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Lamellar armour is a type of body armour made from small rectangular plates (scales or lamellae) of iron, steel, leather , bone, or bronze laced into horizontal rows. Lamellar armour was used over a wide range of time periods in Central Asia , Eastern Asia (especially in China , Japan , Korea , Mongolia , and Tibet ), Western Asia , and Eastern ...
Laminar was just made from horizontal strips of armour laced like strips of lamellar plates, but without extra-lacing and notches imitating strips of lamellar armour. And like in lamellar armour these laces could be occasionally cut during battle; the laces also frayed when an armour was worn for long periods without being mended.
The introduction of the Teppo in 1543 [3] along with a change in battle tactics caused armourers to change the design of the dō from the centuries-old lamellar armour to plate armour constructed from iron and steel plates. This type of armour was called tosei gusoku "new armour". [4]
The design and coloring of the lacing also indicated rank. Higher-ranking officers had the plates of their armor laced together tightly, while lower ranking samurai had armor that was laced more loosely. The loosely laced armor was adopted for all ranks of samurai over time to decrease the weight, allow more flexibility, and help ventilate the ...
There were quite a number of similar styles and types of Japanese armor; the dō-maru is particularly defined by the fact that a dō-maru opens on the right side as opposed to the haramaki style, which opens in the back, and the ō-yoroi, the cuirass of which is completely open on the right side, requiring a separate plate (waidate) to cover the right side.
When a united Japan entered the peaceful Edo period, samurai continued to use both plate and lamellar armour as a symbol of their status. Ōyamazumi Shrine is known as a treasure house of Japanese armour. It houses 40% of Japanese armour that has been designated as a National treasure and an Important Cultural Property.
More than 30 lamellae (individual plates for lamellar armour) were found in Birka, Sweden, in 1877, 1934 and 1998–2000. [44] They were dated to the same approximate period as the Gjermundbu mailshirt (900‒950) and may be evidence that some Vikings wore this armour, which is a series of small iron plates laced together or sewed to a stout ...
A haramaki cuirass, made of iron lamellar with leather lacing, 15th–16th century. Haramaki (腹巻, belly wrap) is a type of chest armour (dō) worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan and their retainers.