Samurai With Shield
Samurai using shields on a boat mongol invasion scroll 13th century.
Samurai with shield. Lamellar armour equating hand held shields with the only form of defence. The japanese stirrup contrary to accepted answer has been in use since 4th 5th century because of xianbei warriors in. However the reality of things were far from this romantic statements. The samurai started to use shields mounted on the shoulders of their armor called sode around the 10th century the use of sode allowed the samurai to use both hands while riding a horse this was a significant innovation.
Other points to consider. The unique samurai armour coupled with the. During the edo period when generally samurai walked around unarmored and with just a sidearm the two swords they were trained to parry not block blows with the back of their swords using them as virtual shields. Horo a cloak reserved for prestigious high ranking samurai.
Also samurai armor and helmet could work as a shield it has a thick and long sleeves if you see it you can understand. Its purpose was to identify. Auxiliary items worn with japanese armour sashimono a small banner that is attached to the back of the dou dō by special fittings. Japanese shields are a really interesting topic to study and an highly misunderstood one especially inside the pop culture.
It is in fact quite common to read or hear the comment that says samurai didn t use shield as they were dishonorable. It provides additional protection from arrows. A samurai s cloak horo. Agemaki a decorative.