Storie

 Samurai armor has long been associated with authority and prestige in Japan. Samurai armor defined the samurai lifestyle and marked the art of warfare in Japan. Despite minor design changes, the principles remained the same: protect the samurai and display the wealth and social status...

Most collectors of original Japanese samurai armor focus their purchases on kabuto (samurai helmet) and menpo (samurai mask). These two pieces were manufactured by the most famous Japanese armorers, as they were the most difficult parts of the samurai armor to construct. Furthermore, they look...

 The Haruta school, which presumably started in Nara during the early Muromachi period (1333-1573) and remained active throughout the Edo period, was undoubtedly one of the most important centres for the manufacture of early samurai armour in Japan and, along with the Iwai school, one of...

 The helmet of samurai armour - the kabuto - can have different shapes. These may depend on the period in which they were made, and thus on the fighting style of the samurai, but also on the region in which they were made, or on...

What do the symbols on a samurai helmet mean?Traditionally, a helmet of samurai armour (kabuto) bears an attached decoration on the front called maedate. A maedate may be flat or three-dimensional and may represent a family crest, a mythical creature, a symbol of good omen...

 Japanese terminology for classifying samurai swords is quite precise.Since only samurai were allowed to carry a long sword in ancient Japan, the most important distinction is between blades that fall into this category and those that do not. The size, which is called nagasa, is...

The sode are the "shoulder straps", the elements of samurai armor used to defend against lateral attacks. The sode were generally square in shape, more or less large depending on the era, and were made using a construction technique that followed that used for the...