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Articles Arms and Amour O-Yoroi | O-Yoroi | | Print | |
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The famous 'box-like' armour worn by the original samurai was called the o-yoroi or 'great armour'. Being quite heavy it was essentially for mounted warfare, the raison d'être for samurai for centuries. The o-yoroi was an incredibly ornate and beautiful suit of armour and its cuirass consisted of three lamellar boards made from small scales of metal called kozan and laced together with silk cords. Attached to each one by silk cords was a tasset or kusazuri, which was designed to protect the lower part of the body. A fourth lamellar board, called the waidate, with kusazuri was laced to the exposed right side of the wearer's body and this completed the rather 'box-like' appearance of the o-yoroi. Covering the front of the torso plate or board was the tsurubashiri. This was a leather panel that was designed to protect the front of the cuirass from the wearer's bowstring which could potentially snag on the scales. The tsurubashiri was often adorned with various designs and patterns as well as pictures of Shinto and Buddhist deities. These decorations were usually repeated throughout the samurai's armour where leather protection was used.Two asymmetrical plates called the sendan no ita and kyubi no ita protected the armpit areas at the front of the cuirass and also served to protect the shoulder straps. The former was generally made of three thick plates or rows of scales, heavily lined with leather and worn over the right armpit. The latter was worn over the left and was longer and rectangular than the square-like sendan. It was also made of metal or thick, lacquered leather and was invariably highly decorated and had a metal border. Attached to the shoulder straps - or watagami - of the cuirass, via a series of cords from their tops, were the characteristic sode or shoulder guards. An additional strap called the agemaki anchored them in place from the back. The sode were quite large and flat and measured more than a foot square; ideal defensive shields for a horse archer, which the early samurai were. The kusazuri, as mentioned above, was an apron of lamellar boards not unlike the square sode, which were suspended from the torso armour by lace and cord. There were usually four and, with the o-yoroi, were quite large and projected outwards slightly from the body like an umbrella and their purpose was to protect the upper thighs. The o-yoroi was popular among the samurai of between the 10th and the early 14th centuries; samurai clad in this armour fought each other in the famous Gempei Wars and against the might of the Mongols in 1274 and 1281. During the 14th century, however, the o-yoroi was falling out of favour in line with the changing nature of Japanese warfare: samurai were more and more fighting on foot and campaigns were becoming more protracted and lengthy; the o-yoroi was getting too heavy and cumbersome for this. As a result the do-maru, the cuirass worn by the common soldier for longer than the o-yoroi, was beginning to be adopted by the proud samurai as it was lighter and easier for the wearer to move and fight in. Nevertheless the o-yoroi did not die out completely. It remained in the armoury of some of the most ancient and noble samurai families and became something of a status symbol. Often these samurai would wear the do-maru or the haramaki-do for battle and the more magnificent o-yoroi for parades or other non-military gatherings. Further Reading Early Samurai 200-1500 (Osprey Publishing) - Anthony J Bryant. The Samurai (Osprey Publishing) - Anthony J Bryant. Secrets of the Samurai - Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook |
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