Japanese Medieval Shields

In the japanese attire category you will find pieces for men and women ranging from elegant kimono to samurai clothing.

Japanese medieval shields. A samurai on horseback wearing ō yoroi 大鎧 in the beginning soldiers wore their shields so they had two hands to do other stuff like firing arrows using other two handed cqc weapons. It would have been seen as wasteful to the japanese to use metal on a shield since it could be made into something much more valuable. We are proud to offer you authentic japanese apparel as well as a number of modern garments with oriental style. However the reality of things were far from this romantic statements.

During the heian period 794 1185 the unique japanese samurai armour ō yoroi and dō maru appeared. It is thought they originated from china via korea. Some are battle ready and decorative as well as live action role play shields. Japanese shields are a really interesting topic to study and an highly misunderstood one especially inside the pop culture.

Japanese clothing comes in designs as beautiful and complex as any of their other artworks. The concept of using a shield to cover an archer dates to at least the writing of homer s iliad where ajax used his shield to cover his half brother teucer an archer while he would peer round and shoot arrows. Welcome to armor venue home of one of the largest collections of medieval armor helmets shields renaissance clothing and much more looking for roman lorica segmentata armor knight s armor or medieval shields. Tate tedate 盾 手盾 japanese shields.

It is in fact quite common to read or hear the comment that says samurai didn t use shield as they were dishonorable. The mantlet shield has an arrow slit in the front which allows the holder to fire out which also prevents arrows coming in. To extend upon u papajacky s response not only are shields unwieldy on horseback alongside manipulating a bow they simply didn t fit the style of battle that lasted throughout most of japanese history. Firstly metal was relatively more expensive in japan than medieval europe.

The japanese cuirass evolved into the more familiar style of body armour worn by the samurai known as the. Use our functional shields to keep yourself alive during battle. The pavise was primarily used by archers and crossbowmen in the middle ages particularly during sieges. Japanese actually had shields and their use evolved with the advancing nature of warfare as weapons became more sophisticated.

Here in this category you will find a wide variety of medieval and renaissance style shields. A samurai carrying a tate type of shield converted into a tedate and a nagamaki 石山寺縁起絵巻 13th century. Its main purpose was to protect the holder s from incoming arrows. Spears and polearms also don t work too well with shields which were the essential staple weaponry of japanese armies.

This is ideal for offensive and defensive purposes. We have it all. Scholars agree that japanese armour first appeared in the 4th century with the discovery of the cuirass and basic helmets in graves. The mantlet shield is large and wooden similar to the pavise shield.