Samurai Yoroi

Samurai Yoroi is a classic Japanese Armour used by samurai at the time of feudal Japan; sometimes it is called O-Yoroi as well, which means "Great Armour". Samurai Yoroi was a complex, heavy, and expensive attribute and only high-ranked and reach samurai could afford it. Most of the samurai Yoroi were custom made for their owners and they were their pride and way to show power and rank of a particular samurai or a whole clan.

The first samurai Yoroi could be dated back to the 10th century; unfortunately not many examples survived for early Japanese armour. Starting from 11th century, samurai Yoroi became the principal armour of the samurai rank, but there were other armour types such as "dou-maru" (a lighter version of the O-Yoroi) and "haramaki" (a chain-mail version of the body armour). The design and components of samurai Yoroi had been changing through the years. Some elements were added, some modified, some replaced, and some removed as redundant.

The second half of the 16th century is often referred as the Sengoku Jidai, which means Age of Battles. During this time, samurai Yoroi and all Japanese armour went through more development than for the previous five centuries. Trying to achieve the best result with the least time and resources spent, samurai armour was changing from fully-laced scales to riveted lames, to sparse-laced lames, to riveted lames, and finally to solid plates. One of the great factors influenced the changes to the armour was introduction of matchlock arquebus (early muzzle-loaded firearms) to the Japanese army and demand for a shot-proof armours.

A common samurai Yoroi would have some kind of a head and face armour, such as a Kabuto (full helmet), a Mempo (face mask), and a Nodowa (a throat protection). A body armour called a Dou with a pair of Sode (shoulder protection) and Kote (sleeves) for arm protection and a pair of Haidate (thigh armour) and Suneate (greaves) would complement it. The material used and design would differ depending on the period when the armour was made and quite a few other factors, including samurai's rank, his clan, his power, a province, and financial abilities. There were a great many styles of samurai Yoroi to choose and that made samurai look spectacular and unique.

The best samurai Yoroi according to Japanese craftsmen were made before the 17th century. But those ones are not easy to come by. Most of the armours that we see in museums were made in the 18th and 19th century. There're quite a lot of reproductions as well and some of them are truly masterpieces with all details that original samurai Yoroi had.