Red samurai armor | 鎧 Yoroï
Japanese samurai armor XVIᵗʰ - XVIIIᵗʰ centuries
The yoroi (鎧), the Japanese armor, is among the distinctive elements of the samurai, after the sword, or katana.
Worn as early as the Vᵗʰ century, the armor essentially protected high-ranking warriors. Riders and archers, they wore this protection comparable to the armor of European knights but much more flexible. Blades of boiled leather, then metal, woven together, made the armor easier to use than the European metal versions of plate and chain mail.
The transformation of Japanese society, in particular as a result of trade with the West, led to the warrior caste becoming territorial civil servants. From cavalrymen in wartime, they became guarantors of stability in peacetime. Thus, the cavalry sword (the tachi 太刀) was transformed into the katana (刀), a sword worn on the belt with its "little brother", the wakizashi (脇差), the edge of the blade pointing upwards.
Japanese armors became diplomatic gifts, and can be found today in museums such as the British Museum (London), the Musée de l'Armée (Paris)...
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