The years 1478–1605 are described as Sengoku jidai, the “warring states period”, a time of a nearly permanent state of war between the approximately 250 fiefdoms making up Japan. Of these, only about thirty were the most powerful ones. Many daimyō had ambitions of rising...
A daimyo's possessions fell generally into two categories: articles for official use (omote-dōgu) and for private use (oku-dōgu). Official articles included armaments appropriate to the daimyo's rank and clan status among other accoutrements he used on official occasions. The sword was called "the soul of...
When were samurai armors produced? The Japanese armor, as we know it, was born between the 10th and the 11th Century as an evolution of more ancient prototypes made up of large metal plates. However, it is only between the 12th and the 15th Century that...
The manufacturing of Japanese urushi lacquer has always followed every aspect of the Japanese artistic handicraft. Water and heat resistant, it has been used indeed not only as upholstery for every kind of domestic utensil, but also for armors (yoroi), swords scabbards (katana), and so...
Repoussage, uchidashi in Japanese, is a technique present in all the cultures that worked with iron. This kind of decoration is obtained by hammering out an iron plate through the use of different tools and embossing the intended design. At last, the illustration is often...
The Japanese Sword The Japanese sword is probably the most perfect cold weapon ever produced by mankind. With few exceptions, it is curved and single-edged. Japanese sword was perfected during the Heian Period (794-1185) and continued to be the indispensable weapon of samurai, the “warrior class”...
In ancient, feudal Japan, the members of the army permanently in the service of the shōguns (a sort of generalissimo) or the daimyō (feudal lords) all belonged to the same warrior caste called buke, and they were known as bushi. But in the rest of...
In old Japan, the life of a daimyō was spent divided between administrating their land and the residency in the capital. After Japan was unified in 1600 under control of the Tokugawa family, the capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo (now Tokyo) and important...
One exciting aspect of these Japanese samurai helmets is that some of them are dating back to the 5th century B.C., long time before the rise of the Samurai class. These kabuto helmets are traditionally known as the mabizashi-tsuke kabuto translated as a visor-attached helmet...
During the Muromachi period, daimyō and high-ranking samurai had switched from the original ō-yoroi armor to do-maru and haramaki type cuirass, in order to be able to fight comfortably even when on foot and not riding a horse. These models of armor were initially developed...