External links
- SengokuDaimyo.com The website of Samurai Author and Historian Anthony J. Bryant
Anthony J. Bryant is the author of four books for Osprey Military Publishing on samurai history. He is an amateur historian of Japan specializing in Kamakura, Muromachi, and Momoyama period warrior culture. His areas of interest also include Heian-period court structure and society and Japanese...
Contains online armor manual. The author studied in Japan with families famous for production of armor.
- Illustrated example of O-yoroi armor