Digital Samurai

Combat: Introduction

Introduction \ Weaponry \ Armor \ Top

The samurai were, above all things, warriors. Their name comes from the Japanese word "to serve." Their loyal service, as armed supporters of an emperor, a shogun, or of a higher-ranking samurai, was the source of their livelihood, the anchor of their honor, and the outstanding guiding principle of their way of life. The samurai service was a pyramid of loyalties: the emperor was defended by the highest-ranking, richest samurai, who commanded the service of the next rank down, and so forth for many levels. Japan endured many centuries of internal power struggle, and it was military strength more than anything else that determined who really ruled the country.

The first appearance in the Japanese historical record of some sort elite fighting force is in the NIHONGI, an early 8th century chronicle, which describes a battle in 672 where succession to the imperial throne was won because of mounted archers. The style of fighting was something that only the bravest and best-trained could accomplish. The archer had to be able to shoot accurately while charging at full speed into the teeth
of the enemy, then wheel his horse
sharply and retreat to safety to prepare another charge. Obviously this required intense training (both in shooting and riding), well-designed weapons, equally well-designed armor to protect the shooter from being shot, and of course, a horse. This was a specialty. These archers became so
highly valued that chronicles of the time record the strength of a fighting force not as the number of warriors overall, but in terms of how many bows there were.

The emperor rewarded those who fought for him: he gave them control of land and the rice it produced. Rice was money. This became the pattern for the next 1,000 years. The victor would redistribute the land of the vanquished, and those who were most important in battle got the most and best spoils.

Some families developed a reputation as warriors, and a style of fighting developed which leveraged that reputation. A samurai would ride forward and loudly shout out his name, his rank and his family's lineage, in an effort
to find an opponent of high enough rank to fight. (Reward was based on the importance of the people you killed.) Sometimes he would shout a direct challenge to a specific foe. A samurai arriving at a battle would therefore try to find a place where his chances for glory were the greatest. This made strategic, centrally commanded warfare virtually impossible, but it is the stuff from which legends are built.

The obvious way to deal with a mounted archer is to try to get him off his horse and attack him hand-to-hand. Therefore an archer needed a hand-weapon, armor, and supporters to defend him if he was thrown from his horse or taken
off it by the enemy. Each samurai went to battle with retainers who would run alongside his horse and do just that.

As the samurai gained in reputation and social stature, the prowess of the individual warrior became more and more important in receiving rewards. The samurai could make his claim for reward by showing his
overlord proof of how many enemies he had killed, and what rank they held. His proof was their heads. A vanquished enemy's head was cut off and carried back, and presented after battle. Each head was neatly groomed in an approved manner, and a tag was attached to one ear stating the name and rank of its former owner. The overlord would then view the heads. This evolved into an elaborate ceremony.

There is a legend told about one such trophy that has echoes in many other cultures. During the late 14th century, there was an imperial heir hiding out in the southern mountains, in possession of the imperial jewels, laying his own claim to the imperial throne. The shogun Yoshimasa ardently wished to have this "southern court" destroyed and to get back the imperial jewels. He sent members of a warrior clan, the Akamatsu, to the southern court where they put themselves forward
as loyal to the pretender. One night, they murdered their host and
made their escape through the snow in two groups. One group carried the jewels, the second group carried their proof-of-success: the pretender's head. While traversing the mountain pass, the second group was attacked by southern court samurai. The Akamatsu quickly buried the head in the snow, intending to dig it up later when it was safe. But while the battle raged, the head revealed itself by sending up a fountain of blood, and
the southern court samurai recaptured it. (The jewels got back to Kyoto, though, ending the southern court's last hopes.)

The sword and other hand-weapons soon superceded the bow and arrow as the preferred tools of individual combat. The Japanese sword, in particular, became associated with the samurai mystique. As the samurai was to the common warrior, his sword was to all other swords: the most refined possible example of its kind.

The sword became known as "the soul of the samurai". Samurai trained tirelessly in the use of the sword, beginning in childhood. Young samurai would improve their footwork and timing by hanging small objects at various levels from a tree-branch with string. Then using a wooden or bamboo sword (so as not to slice the strings), they would attempt to touch them all without losing balance. The curved katana is a slashing weapon (rather than a stabbing weapon) and its classic use has five positions or stances. In
the "upper" position, the samurai held the sword overhead, with the blade pointed toward the opponent's eyes, at the ready to deflect the opponent's blade. In the "middle" position, he again held his
blade overhead with the intention of striking his opponent's body rather than his blade. In the "lower"
position, he held his sword low, below the opponent's sword, prepared to strike the opponent's hands and arms. In the "left" position, the samurai held his sword horizontally to the left side, thus allowing him to deflect the attacking sword from below before slicing before slicing diagonally upward across the opponent's body. In the "right" position, he held his sword horizontally on the right side, with the intention of swinging it into the upper position before slicing downward across the
opponent.

From these five stances, an infinite number of variations could be devised. One passage from the Heike Monogatari, the famous chronicle of the Gempei War, describes different sword-moves: zigzag style, interlacing, cross, reversed dragonfly, waterwheel, eight-sides-at-once. The swordsman's trick was to keep his opponent, who was standing a mere sword-length away, unaware of his position. Each fighter attempted to take the "stance of no stance" by moving casually and remaining calm. An expert swordsman might even leave his sword in its scabbard with the intention of using a "quick draw" technique known as iaijutsu, drawing it at the last moment, killing his opponent with a single blow and returning it smoothly to the scabbard.

Swords were prized possessions, and were handed down in families for centuries. The Japanese swordsmith's craft was so highly developed by the time of the Gempei War (late 12th century) that it was changed very little during the following 400 years.

Bow and arrow no longer held the spotlight, but it remained an element of samurai training and warfare. During a battle in the Gempei War, fought in shallow water off the island of Shikoku, one
of the Taira tied a fan to the mast of their ship and challenged the Minamoto to shoot it down. His strategy was to goad them into wasting their arrows, but a young Minamoto samurai covered himself
in glory by destroying it with his first shot.

Sword and bow were not the samurai's only weapons. A range of specialized arms were developed
including pole-arms and even clubs. Many samurai of note gained
their fame by employing unconventional means of fighting, too. Kusunoki Masashige is renowned for his innovative tactics in the Jokyu war (1531-33) - an approach we would now term guerrilla warfare. He used hit-and-run raids, laid booby traps down the sides of his mountain fortification, and even employed dummies to lure his enemies into danger where he could pick them off. Some might not have considered such tactics honorable, but Kusunoki was vastly outnumbered, and the cause he fought for - the emperor - mattered far more to him than personal honor.

It is from this period that we get the
classic image of the samurai: the lone, proud sword-fighter. While everything else in Japanese life became more and more ordered and codified and regulated, the samurai on the battlefield was an individualist. He might lead a force of his own men in a strategically planned and controlled action, but overall battle-plans were rarely pursued. Loyalty was applied to one's lord. Discipline was applied to one's self.

A perfect example of samurai valor is related from the First Battle of Uji during the Gempei War. The forces under Minamoto Yorimasa, pursued by their arch-enemies, the Taira, fled across a bridge on the River Uji and tore up the bridge planking behind them. Then they turned to make a stand while they waited for reinforcements to join them from the other side. They fought on the open beams of the half-destroyed bridge, a fierce battle made all the more desperate by the balancing act they were forced to perform. Eventually, the Taira crossed the river and surrounded them. Minamoto Yorimasa committed suicide.

Suicide, controlling one's own death as one does one's life, was considered more honorable than being killed by even the most worthy opponent. The samurai, as a Buddhist, did not hold life too dear. His honor was far more sacred. The samurai's form of suicide was seppuku, using the short-sword to slit open one's own belly, the part of the body where the soul was believed to dwell. Seppuku was seen as a way of setting the soul free. It was employed on the battlefield in the face of defeat. It was also an act of contrition for failure or some serious offense against one's superiors (in this context, it may be considered the most sincere form of apology), or even a protest against injustice. A condemned samurai was sometimes allowed to
commit suicide to preserve at least
one measure of his honor from total disgrace. Seppuku was considered an honor only suitable for a samurai, and certainly only a person of extraordinary bravery and determination would be capable of carrying it through. It is said that one of the conspirators in the affair of the 47 ronin survived because he was only a foot-soldier and could not be permitted to commit seppuku with the other 46.

During the Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281, the samurai faced vast hordes of coordinated fighters,
well drilled, strategically organized, centrally deployed with commands relayed by drum-beats. The Mongol
armies ignored the samurai sense of honor and the challenges to individual combat. The samurai fought for their land and their lives,
and it changed their style of fighting.

Many samurai were slow to take up the idea of formation fighting, but those who wielded the largest forces immediately saw its value - indeed, it became a necessity. After
that, the high-ranking samurai were seldom found in the front lines. They were behind the action in positions of command, directing the deployment of large masses of troops by use of a "command fan" to pass signals.

The greatest change to samurai warfare began in 1543. Portuguese traders landed in Japan and brought with them matchlock-style firearms. The samurai took to them
eagerly. Within six months, Japanese swordsmiths were making their own firearms in huge numbers. Guns are credited as one of the major factors in Oda Nobunaga's take-over of the country beginning in 1568.

The end result was that Japan was unified and pacified by Nobunaga and his successors, and war ceased almost entirely after about 1600. Hideoyoshi contrived to keep the land-holders too busy to plot revolution. He regulated every aspect of Japanese life, and required mountains of bureaucratic paperwork to record it and prove that the regulations were being followed. The samurai, to continue serving their masters, were forced to contend with the paperwork instead of collecting heads on the battlefield. They functioned as bureaucrats. They were still required to be ready to fight at any time: they had to be fully armed and trained. But generations of samurai grew up without ever knowing genuine combat. That was, perhaps, what made the revenge of the 47 ronin such a startling event in 1702. It was virtually the first expression in 100 years of the true samurai spirit.

It is also what made the final stand of the samurai, 166 years later, such a remarkable act of courage and defiance.

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Combat: Weaponry

Introduction \ Weaponry \ Armor \ Top

BOW & ARROW

The earliest Japanese bows were single pieces, and were not very powerful. Bows on the mainland of Asia were often made using a composition of several materials including wood and horn, and the Japanese weapons-makers took note. By the late 8th century, they had created a laminated structure using a material they had in abundance: a layer of bamboo over deciduous wood, with the bamboo on the outer face. The bamboo considerably increased the bow's power. The bow was extremely long, too, and the grip was not in the middle, but a considerable way down the lower half. Later bows acquired more layers of bamboo as the craftsmen solved the technical problems of laminating. These were powerful engines of flight. The strength of a bow was often described by how many men it took to bend it for stringing.

A telling incident concerning the heroic Minamoto Yoshistune and his bow is related in the Heike Monogatari. Yoshistune led the Minamoto into the water in pursuit of their opponents, the Taira. The foe tried to unhorse him with hooks
and rakes, and Yoshistune dropped his bow into the water. Rather than ride to safety without it, he tried to retrieve it with his whip. When the older warriors later
reproached him for risking his life for the bow, he replied that it wasn't the bow itself he sought to save. He explained that if his bow had been one that took two or three
men to string, he would have left it. Since his was merely a one-man bow, he didn't want the enemy to find it and mock the leader of the Minamoto for having such a lightweight weapon.

Arrows were also of bamboo, carefully straightened with heat right after harvesting. They were tipped with a wide variety of arrowheads, mostly flat in cross-section, ranging from very narrow to quite broad, many with decorative designs punched through the metal. There were y-shaped arrowheads used for cutting rather than piercing. There was even a special humming arrow that was shot as a signal to commence battle.

SWORDS

The samurai sword is one of the most celebrated and prized weapons in the world. The Japanese swordsmith's methods were developed starting in the middle of the 8th century. They solved the essential problem of steel-making in a unique way, which was at the heart of their success. Steel can be made hard or soft. Hard steel can take an incredibly sharp edge, but it is brittle and can easily be shattered. Softer steel can withstand a beating, but it will not hold a very sharp edge. European and Asian swordsmiths tried many different kinds of compromises between the two extremes. The Japanese embraced both extremes and fused them together.

The earliest method used a narrow strip of hard steel that formed the sword's cutting edge, partially surrounded by two strips of soft steel that formed the back and sides of the blade. Given the tools available in the 8th and 9th centuries, this was a difficult task. They later succeeded in wrapping a layer of hard steel completely around a soft-steel core. The distinctive curve of the blade was achieved by the different cooling rates between the spine of the blade and the edge. The hard steel was made by a process of repeated high temperature forging and folding until the folded layers fused together. Antique blades made during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century by master swordsmith Masamune Goro Nyudo are confirmed to have over four millions folds, each serving as a microscopic cutting edge.

The process of making a blade was very exacting, and some parts of it were so difficult that swordsmiths offered prayers and performed their tasks in the manner of a religious ceremony, even decorating the area around the forge as a ritual space. It took eighteen days to forge a blade. Then, the smith would chisel his name into the tang of the blade.

The swordsmith made only the steel. It was then sent to another expert to be ground to a sharp edge, polished, and mounted on a hilt (handle). This took about nine more days.

The hilts and scabbards were generally made of a certain type of magnolia wood that inhibited rust. The hilt would often be covered with same - nodule-covered skin from the back of a ray - a highly prized material. (In photos of these sword hilts, the same looks like clusters of pearls.) Some were then
wrapped in silk cords criss-crossed
for an improved grip. Fine swords were also heavily ornamented, sometimes with gilt designs on the blades.

After the blade was sharpened, it had to be tested. By the 17th century, this process (like everything else in Edo Japan) was strictly codified. The blade would be tested on the corpse of an executed criminal (or, rarely, on a live, condemned criminal). There were a series of 21 standard cuts, in increasing order of difficulty. Cutting off the hands at the wrist was the easiest. A diagonal cut through the shoulder or the hip was the hardest. After testing, the results would be inscribed on the tang of the blade.

The samurai usually wore two swords: the long sword known as the tachi, which might be anywhere
from 2.5 to 4 feet long, and a shorter dirk for close fighting. The long sword hung in its scabbard, edge downwards, from a special harness. The short sword was thrust edge-upwards through the samurai's belt (in its scabbard, of course; metal weapons were always kept covered when not in use to minimize the rust-inducing tendency of the humid climate.) The tachi of the 9th and 10th centuries was a light blade, gracefully curved, appropriate to using one-handed while on horseback. After the Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281, swords
became more suitable to two-handed fighting: heavier, longer, with a longer point.

By the 15th century, the fashion changed. The short sword, the uchi gatana (often shortened to katana) got longer, almost as long as the long sword. Many samurai used it as their long sword, or had their long sword's scabbard made detachable from its harness, so it could be worn thrust through the belt, too. If the longer sword was a katana, a short-sword called a washizaki was also worn.

After trade with Europe began in the 1540's, Japanese swordsmiths began to buy Dutch and Indian blades and re-forge them using their own methods. Japanese weapons were also exported during this period, and were highly prized. Rembrandt is known to have possessed a samurai sword, as is Sir Francis Drake.

By the end of the 16th century, millions of swords had been made. 100 years of rampant fighting had seen the armament of many farmers who were forced into battle for their lords. In 1598, Hideoyoshi decided that the peasantry must be disarmed. He instituted the "Sword Hunt", ostensibly to obtain metal to be melted down for the making of a great Buddha statue. After this, only samurai could carry any blade longer than 2 feet. This was one factor in bringing about 250 years of peace in Japan.

With peace came idleness for warriors, but samurai were required to be ready at all times. The fashion in swords went towards greater ornamentation both of the blade and its mounting. Expensive weapons would be mounted as a matched set, long and short swords with matching hilts and scabbards. Women of the samurai class would carry a short dirk in the folds of their obi - for self
defense or, in extreme situations, for suicide.

The problem of readiness was hard
for a samurai in this period. Some practiced their swordsmanship on bundles of wet straw. Occasionally,
a samurai might use an imagined insult or other flimsy excuse to kill a commoner - for the sake of testing out his sword.

After the restoration of imperial power in 1868, the wearing of swords was first made optional, then outlawed for any but the conscript army. This was both the symbolic and real end of samurai power.

OTHER WEAPONS

The other main form of weapons were pole-weapons. Chief was the naginata - "mowing down sword" - a broad, sharp blade anywhere from two to four feet long with a sharply up-curving tip, sometimes an actual hook, attached to a shaft 4-5 feet long. A later invention was the nagamaki - a heavy sword-like blade on a 4-foot shaft.

Early spears with single-edged blades for thrusting or cutting, attached to six foot shafts, were commonly carried by retainers. Later spear points evolved into a variety of lengths from six inches to three feet, generally with a flattened-diamond cross-section. They were usually attached to a shaft about six feet long, although by the beginning of the 17th century, a short spear was seven feet long, and a long spear might be ten feet. The same style of spear-point was also used as the business-end of an unusual weapon with a very short (one-foot)
handle called an uchi ne. This could be used for stabbing, thrown in a dart-like way at short range, or thrown longer distances by holding
it from the tip like a throwing-knife.

Less common were battle axes (masakari) and some very fearsome-looking clubs.

FIREARMS

The arrival of European matchlock firearms in the hands of the Portuguese in 1543 caused a sensation in Japan. Japanese swordsmiths immediately received orders for them, and were able to forge u-shaped pieces of iron into barrels. (One swordsmith is said to have traded his daughter to learn the secret of making the screw-threaded breech-plug at the end of the barrel.) They adapted and improved the matchlock mechanism, and made quite a variety of short and long-barrel weapons. Some were of a conventional size for hand-guns of the time, but some shot a ball as large as two-and-a-half or three inches - really a handheld cannon - apparently designed for blowing down doors.

The inexpensive killing power of firearms transformed even the most raw recruits into valuable fighters. A farmer with a gun might not shoot the enemy he aimed at (which was a difficult feat with these unwieldy, smooth-bore weapons), but on a dense battlefield, he would almost certainly hit some enemy.

The vogue for firearms continued even after the pacification of Japan. Some very innovative things were tried, including guns with multiple barrels that would all fire at once when triggered. Many of these weapons were more for show than for use. There were no more wars to fight.

It is said that in 1720, 122 years after Hideoyoshi's sword hunt, a daimyo put in an order for swords, but the swordsmith had not made one in so long that he did not know
what price to ask. He had to look it up in old records. Swordsmiths were by then making a better living
forging pots and pans.

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Combat: Armor

Introduction \ Weaponry \ Armor \ Top

Japanese armor predates the samurai era, being first imported from mainland Asia and later adapted and improved by Japanese
metalworkers. The early forms used large iron plates that were laced together with leather thongs. Later, rivets and hinges were employed. This armor seems to have been designed for a sword-fighter on foot. It was often accompanied by a helmet with a beaked front that is known as a shokaku tsuki kabuto - "battering ram helmet".

Towards the end of the 7th century, a different kind of armor appeared, a design imported from China and Korea, which set the pattern for Japanese armor for centuries to come. Often called "scale armor" it utilized a series of small, overlapping iron plates, laced together in rows, which were then joined vertically.

Within the next hundred years, by the time samurai were emerging as
a force in war, this concept evolved into a very complex construction that was both versatile
and decorative. The "scales" were 1.5 X 2 inches, pierced with a regular set of holes - usually thirteen - that allowed each scale to
be laced so that it overlapped the next by half its width. This meant that the completed assembly was a double-layer of scales. To reduce weight, leather and iron scales were often alternated, or all-iron construction was used only for especially vulnerable areas. Both materials were invariably coated against the weather with lacquer, a very tough and impermeable substance derived from the sap of the lacquer tree. It gave both color and shine to the armor.

The decorative touch was applied by the lacing used to hold it all together. First leather, and later silk braid, was intricately woven in colored patterns that transformed the iron suit into a striking geometric artwork.

The body armor of the mounted archer (known as o yoroi - "heavy armor") consisted of a wrapping for
the trunk, large rectangular guards for the shoulders and upper arms, hanging coverings that protected the legs, and later a removable sleeve. The helmets of the early period were bowl-shaped, made of a few large plates held together by a row of prominent rivets. There was a hole at the top, with a kind of
two-ended cup to which a plume or flag could be attached on top of the warrior's head. Fastened around the lower edge of the helmet was a hanging neck-guard of iron scales. At the front edges, the neck-guard had extended flaps turned outwards at right angles, called fukigaeshi, which protected the archer's face from incoming arrows when he wheeled his horse around after charging and shooting. There was also sometimes a guard on the sides of the face, called a happuri. There was no protection for the lower arms or shins, but the archer usually wore heavy fur boots.

Underneath it all, the well-dressed warrior wore a silk jacket with loose sleeves and hakama - baggy silk trousers - with a simple kimono
and undertrousers beneath that.

When their role changed to sword-fighters on foot, some samurai began to prefer an armor style that resembled that of their retainers, called a harimaki - "belly wrap." Of course, it was improved. The scales
became wider with less overlap - but made of iron, suitable to the protection of a warrior. Protection for the lower arms was added in the form iron plates sewn onto a removable hemp sleeve. Shin guards were added for the lower legs, and the heavy fur boots were traded in for straw sandals. The complicated design required the wearer to put on the various sections of the armor in a very specific order for everything to fit and protect him properly.

Also, chain mail appeared. Japanese chain mail was of a unique design, with larger round rings joined by smaller, perpendicular oval rings - quite different from the European design where each ring is linked through four others. The Japanese design allowed it to lay flat, and it was usually sewn onto a leather or fabric backing and used to protect the arm and other vulnerable parts.

The most stunning evolution appeared in the helmets. Here the armorers showed off their workmanship in a variety of ways. There were helmets made with a fan of small plates - as many as 62 - joined by small, countersunk rivets concealed with lacquer. There was also a design studded with multitudes of very prominent rivets, so that the surface of the plates could barely be seen. A large, horn-shaped ornament, the kuwagata, was added to the front of the helmet, and it soon became standard equipment. The face-guard was dispensed with in favor of a half-mask for the lower face, with extensions for the front of the neck.

In general, as the samurai's importance increased, so did the ornament of his armor. There was a definite taste for magnificence.

While some changes were practical improvements - the guards for the shoulders and upper arms became more rounded to move with the arm in sword-play - other changes indicated fashion overriding function. The neck-guard was spread wider and wider, becoming the broad fan around the head that we often associate with the samurai look. Eventually, it no longer protected the neck at all, and an additional close-lying neck-guard had to be added.

It is worth noting that the ornamentation of both armor and weapons often represented objects of great delicacy, particularly flowers. The chrysanthemum was very common, being the symbol of the emperor, but others were used too. The samurai saw no conflict between strength and sensitivity. In
fact, the more cultivated and refined the warrior, the greater the respect he commanded.

During the Sengoku-jidai - the Age of the Country At War - the numbers of men thrust into battle increased dramatically, and the armorers turned towards making armor cheaper and faster. New armor-designs were invented using small, simple plates connected by chain-mail, usually sewn to a fabric backing. This armor had the additional advantage of being foldable for storage, and was known as tatami do - "folding armor." These economy productions were not made to order for the glory of the warrior nobility. They were handed out to the troops on an as-needed basis.

During the time of Nobunaga's pacification, armor for the high-ranking samurai underwent another surge towards flamboyance. Fanciful helmets were made with elaborate, lightweight sculptural additions over the protective metal. Full-face masks, though uncommon, began to appear, many with grimacing expressions and facial features like moustaches, eyebrows and wrinkles. For fashion-conscious samurai who wanted the look of traditional scale armor, the armorers produced armor made from large plates with faux-scales built-up in lacquer. There were also
some with very large plates made to resemble the human body, showing ribs and breasts in front and bumps of vertebrae in back.

The battle trend towards formation-fighting required a way to identify which side a fighter was on, and provision was made to attach a flag
or banner called a sashimono. This transformed a large battle into a sea of moving color graphics. The commanding samurai also carried a new emblem of rank called a sai hai, a short baton with a large tassel of paper strips or hair.

The arrival of firearms only increased the trend towards cheaper and more practical armor for most fighters. The wealthy, high-ranking samurai found the large-plate armors depressingly plain, with no fancy lacing to show off their personal style. They tried to relieve this with surface decorations of bright lacquers.

Trade with Europe brought about a greater appreciation for European styles. Many Spanish helmets were imported - high, almost conical affairs with an apex that hooked slightly, pointing towards the rear. The Japanese armorers adapted them, adding a flange around the bottom to attach the neck-guard, but arranged them to worn reversed, so the apex pointed
forwards... the samurai professed to believe in always advancing. Armorers copied the European styles of armor, too, and added fabric frills or European wool at the collar.

Fancy Japanese armors were sent abroad as gifts to foreign royalty. A particularly magnificent one was presented to England's King James I.

Then, Japan was closed to foreigners. Warfare ended. Armor became less of a practical tool and more of a social necessity for the high-ranking. As fighting diminished, armor decoration increased. Figures of Chinese lions and Buddhist divinities were popular. Embossing on large plates showed off the metalworking skill of the armorers as well as the taste of the wearer. These plates were sometimes very thin, and were laid over more substantial metal that would be necessary for protection. Sometimes the heavier metal underneath was then cut away.

By the 18th century, nostalgia took hold. Wealthy samurai ordered elaborate armors replicating the old
traditional styles. Sometimes it was even "antiqued" with rust to give it the look of venerability. The samurai had become classic, but they had also lost their calling.

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