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A man wearing Samurai armor and jinbaori (sleeveless jacket) turns around, 2019. Scholars agree that Japanese armour first appeared in the 4th century, with the discovery of the cuirass and basic helmets in graves. [1] During the Heian period (794–1185), the unique Japanese samurai armour ō-yoroi and dō-maru appeared. [2]
Antique Japanese (samurai) sangu, the three armours of the extremities, kote (armoured sleeves), suneate (shin armour), haidate (thigh armour) Sangu is the term for the three armour components that protected the extremities of the samurai class of feudal Japan.
In spite of their original reputation as fine blades favored by the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu and his vassals, the katana swords made by Muramasa gradually became a symbol of the anti-Tokugawa movement. Furthermore, in lore and popular culture from the 18th century, the swords have been regarded as yōtō (妖刀, "wicked katana").
Some imitation Japanese swords are made in countries other than Japan. They may even be made of folded steel, much like a real katana, but with a blunt edge. Such weapons would face the same use and ownership restrictions in Japan as genuine swords, and would not be considered iaitō in Japan.
The sankaku yari was therefore best suited for penetrating armor, even armor made of metal, which a standard yari was not as suited to. [4] There are two types of sankaku yari : sei sankaku yari , yari blades with a triangular, equilateral cross section, and hira sankaku yari , yari with a triangular, isosceles-shaped cross section.
For the most part the ō-yoroi was a rich man's armor and not used by lower ranking samurai. The armor was mainly worn by the higher ranking samurai on horseback. The lower ranking soldiers had armor that was similar to the ō-yoroi, but had fewer components, was lighter, and lacked the decorative markings of the higher ranking samurai. [4]
Bōgu (防具, "armour"), [1] properly called kendōgu (剣道具, "kendo equipment"), is training armour used primarily in the Japanese martial art of kendo, [2] [3] with variants used for jūkendō, tankendo, and naginata.
Shinken, a katana used in sword-related martial arts practice. Shinken (真剣, literally meaning "real sword") is a Japanese sword that has a forged and sharpened blade. The term shinken is often used in contrast with bokken (wooden sword), shinai (bamboo sword), and iaitō (unsharpened metal sword).