Samurai Use Shields
The concept just did not exist.
Samurai use shields. The samurai started as mounted archers. When ashigaru lower class infantry came along they had no use for portable shields either because they were usually armed with spears. Zero samurai of any rank nor any bushi caste warriors in feudal japan used shields. The lack of defense was compensated by the way the ousode 大袖 in their armor worked.
Early japanese foot soldiers did at one time use hand shields dorothy perkins notes the use of wood and leather shields by foot soldiers as early as the mid 6th century. To be able to use effectively the bow the samurai didn t use hand held shields. The unique samurai armour coupled with the. Other points to consider.
Early japanese foot soldiers did at one time use hand shields dorothy perkins notes the use of wood and leather shields by foot soldiers as early as the mid 6th century. While facing enemy arrows or polearms a samurai placed his big shoulder shield on the front covering the face and the upper torso. Both samurai and ashigaru used shields tate to hide behind both on land and sea these were not hand held shields they were large wood panels. Leather and or iron scales were used to construct samurai armours with leather and eventually silk lace used to connect the individual scales kozane from which these cuirasses were now being made.
The japanese stirrup contrary to accepted answer has been in use since 4th 5th century because of xianbei warriors in. 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. A samurai s cloak horo. Both samurai and ashigaru used shields tate to hide behind both on land and sea these were not hand held shields they were large wood panels.
Pre heian period soldiers used shields but afterwards what with the development of the early samurai being horse archers and the general trend of japanese warfare being low in scale and ritualistic shields fell out of use. There was no use for shields for them because it hindered them from properly using the yumi japanese long bow. The closest thing they had were gigantic oak partitions they hid behind for archery on the front lines. Japanese armour makers started to use leather nerigawa and lacquer was used to weatherproof the armour parts.