The Heian period (794-1185 CE) began when the Emperor Kammu (r. 781-806 CE) moved the capital from Nara to Heian (Kyoto) in 794 CE. The imperial court maintained centralized control over the main islands of Japan and was the centre of a vast, highly bureaucratic administration system.
[1]
[2]
The period’s peak can be considered to run from 794 to 930 CE, a phase of prosperity and cultural and artistic florescence.
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However, the imperial court’s isolation from the realities of government, elaborate internal power dynamics and court intrigues eventually weakened the central government and contributed to the rise of the provincial warrior class.
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The period ends with the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate.
Population and political organization
Beginning in the proceeding Nara period, the imperial court had based its bureaucratic system on that of the ’statutory’ (ritsuryō) regime of the Chinese T’ang court. The Nara style of administration continued to be implemented by the Heian emperors until the 850s CE. While the government still maintained ’the conception and rhetoric of Confucian government’, its functions were carried out by other means, with increased competition for offices, and, due to the dominance of the Fujiwara family, an increasingly narrow focus on factional concerns.
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[6]
Although knowledge of Chinese culture had been considered the mark of a cultured individual for much of the Heian period, by its end a distinctly Japanese cultural identity had started to emerge.
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Over the course of the Heian period, the imperial family and nobility became increasingly divorced from the realities of government, preoccupying themselves with ’dilettantish pastimes’ and matters of protocol above matters of state. While this led to a florescence of the arts and the refinement of etiquette, it also indirectly allowed the provincial warrior class to increase their power because the day-to-day tasks of governance in the provinces were left to them.
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Another factor in the rise and consolidation of power by the warrior class at the expense of the nobility was the changing patterns of land ownership. By the late 10th century CE, with the end of public land allotment, private land ownership had proliferated, much of which was exempt from taxation, significantly affecting the revenue of the government. The nobles’ presence at court meant that vast private land holdings were controlled by estate managers on behalf of absentee landlords - further weakening the centralized government and contributing to the emergence of feudalism in Japan.
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The personal power of the emperors also waned throughout the period, with the rising prominence of imperial regents, consolidating the power of the Fujiwara family, and the early abdication of emperors in attempts to form a ’cloister government’ to counter the Fujiwara regents’ control of young puppet rulers.
[4]
The institution of a standing army of professional warriors contributed to the rise of a class of militarized landed gentry in the provinces. This in turn laid the foundation for the rise of the shogunate, the military government which would dominate Japan until the 1800s, leaving the emperor as little more than a figurehead.
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The polity population ranged from roughly four million in 800 CE to five or six million by 1100 CE.
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Kyoto became the largest settlement, with an estimated population of 200,000 from 800 to 925 CE; 175,000 in the 11th century; and 150,000 by 1150 CE.
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[1]: (Deal 2005, 89) William E. Deal. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2]: (Mason 2011, 67) Richard H. P. Mason. 2011. A History of Japan. Revised ed. New York: Tuttle Publishing.
[3]: (Shively and McCullough 2008, 1-2) Donald H. Shively and William H. McCullough. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[4]: (Henshall 2012, 29-30) Kenneth Henshall. 2012. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. 3rd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[5]: (Shively and McCullough 2008, 342-43) Donald H. Shively and William H. McCullough. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[6]: (Mason 2011, 64) Richard H. P. Mason. 2011. A History of Japan. Revised ed. New York: Tuttle Publishing.
[7]: (Henshall 2012, 30) Kenneth Henshall. 2012. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. 3rd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[8]: (Henshall 2012, 28-29) Kenneth Henshall. 2012. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. 3rd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[9]: (Mason 2011, 76) Richard H. P. Mason. 2011. A History of Japan. Revised ed. New York: Tuttle Publishing.
[10]: (Henshall 2012, 29) Kenneth Henshall. 2012. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. 3rd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[11]: (Lorge 2011, 47) P. A. Lorge. 2008. The Asian Military Revolution: From Gunpowder to the Bomb. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[12]: (Farris 2006, 9) William Wayne Farris. 2006. Japan’s Medieval Population: Famine, Fertility, and Warfare in a Transformative Age. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
[13]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 181) Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. London: Penguin Books.
[14]: (Chandler 1987) Tertius Chandler. 1987. Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press.
| 200,000 people | 800 CE 925 CE |
| 175,000 people | 1000 CE 1100 CE |
| 150,000 people | 1150 CE |
| [250,000 to 300,000] km2 |
| 4,000,000 people | 800 CE |
| [4,400,000 to 5,600,000] people | 900 CE |
| [4,500,000 to 5,000,000] people | 1000 CE |
| [5,500,000 to 6,300,000] people | 1100 CE |
| Year Range | Heian (jp_heian) was in: |
|---|---|
| (794 CE 1184 CE) | Kansai |
’In fact, historians, both medieval and modern, of loyalist sympathies regard as the golden age of Japanese history those decades of direct rule by enlightened, "virtuous" emperors - Kammu (781-806) and Saga (809-23), and again Uda and Daigo (887-930). For loyalists, these were the years when Japanese rulers most closely approached the ideal reigns of the sage-kings of ancient China.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.pp.1-2
From the establishment of the capital at Heian-kyō (Kyoto) to the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate.
’Emperor Kammu sent his first and only embassy to the T’ang court in 804, twenty-seven years after the dispatch of the previous embassy in 777; and another thirty-four years passed before the next and final Japanese embassy to China for many centuries departed in 838. Nearly sixty years later, in 894, Sugawara no Michizane was chosen to head another embassy to China, perhaps in response to a request relayed from Chinese officials (or so it was made to seem), but before the embassy could be dispatched Emperor Uda and the Council of State accepted Michizane’s recommendation that official relations with China be terminated. Japanese intercourse with China thereafter was abandoned entirely to private hands, except for a few exchanges of messages with the king of the southern Chinese coastal state of Wu-yiieh around the middle of the tenth century and another exchange with the Sung court in the 1070s.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.84
’By the beginning of the Heian period, the chief remaining reason for maintaining state relations with the T’ang court seems to have been trade. The earlier quest for knowledge of Chinese culture and institutions and the desire to keep abreast of the developments in the East Asian international world, and to participate as a leading member in the Chinese diplomatic order, had been largely fulfilled.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.84
km squared.
’In these ways the central administration was streamlined. At the same time, provincial affairs were closely supervised. Japan in the ninth century was more unified than it had ever been, in terms of effective administration.’ [1] ’The Heian period as a whole saw a steady growth in the number of shōen, and the power of great families and temples came to be based more and more on their holdings of these estates. Changes in the way land was controlled, together with persistent familism, led eventually to the breakdown of centralized monarchy and to the emergence of feudalism in Japan.’ [2]
[1]: Mason, Richard Henry Pitt. 1997. A History of Japan: Revised Edition. Tuttle Publishing.p.67
[2]: Mason, Richard Henry Pitt. 1997. A History of Japan: Revised Edition. Tuttle Publishing.p.76
Population estimates for Kyoto by Chandler. [1]
[1]: Chandler, Tertius. 1987. Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston.
in squared kilometers
According to map, provinces in the Heian period covered the whole of Japan, minus the island of Hokkaido.
[1]
[4,400,000-5,600,000]: 950 CE (using for 900 CE); [5,500,000-6,300,000]: 1150 CE (using for 1100 CE) population estimate by Farris
[1]
4,000,000: 800CE; 4,500,000: 1000CE (using [4,500,000-5,000,000] on basis more recent Farris estimates are higher, but don’t want to estimate too high i.e. linear in case there was cause for population drop/famine/warfare etc.); 5,750,000:1100CE. Population estimates from McEvedy and Jones.
[2]
[1]: Farris, William Wayne. 2006. Japan’s Medieval Population: Famine, Fertility, and Warfare in a Transformative Age. University of Hawaii Press.p.9
[2]: McEvedy, Colin and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books. London.p.181
[4,400,000-5,600,000]: 950 CE (using for 900 CE); [5,500,000-6,300,000]: 1150 CE (using for 1100 CE) population estimate by Farris
[1]
4,000,000: 800CE; 4,500,000: 1000CE (using [4,500,000-5,000,000] on basis more recent Farris estimates are higher, but don’t want to estimate too high i.e. linear in case there was cause for population drop/famine/warfare etc.); 5,750,000:1100CE. Population estimates from McEvedy and Jones.
[2]
[1]: Farris, William Wayne. 2006. Japan’s Medieval Population: Famine, Fertility, and Warfare in a Transformative Age. University of Hawaii Press.p.9
[2]: McEvedy, Colin and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books. London.p.181
[4,400,000-5,600,000]: 950 CE (using for 900 CE); [5,500,000-6,300,000]: 1150 CE (using for 1100 CE) population estimate by Farris
[1]
4,000,000: 800CE; 4,500,000: 1000CE (using [4,500,000-5,000,000] on basis more recent Farris estimates are higher, but don’t want to estimate too high i.e. linear in case there was cause for population drop/famine/warfare etc.); 5,750,000:1100CE. Population estimates from McEvedy and Jones.
[2]
[1]: Farris, William Wayne. 2006. Japan’s Medieval Population: Famine, Fertility, and Warfare in a Transformative Age. University of Hawaii Press.p.9
[2]: McEvedy, Colin and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books. London.p.181
[4,400,000-5,600,000]: 950 CE (using for 900 CE); [5,500,000-6,300,000]: 1150 CE (using for 1100 CE) population estimate by Farris
[1]
4,000,000: 800CE; 4,500,000: 1000CE (using [4,500,000-5,000,000] on basis more recent Farris estimates are higher, but don’t want to estimate too high i.e. linear in case there was cause for population drop/famine/warfare etc.); 5,750,000:1100CE. Population estimates from McEvedy and Jones.
[2]
[1]: Farris, William Wayne. 2006. Japan’s Medieval Population: Famine, Fertility, and Warfare in a Transformative Age. University of Hawaii Press.p.9
[2]: McEvedy, Colin and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books. London.p.181
levels.
4. Capital City (palace, monumental structures, market, central government buildings, military fortifications, transport hubs, shrines, temples)
Kyoto
Population:
3. Provincial Capitals/Cities (kokufu)Population:
for example the previous capital Nara.
2. Town s(toshiteki na ba/kedai to machi)Population:
1. Villages (residential)Population:
Medieval settlement organization: Kyoto, provincial capitals/cities (kokufu), towns/temple towns (toshiteki na ba/kedai to machi), villages.
[1]
[1]: Fujita Hirotsugu, trans. David Eason. 2017. Geography in History and History in Geography. In, Karl Friday (ed) Routledge Handbook of Premodern Japanese History. Routledge Press: 13-23. (p.17-19)
levels. (Thomas Cressy: how was this calculated? What is this figure based on?)
_ Buddhist _
_ Shinto_
levels.
"The Heian period (794-1185) saw the rise of the professional warrior class, the bushi, as the main military service providers of the imperial court. This marked a shift of the court away from reliance on conscript peasant soldiers, toward, or more precisely, back to, the militarized provincial gentry."
[1]
A standing army, inspired by the Chinese-style army, was introduced in Japan in the 7th century CE by the emperor Tenmu. The bulk of the army conscripted was composed of peasants who served in infantry regiments. Each province provided a regiment, which could have a size from several hundred to over a thousand of soldiers
[2]
.
1. Emperor
2. Commander-in-Chief?3. Regiment (several hundred to over a thousand soldiers)4. Officer?5. Individual soldier
[1]: (Lorge 2011, 47)
[2]: Kuehn, John T. 2014. A Military History of Japan: From the Age of the Samurai to the 21st Century. Praeger,pp.17-18.
’Chinese was the basis of government, both ideal and practical. A bureaucratic system carefully modeled after that of the T’ang and referred to by historians as the "statutory" (ritsuryo) regime had reached its apogee in the eighth century. By the beginning of the Heian era, the system had already begun to evolve in new directions; by the beginning of the tenth century, although the conception and rhetoric of Confucian government remained, as did its forms and usages, many of its functions were being carried out by other means. Aristocrats and their clients competed for office, empty or not, within its bureaucracy. Chinese provided the medium for the memorials, decrees, codes, administrative regulations, ordinances, commands, communications, and certificates by which the government functioned.
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:’At first, strong emperors used the established bureaucratic machinery to administer the country. This was a continuation of Nara-style administration and lasted until about 850. Subsequently there was a period of two centuries during which the Fujiwara family dominated the court and governed through puppet emperors. This meant that administration paid at least as much attention to narrow Fujiwara family concerns as to broad national interests.
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’Down through the administrative structure - from the heads of offices around the emperor to those in charge of local offices in distant regions - ran a hierarchy of office titles and ranks. Heads of the highest offices held the title of director (kami) who had assistants (suke), secretaries (jo), and clerks (sakan). (These four office titles were written with different characters but pronounced in the same way when held by officials serving in different ministries and agencies.) According to the Yoro adminstrative code of 718, the number of officials in the two councils and eight ministries totaled 331. If lower-ranking officials are added, the total was 6,487. Ranks provided a more precise indication of status than titles did, for officeholders with the same title had different ranks yielding different stipends and perquisites. The Taiho code set aside four imperial ranks (hon) for princes and near relatives of the emperor and thirty court ranks (kurai) for persons lower in the aristocratic order. The son or grandson of a nobleman holding the highest imperial rank was automatically awarded a junior fifth rank lower grade court rank when he reached the age of twenty-one. Special treatment for anyone with a fifth rank or above - apart from the rights that their sons had to a high rank when they turned twenty-one, irrespective of ability - is revealed by the generous stipends and retainers they received’
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’The structure of the imperial court was a complex affair. The following chart depicts the basic outline, but each division and ministry contained a hierarchy of officials. Some divisions also included subdivisions. Despite the formality of this structure, the operation and functionality of any particular ministry fluctuated depending on the particular time period. There were also aristocratic families who came to dominate a particular court function through the use of heredity.’
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5.Emperor ’At the apex of the structure was the emperor, whose will was expressed in decrees (mikotonori) and edicts (semmyo). Important decisions, such as those pertaining to appointments and promotions of high-ranking officials, were recommended at meetings of the Council of State but were carried out only with imperial approval. The two codes placed no limitations on imperial authority, thus giving the emperor, legally at least, despotic control.
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4[a]. Council of Kami Affairs’Under the emperor were two councils that had equal standing: the Council of State, generally overseeing secular affairs, and the Council of Kami Affairs, running affairs in the area of kami worship. Although the two councils were organizationally at the same level, the Council of State’s highest minister (the chancellor) held a higher rank than did the highest official of the Council of Kami Affairs. But the chancellor also had some responsibilities that lay outside the bounds of secular administration: He served as the emperor’s guide and teacher and was given the task of harmonizing movements of the world with Chinese principles of yin and yang.’
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4[b]. Council of State’Under the emperor were two councils that had equal standing: the Council of State, generally overseeing secular affairs, and the Council of Kami Affairs, running affairs in the area of kami worship. Although the two councils were organizationally at the same level, the Council of State’s highest minister (the chancellor) held a higher rank than did the highest official of the Council of Kami Affairs.
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4[b].1. Chancellorthe chancellor also had some responsibilities that lay outside the bounds of secular administration: He served as the emperor’s guide and teacher and was given the task of harmonizing movements of the world with Chinese principles of yin and yang.’
[6]
3[a] Minister of the Left3.1[a] Central affairs’The Ministry of Central Affairs (the Nakatsukasa-sho) ranked above all other ministries and was the main link between the emperor and the Council of State. Its minister gave advice on numerous court matters, supervised the court chamberlains, and drafted imperial edicts. Under him were ten secretariats, including the Secretariat for the Empress’s Household (Chugushiki).’
[7]
3.2[a] The Ministry of Personnel’The Ministry of Personnel(Shikibu-sho) supervised personnel affairs. Within it were two important bureaus: one for higher learning (Daigaku-ryo) and another for nobles who held a court rank but occupied no office (Sammi-ryo).’
[7]
3.3[a] Civil affairs‘The Ministry of Civil Affairs (Jibu-sho) had two important bureaus: one for Buddhist priests and nuns and aliens (Gemba-ryo) and another for court music (Gagaku-ryo).’
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3.4.[a] Popular affairs‘The Ministry of Popular Affairs (Mimbu-sho) was responsible for administering household registers, taxes, irrigation, paddy fields, and the budget.’
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3[b] Minister of the Right 3[b].1 The Ministry of War‘The Ministry of War (Hyobu-sho) took care of personnel matters pertaining to soldiers and other military affairs.’
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3[b].2 The Ministry of Justice‘The Ministry of Justice (Gyobu-sho) handled legal affairs.’
[7]
3[b].3 Treasury‘The Ministry of the Treasury (Okura-sho) dealt with state property, weights and measures, prices, and related matters.’
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3[b].4 Imperial household‘The Ministry of the Imperial Household (Kunai-sho) managed food, clothing, and personnel problems of the imperial household. Inside each ministry were several, often several tens of, administrative organs of three types: secretariats (shiki), bureaus (ryo), and offices (tsukasa)’
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2.Four senior counselors’Below the chancellor, the minister of the left, and the minister of the right were four senior counselors.
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1 Council of State’s three departments‘Under these six men were the heads of three administrative offices, referred to as the Council of State’s three departments: the Department of Junior Counselors (Shonagonkan), the Department of the Controller of the Left (Sabenkan), and the Department of the Controller of the Right (Ubenkan). The first included three junior counselors authorized to serve as custodians of the imperial and Council of State seals, and the last two were responsible for transmitting imperial orders (senji), distributing orders issued by the Council of State (kampu), and handling communications between the council and its eight ministries.’
[8]
1.1 the Department of Junior Counselors (Shonagonkan)
1.2 the Department of the Controller of the Left (Sabenkan)
1.3 the Department of the Controller of the Right (Ubenkan)
_Other offices_
‘Outside the ministerial structure were a number of important boards and administrative units’
[7]
Censors
‘the Board of Censors (Danjodai) that was engaged in exposing the illegal activities of officials and upholding standards of correct bureaucratic behaviour.’
[7]
Guard units
‘there were the headquarters of the various guard units, beginning with the five that guarded the imperial palace: the gate guards (emon-fu), the left guards (saeji-fu), the right guards (neji-fu), the left military guards (sahyoe-fu), and the right military guards (uhyoe-fu). The central government had, in addition, a right and left bureau of cavalry and a right and left bureau of armories. Other offices outside the eight ministries included two that were responsible for the left and right sectors of the capital.’
[11]
Capital section Dazaifu
‘ Organs of government outside the capital included, first of all, the Dazai headquarters (Dazai-fu) located near the harbor of Na in Kyushu from which the nine provinces of Kyushu, as well as the islands of Iki and Tsushima, were administered. Each of the country’s sixty or more provinces 16 was headed by a governor who usually had under him ten or more districts headed by district supervisors. Each district contained between two and twenty villages (sato) made up of fifty households each. A governor was appointed for a six-year term, but the district supervisors, usually selected from the local gentry, had no fixed term of office. The Taiho administrative code contained no
articles dealing with village heads, but it is assumed that they were influential farmers.’
[12]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.342-343
[2]: Mason, Richard Henry Pitt. 1997. A History of Japan: Revised Edition. Tuttle Publishing.p.64
[3]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.236
[4]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.89
[5]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.232-233
[6]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.233
[7]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.234
[8]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.234
[9]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.234
[10]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.233-234
[11]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.235
[12]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.235
’The professional warriors were private fighters who at first fought entirely in their own interests and for their own ends. They later entered the personal retainerships of court nobles or, more commonly, military lords’ [1] "The Heian period (794-1185) saw the rise of the professional warrior class, the bushi, as the main military service providers of the imperial court. This marked a shift of the court away from reliance on conscript peasant soldiers, toward, or more precisely, back to, the militarized provincial gentry." [2]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.644
[2]: (Lorge 2011, 47)
’a priestly class, which was very small within the city proper, confined mostly to the Buddhist monks at the East and West Temples, but considerably larger if the many Shinto shrines and the growing number of Buddhist temples in the immediate neighborhood of Heian are taken into account.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.161
’Predominant among the professional fighters were relatives of district magistrates and other prominent provincial families. Only those in this class had the resources to maintain the horses, saddles, armor, and weapons that distinguished them as professional warriors. Descended from regional uji, these mounted archers, skilled in hunting, had been the effective forces in the campaigns to the northeast.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.18
’the ‘cap rank’ system introduced earlier by Prince Sho¯toku was in theory based, as in China, on merit not birth. However, in practice, and particularly during the Nara period, both rank and position in the Japanese bureaucracy quickly became determined by inherited family status rather than by individual merit’ [1]
[1]: Henshall, Kenneth .2012. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. [Third Edition]p.25
’the Ministers of State (daijiri), the Counselors (nagori), and the Consultants (sangi) - were the chief makers of governmental decisions and often prided themselves on their detailed knowledge of court procedures, ceremonies, and rituals, it was the nobles whose careers culminated at the Fourth or Fifth Rank who provided most of the workaday administrative direction of the governmental offices and much of the special knowledge and skills that fueled their operations. They were the working (as well, usually, as the titular) heads of the eight ministries that directed the activities of all central organs of the government under the Council of State. They were, as well, the chief officers in a host of other key administrative or technical offices and bureaus, including those responsible for the administration of the capital; the reception of foreign embassies; the computing, budgeting, and disbursement of government revenues; the construction and repair of public buildings; the supervision of the Academy of Chinese learning; divination, purification, and other matters relating to yinyang arts; the management of Buddhist and Shinto affairs and of imperial mortuary matters; the maintenance of the imperial library; the teaching and performance of court music and dance; the direction of the hundreds of Imperial Attendants who saw to the domestic and personal needs of the court...Their number also included the secretariat or principal staff for the Council of State and in the Chamberlains’ Office; they held other pivotal posts, professional and administrative, in the various ministries, offices, and bureaus; and they sometimes attended in person on the emperor. It is perhaps not too much to say that most of the day-to-day practical work of the court and its government fell in the first instance on their shoulders.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.159
’the examination-based meritocracy of China’s bureaucratic world was not too palatable to the Japanese. This is ironic in view of the prominence of examinations in present-day Japan, but understandable from the perspective of an established elite wishing to safeguard control and stability.’ [1] ’ ’bore the honorary title of shinshi, which, strictly speaking, was supposed to be awarded to those who had passed the civil service examination modeled on China’s chin shih civil service examination but lacking the prestige of the original and hence rarely taken.’ [2]
[1]: Henshall, Kenneth .2012. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. [Third Edition]p.25
[2]: Henshall, Kenneth .2012. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. [Third Edition]p.370
’It illustrates the sort of adversary situations in which legal fictions develop within a context of formally codified law.’ [1] ’If the Six National Histories helped enact as well as record the fiction of a harmonious Confucian state, the compiling of official statutes may well be the one substantive achievement of that state. Initially, legal scholarship had consisted of compiling whole new codes, culminating in the Yoro ritsuryo, drafted in 718 but not promulgated until 757. Attention then turned to explication and two important commentaries were compiled early in the Heian period. The first, Ryo no gige, written by an officially appointed committee of twelve, was completed in 833 and authorized the following year; the second, Ryo no shuge, was the private work of a single legal scholar, Koremune no Naomoto, who completed it during the Jogan era (859-77). It ls only in these commentaries that the texts of the original codes are preserved. The codes themselves, however, were not the only basis of early Japanese law. Over the years, many new regulations were issued either modifying the codes or detailing how they should be enforced. These were promulgated as various forms of imperial edicts or proclamations by the Council of State, and together they came to be known as kyaku and shiki’ [2]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.307
[2]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.364-365
’About a half-mile north of the temples lay two official markets, similarly called the East and West Markets, about 600 yards east and west of Suzaku Avenue. The markets were, interestingly, among the earliest features of the Heian landscape, having been transferred there from Nagaoka three or four months before the arrival of Emperor Kammu in 794. Walled and gated, it appears, and distinguished architecturally by a tower or loft structure, each market was four blocks in area, the same size as the temple sites, and contained, in addition to the stalls, warehouses, and residences of the merchants, the offices of the market administrators.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.117-118
’The first component of the stored tax-grain, the official government grain, was regularly tapped by the court during die tenth century as a source of rank- and support-stipends for the middle-ranking nobility. [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.314
drinking water was provided from wells, rivers etc.
’At the same time, there is reason to think that there were already well-established roads leading out of the basin in all directions, making communication with the rest of the country reasonably convenient, and theYodo River in the south gave easy water access to the Inland Sea (Seto Naikai). [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.99
’there were other reasons for relocating the capital. For one thing, the location of Nara, surrounded by hilly terrain to the north, east, and west, did not allow easy access to the port of Naniwa, which had assumed increasing importance with the emergence of a centralized state in the eighth century.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.455
’But, in fact, the central government used these reports to prepare a table of legitimate uses of corvee labor and the number of workers who could be employed for each use. A few categories of work - repair of government buildings, construction of irrigation canals...’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.209
’Like their provincial counterparts, the offices were responsible for the entire range of government in their jurisdictions, including the compilation and maintenance of household registers; the collection of taxes; police and judicial matters; the repair and maintenance of canals, ditches, bridges, and quarter walls’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.170
’Yoshiie had used his considerable resources as governor of Mutsu, which was the principal center of gold mining, to conduct the war and provision his troops. He was now obliged to compensate his retainers and recruits from his own resources.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.677
The earliest known written Japanese texts date to the eight century. Although the spoken languages have no relationship Chinese characters were borrowed to enable Japanese to be written ‘Over time the Japanese writing system developed into a complex use of Chinese characters along with two different phonetic scripts to represent the sounds of spoken Japanese. The two phonetic scripts—hiragana and katakana—represented the same sounds but were used in different contexts reflecting, among other things, class and gender.’ [1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.242.
The earliest known written Japanese texts date to the eight century. Although the spoken languages have no relationship Chinese characters were borrowed to enable Japanese to be written ‘Over time the Japanese writing system developed into a complex use of Chinese characters along with two different phonetic scripts to represent the sounds of spoken Japanese. The two phonetic scripts—hiragana and katakana—represented the same sounds but were used in different contexts reflecting, among other things, class and gender.’ [1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.242.
The earliest known written Japanese texts date to the eight century. Although the spoken languages have no relationship Chinese characters were borrowed to enable Japanese to be written ‘Over time the Japanese writing system developed into a complex use of Chinese characters along with two different phonetic scripts to represent the sounds of spoken Japanese. The two phonetic scripts—hiragana and katakana—represented the same sounds but were used in different contexts reflecting, among other things, class and gender.’ [1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.242.
’A primary aspect of those beliefs and attitudes is found in the Sukuyodo, "Way of Lodgings and Planetoids," a complex system resulting from a crossing of astronomy with astrology that had occurred in India, but that had been enriched in China before it reached Japan. Almost all Indian science reaching Japan was brought by Buddhist monks, so that astronomy became a primarily Buddhist matter. Monks were not only specialists of metaphysics and philosophy, they also tended to be healers, thaumaturgists, diviners, and astrologers. During the Heian period almost all astronomy and astrology developments that had taken place in various milieus in China were transmitted to Japan by monks of Shingon and Tendai Esoteric Buddhism, so that that form of Buddhism was heavily laden with notions and rituals that belonged originally either to Indian ritual science or to Chinese Taoist and other practices. [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.553-554
’Heian Buddhist vocal music, known as shomyo, consisted primarily of liturgical music, sacred texts, and eulogies, all of which were sung or chanted by monks - at first in Chinese styles introduced by the patriarchs of the esoteric sects, and later in naturalized styles, perfected especially by the Pure Land monk Genshin.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.429
’With more than eighty extant works attributed to him, Genshin was one of the most prolific monks of the Heian period, his writing covering such diverse topics as Tendai doctrine, Hlnayana philosophy, logic, esoteric ritual, and Pure Land teachings.’ [1] ’The men of Murakami’s time felt tradtional rituals to be in danger of slipping out of use, and thus his court gloried in the production of manuals of ceremonies and court procedures. A handbook of annual ceremonies was written by the Fujiwara regent Morosuke, and Morosuke’s successor Saneyori (900-70) was looked upon by later times as the founder of a school of yusoku kojitsu, the study of customs and precedents.’ [2]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.510
[2]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.359
’The candidate was obliged to compose two essays in ornate Chinese parallel prose treating problems in such areas as morality, philosophy, and Chinese history.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.371
’The extant catalogue lists almost 1,400 scrolls of Chinese dynastic histories and almost 2,000 scrolls of books on rites and ceremonies. More emphasis is given to belles lettres than to the classics - reflecting a T’ang taste that was especially congenial to the Japanese - and a number of books by Chinese authors appear in it that are not listed in continental bibliographies, several of which have been discovered at Tun-huang. And probably there were other books not deemed worthy of being entered into an official bibliography: handbooks, practical books of various sorts, and volumes to amuse and instruct the less educated, women, and children.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.345-346
There is a long tradition of historical recording in Japan. Japan’s oldest extant text is Kojiki (Record of ancient matters) written in 712CE although it deals with what today would be considered mythological themes it was treated as a historic text. [1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.243.
One of the world’s oldest extant novels was written in Japan c.1000 in the Heian period. Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji) written by a noblewoman lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu. ‘While aristocratic literature retained its importance throughout the medieval and early modern periods, it was also supplanted in many ways by literature that reflected the sensibilities of a much broader segment of Japanese society. Warriors, Buddhists, merchants, masterless samurai, and geisha were among those who became the subjects of this literature and those whose interests this literature sometimes expressed.’
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.249.
’To judge by scanty evidence, the embassies brought for trade chiefly furs (tiger, leopard, bear), honey, ginseng, and other domestic goods and products; but they also may have regularly supplied items from China, like the copy of the Chinese Hsuan-ming calendar that was brought by an embassy in 859 and remained the official calendar of Japan, with growing inaccuracy, from 862 to 1684.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.91.
’When coins stopped being minted in Nara and early Heian, gold and silver came to be employed quite widely by Heian nobles. Both were used to purchase goods from Chinese trading vessels at Dazaifu. When gold and silver production dropped, and these metals no longer functioned as substitutes for minted coins.’ [1] ’The coins were legally valued at more than the worth of their metallic content.’ [2]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.637
[2]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.164
’...the twelve imperial coins (kocho junisen) of Nara times, and from late Heian’ [1] ’In the quest for recognition as a civilized society by the seemingly advanced countries of the adjacent continent, Japanese leaders followed the example of Korea and China in minting the government’s own coinage, despite the apparent absence of a vigorous domestic commerce in need of money currency. The leaders also probably hoped thereby not only to encourage and facilitate such commerce as existed, but perhaps as well to reap the profits that currency manipulation made possible. The first minting was the well-known Wado kaiho coin of 708, which was produced just seven years after the adoption of theTaiho code of 701. Eleven new coins followed in the next two and a half centuries (until 958), eight of them during the Heian years. Minting at various places but mainly in copperproducing regions like Suo and Nagato, they were mostly made of brass, but some were silver, and there was one gold coin, the Kaiki shoho coin of 760.’ [2] ’The government seems to have tried to regain control of the currency by its frequent minting of new coins, and also by reducing the disparity between the legal value of the coinage and its actual metallic worth. But despite all efforts, the coins fell rapidly out of use after the last minting in 958, replaced in the late Heian period by imports of Chinese coins, especially the copper coins of Northern Sung.’ [2]
[1]: Yamamura, Kozo (ed). 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 3. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press [sixth edition].p.408
[2]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.164
’The government seems to have tried to regain control of the currency by its frequent minting of new coins, and also by reducing the disparity between the legal value of the coinage and its actual metallic worth. But despite all efforts, the coins fell rapidly out of use after the last minting in 958, replaced in the late Heian period by imports of Chinese coins, especially the copper coins of Northern Sung. [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.164
’The currency of trade in the Heian markets was a mixed affair, the trade relying at times on straight barter, at other times on values expressed in units of rice or fabrics, and at other times partly on cash, either Japanese or Chinese.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.165
’there were no specialized building solely devoted to postal activities. However there were post stations which were established to provide services to couriers’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.693
’the central government used these reports to prepare a table of legitimate uses of corvee labor and the number of workers who could be employed for each use. A few categories of work - repair of government buildings, construction of irrigation canals and embankments, courier service for government business, and the like-were left to the discretion of provincial officials.’ [1] ’Provincial administration required the building and maintenance of a network of highways and a post system.’ [2]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.209
[2]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.2
’Japanese penetration of the northeastern part of Honshu was marked by the establishment of forts (Jo) and palisades (saku) throughout the area as the line of colonization and conquest moved east and north.’ [1] "These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement." [2]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.31
[2]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
"These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement. With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows." [1] Some stone walls were built during the Asuka period in the 7th century: "eighteen hilltops were fortified with stone walls in north Kyushu’. [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: Kidder Jr., J. Edward, 2007. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Kingdom of Yamatai (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press). p. 126
’Up to the beginning of the feudal era, three forms of fortifications were built, according to archaeologists. The grid-pattern city form was inspired by Chinese planning precedents, and included gates or walled enclosures. Mountain fortresses appear to be an indigenous form, and were typical of remote areas. Plateaus or plains often utilized the palisade, a semi-permanent defense. Typical defenses included a rampart, a ditch, and a palisade. Grid-pattern cities were surrounded by walls that served as a demarcation point rather than as true protection, and eventually such barriers disappeared.’ [1] "These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement. With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows." [2] Some stone walls were built during the Asuka period in the 7th century: "eighteen hilltops were fortified with stone walls in north Kyushu’. [3]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.173.
[2]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[3]: Kidder Jr., J. Edward, 2007. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Kingdom of Yamatai (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press). p. 126
Discussing the location of the new capital at Kyoto’Apart from its geomantic virtues, Uta was indeed in many ways well situated for a capital city. The steep, thickly timbered hills and mountains on the east, west, and north formed a skyline generally between 1,500 and 2,500 feet above the basin floor and in combination with the lake and marsh region known as Ogura noike to the south (now reclaimed and dry) and the river systems that converged on that area (chiefly the Kamo from the northeast, the Katsura from the northwest, and the Uji from the east) provided defensible positions against hostile attack. [1] "Unlike the walled towns of China and Korea, fortified places in Japan tended to be isolated military outposts. These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement. With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows." [2]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.98-99
[2]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
no evidence of these type of fortifications, but no source explicitly saying they were absent
’Heian itself was almost certainly unwalled, except for a small garden-like structure about 6 feet high on the city’s southern border that served as a setting for Rampart Gate.That extremely modest "rampart," only about a third as high as the great walls that surrounded Ch’ang-an, was paralleled by two ditches or moats a little less than 10 feet wide, one inside the wall and the other outside. The remainder of the city’s boundaries is thought to have been delineated by nothing more formidable than extensions of those moats and perhaps some kind of simple earthwork.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.106-107
’As both military and administrative centers, the forts and palisades at least sometimes rivaled the administrative seats of provinces (kokufu) in their size and complexity, as archaeological excavation has shown. The site of the famous Taga Fort, for instance, was a square nearly 3,000 feet on each side surrounded by an earthen wall over two miles long. Several administrative buildings on an elevation at the center of the site were enclosed within their own earthen wall, which measured 330 feet east to west and 390 feet north to south. Elsewhere within the site were other groups of buildings, including storehouses and what are thought to have been quarters for artisans and soldiers.’ [1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.31
Tatara furnaces, or versions thereof, existed since 300 BCE. Not sure when this steel was first produced. It is unlikely the best steel was produced from the very earliest times. Asuka period seems likely. "If black sand was used it would contain hypter-eutectoid steel (carbon content 1.2-1.7 percent) called tama hagane and pieces of iron with a lower carbon content (less than 0.8 percent). The tama hagane was the first quality steel used in swords." [1] References that support tamahagane steel being better than the first steels produced in Japan: "Present study elucidates that the tatara iron and its manufacturing procedure gives distinctive features to Japanese swords which is different from ordinary steel. It is also notable that Japanese swordsmith utilized lath martensite without knowing details about it." [2] Tamahagane steel (metal investigated was crafted by a modern swordsmith) has been "investigated with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and electron probe micro analysis methods. Microstructures have been found to be a combination of ferrite and pearlite with a lot of nonmetallic inclusions." [3]
[1]: (Wittner 2008, 25) David G Wittner. 2008. Technology and the Culture of Progress in Meiji Japan. Routledge. Abingdon.
[2]: Ananda Kumar Das. Takuya Ohba. Shigakazu Morito. Muneo Yaso. "Evidence of Lath Martensite in High-C Japanese Sword Produced from Tamahagane Steel by Tatara Process." 2010. Materials Science Forum. Vols. 654-656. Trans Tech Publications. pp. 138-141
[3]: Go Takami. Takuya Ohba. Shigekazu Morito. Ananda Kumar Das. "Microstructural Observation on Materials of the Japanese Sword under Fold-Forging Process. 2010. Materials Science Forum. Vols. 654-656. Trans Tech Publications. pp. 134-137
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.169.
[2]: (Okazaki 1993, 279) Okazaki Takashi. Japan and the continent in the Jomon and Yayoi periods. Janet Goodwin trans. Delmer M Brown. ed. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan. Volume 1. Ancient Japan. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
they possessed bronze and did use it in daily life but its use in military contexts in this period is unclear.
"unlike the crossbows that were used as anti-personnel weapons, there does not appear to be any record of trebuchet use in Japan, simply because the siege situation did not demand it." [1] ‘it is not until 1468[CE] that we find an unambiguous reference to the use of traction trebuchets in Japan.’ [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: Turnbull, Stephen. 2012. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Vol. 43. Osprey Publishing.p.23.
Could find no reference to support the presence of siege engines.
"Slings, used to hurl fist-sized rocks or spheres of clay shaped roughly like miniature rugby balls, also appeared during the Yaoi age, distributed in a geographic pattern that suggests mutually exclusive regional preferences for the sling or the bow." [1]
[1]: (Friday 2004, 68) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
"Instead, without ready access to supplies of bone and horn, the Japanese fashioned their bows from wood or from laminates of wood and bamboo. The earliest designs were of plain wood ... " [1]
[1]: (Friday 2004, 68) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
before use of gunpowder in Japan
"As no Japanese oyumi (siege crossbow) has survived, it is impossible to know exactly what one looked like or how it was operated. Certain records make tantalising reference to them being different from Chinese varieties, although this may just be an expression of national pride. It is, however, well substantiated that, in contrast to the predominant Chinese practice, the Japanese crossbows were used for throwing stones as much as for firing arrows." [1] Crossbow known and used in Japan sometime after the invention in China (from date not stated) "but neither the ritsuryo armies nor the bushi appear to have developed much interest in it, preferring to rely instead on the long bow. The ritsuryo military statutes provided for only two soldiers from each fifty-man company to be trained as oyumi operators, and no later source indicates that this ratio was ever increased. Hand-held crossbows and crossbowmen are not mentioned in the statutes at all." "The bow staves of Chinese crossbows were composites of wood, bone, sinew and glue ... But, as we have observed, the Japanese lacked supplies of animal products, and fashioned their bows from wood and bamboo instead, which required that the weapons be long. Manufacturing crossbows with composite bow staves of wood and bamboo comparable in length to those of regular bows would have resulted in a weapon too unwieldy to be practical". However some crossbows were imported. [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Friday 2004, 74-76) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
"Compound or composite bows of the sort favored on the Asian continent - made by laminating together layers of wood, animal tendon and horn - were known in Japan by the late ninth century, but never widely adopted. Instead, without ready access to supplies of bone and horn, the Japanese fashioned their bows from wood or from laminates of wood and bamboo. The earliest designs were of plain wood ... " [1] "These first compound bows, called fusetake yumi, featured a single strip of bamboo laminated to the outside face of the wood, using a paster (called nibe) made from fish bladders. Sometime around the turn of the thirteenth century, a second bamboo laminate was added to the inside face of the bow, to create the sammai uchi yumi. In the fifteenth century, two additional bamboo slats were addeded to the sides, so that the wooden core was now completely encased, producing the shiochiku yumi. The higo yumi used for traditional Japanese archery today appeared sometime during the seventeenth century." [2] ’The Heian warrior was... primarily a mounted archer who wielded the dagger and sword when his supply of arrows was gone and fighting had become hand-to-hand.’ [3] "Japanese bows began as simple wooden staves and gradually gained laminates of bamboo first on the outside face, then the inside face (early thirteenth century), then on the two sides (fifteenth century)." [4] "The bow remained the primary combat weapon until the arquebus replaced it in the sixteenth century." [4]
[1]: (Friday 2004, 68) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
[2]: (Friday 2004, 69) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
[3]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.645
[4]: (Lorge 2011, 48)
Kanabou (金棒) is noted as being a club weapon in use: ’Sort of iron club used by warriors in ancient times, and a favorite weapon of some monk-warriors (Heisou) in the Heian and Kamakura periods’ [1]
[1]: Louis Frederick, Japan Encyclopedia, translated by Kathe Roth, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 202, p. 466
‘The curved-profile Japanese sword originated in approximately the eighth century [CE], coinciding with the earliest steel production in Japan and the emergence of the first professional military figures.’ [1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.157.
‘Spears (yari) have a long history in Japan, as the two earliest extant Japanese histories, the Kojiki (712 C.E.) and the Nihon shoki (720 C.E.) recount that the Japanese islands emerged from drops created when the gods Izanami and Izanagi used a jeweled spear to stir the cosmic brine mixture that constituted the universe. [1] ‘The yari is also sometimes called a lance to underscore that in Japan spears were not thrown as in other military traditions where these arms served as projectile weapons.’ [2]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.162.
[2]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.163.
‘First used by the early Kamakura period, the naginata is closest to a European glaive in form, with an elongated shaft, and a single-edged blade curved more than that of a Kamakura-period Japanese tachi. Most likely, the naginata was based upon similar weapons introduced from China by 300 C.E. which have been unearthed in graves.’ [1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.161.
Horses from the 8th [CE] century cavalry played an often vital part in Japanese . The importance place about cavalry shifted throughout time falling in and out of popularity but always remaining present. [1] ‘Horsemanship was central to bushi identity, distinguishing the professional warrior from those who served him - and fought beside him, on foot. As we have seen, the horse was one of the two tools that defined the “way of bow and horse,” which defined the samurai. [2] ’Mounted warriors are known in Japan from before the seventh century, but they first became professional and a locus of autonomous political power during the tenth century, when their arms were employed not on behalf of the government for its purposes but in pursuit of private interests.’ [3]
[1]: Hall, John Whitney (ed.). 1991.The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 4. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. P.55
[2]: Friday, Karl F. 2004. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Psychology Press.p.96.
[3]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.645
I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
I could not find references to Donkeys being used - this does seem odd so I would triple check
I could find no evidence of dogs - but no sources saying that they were not used either
I could find no evidence of camels - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
’Shields were commonly used in nearly all military contexts in Japan, beginning with prehistory. Chinese dynastic histories include descriptions that indicate shields were in use by the third century in Japan...From the Nara period to the early medieval period, military shields were standing wooden barriers about eye-level in height and roughly the width of human shoulders... They were attached to poles, or feet, which were hinged so that the support could be collapsed and stored or transported flat. Approximately one and a half meters tall and less than half a meter wide, mostly such shields were made of several planks joined vertically. Although shields could withstand more force if each was made from a single board, this was the exception rather than the rule. Protective substances such as lacquer could also prolong the life of such standing shields.’ [1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.172.
’Kieko’ armour, developed from ’tanko’ iron-plates armour from about the 8th century CE, was used by mounted armours. This lead to ’o-yoroi’ armour "made of hundreds of small iron plates arranged like articulated blinds and was remarkably flexible. Japanese infantry wore ’haramaki’ armor ("body wrap") and later ’tatami’ mail and plate armour that was sewn into a fabric base. [1] ’the keiko wrapped around the wearer’s body and was fastened up the front with ties. At first there were two types, both made up of ’steps’ of scales laced horizontally together into boards; one kind was held together with leather straps running down the outside of the steps, and the other with a more conventional under-over lacing of braided cord or leather... the popularity of scale armour began to predominate in the 6th and 7th centuries. ’ [2] "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth. The armor found in the grove mounds of prior to 400 B.C. is made by riveting together small pieces of iron to make helmets and cuirasses. Some of the latter give quite the effect of plate armor but are built up of small pieces. By the 10th century, the earliest time of which we have definite knowledge, it had assumed a characteristic form which it retained until armor was abandoned in the middle of the 19th century. A Japanese suit, fig. 78, consists of a helmet, kabuto, usually made of a large number of narrow plates riveted together with raised edges at the joints. It has a small peak, maizashi, in front and a wide neck guard, shikoro, made of strips of steel or of scales of leather or steel laced together with heavy silk or leather cords. One or more of these pieces is turned back in front to form ear guards, fukigayeshi. The front is usually decorated with two horn-like pieces, kuwagata, representing the leaves of a water plant; between them is an ornament, maidate, corresponding to the European crest. The face is covered by a steel mask, menpo, to which a laminated neck guard, yodare-kake, is attached. There are five varieties of menpo - covering the entire face - all of the face below the eyes - the forehead and cheeks only - and two for the cheeks and chin only. Of these, the second is much most used. A gorget, nodowa, was sometimes worn but was not considered as a regular part of the suit. The body was enclosed in a corselet, do, made of plates or strips laced together with silk or leather cords. It either opened at the side, do-maru, or at the back haramaki-do. Attached to it were shoulder pieces, watagami, from which it hung. The taces, kusazuri, made of strips laced together, hung from the do. Under these was worn an apron, hai-date, of brocade covered with mail or mixed plate and mail. The legs below the knee were protected by close fitting greaves, sune-ate, of plate; and the feet were covered with bearskin shoes, tsurumaki, or with mail or plate tabi. The arm guards, kote, were brocade sleeves covered with mixed plate and mail. They usually ended in guantlets which covered only the backs of the hands and thumbs. Mail guantlets were rare but were sometimes used. Large guards, sode, were hung on the shoulders. They were either single plates, two hinged together or made up of strops or rows of scales laced together." [3] "The Japanese made more varieties of mail than all the rest of the world put together." [3]
[1]: (Nolan 2006, 26) Cathal J Nolan. 2006. The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. Volume 1 A - K. Greenwood Press. Westport.
[2]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.46.
[3]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
"The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth. The armor found in the grove mounds of prior to 400 B.C. is made by riveting together small pieces of iron to make helmets and cuirasses. Some of the latter give quite the effect of plate armor but are built up of small pieces. By the 10th century, the earliest time of which we have definite knowledge, it had assumed a characteristic form which it retained until armor was abandoned in the middle of the 19th century. A Japanese suit, fig. 78, consists of a helmet, kabuto, usually made of a large number of narrow plates riveted together with raised edges at the joints. It has a small peak, maizashi, in front and a wide neck guard, shikoro, made of strips of steel or of scales of leather or steel laced together with heavy silk or leather cords. One or more of these pieces is turned back in front to form ear guards, fukigayeshi. The front is usually decorated with two horn-like pieces, kuwagata, representing the leaves of a water plant; between them is an ornament, maidate, corresponding to the European crest. The face is covered by a steel mask, menpo, to which a laminated neck guard, yodare-kake, is attached. There are five varieties of menpo - covering the entire face - all of the face below the eyes - the forehead and cheeks only - and two for the cheeks and chin only. Of these, the second is much most used. A gorget, nodowa, was sometimes worn but was not considered as a regular part of the suit. The body was enclosed in a corselet, do, made of plates or strips laced together with silk or leather cords. It either opened at the side, do-maru, or at the back haramaki-do. Attached to it were shoulder pieces, watagami, from which it hung. The taces, kusazuri, made of strips laced together, hung from the do. Under these was worn an apron, hai-date, of brocade covered with mail or mixed plate and mail. The legs below the knee were protected by close fitting greaves, sune-ate, of plate; and the feet were covered with bearskin shoes, tsurumaki, or with mail or plate tabi. The arm guards, kote, were brocade sleeves covered with mixed plate and mail. They usually ended in guantlets which covered only the backs of the hands and thumbs. Mail guantlets were rare but were sometimes used. Large guards, sode, were hung on the shoulders. They were either single plates, two hinged together or made up of strops or rows of scales laced together."
[1]
"The Japanese made more varieties of mail than all the rest of the world put together."
[1]
[1]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
"The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth. The armor found in the grove mounds of prior to 400 B.C. is made by riveting together small pieces of iron to make helmets and cuirasses. Some of the latter give quite the effect of plate armor but are built up of small pieces. By the 10th century, the earliest time of which we have definite knowledge, it had assumed a characteristic form which it retained until armor was abandoned in the middle of the 19th century. A Japanese suit, fig. 78, consists of a helmet, kabuto, usually made of a large number of narrow plates riveted together with raised edges at the joints. It has a small peak, maizashi, in front and a wide neck guard, shikoro, made of strips of steel or of scales of leather or steel laced together with heavy silk or leather cords. One or more of these pieces is turned back in front to form ear guards, fukigayeshi. The front is usually decorated with two horn-like pieces, kuwagata, representing the leaves of a water plant; between them is an ornament, maidate, corresponding to the European crest. The face is covered by a steel mask, menpo, to which a laminated neck guard, yodare-kake, is attached. There are five varieties of menpo - covering the entire face - all of the face below the eyes - the forehead and cheeks only - and two for the cheeks and chin only. Of these, the second is much most used. A gorget, nodowa, was sometimes worn but was not considered as a regular part of the suit. The body was enclosed in a corselet, do, made of plates or strips laced together with silk or leather cords. It either opened at the side, do-maru, or at the back haramaki-do. Attached to it were shoulder pieces, watagami, from which it hung. The taces, kusazuri, made of strips laced together, hung from the do. Under these was worn an apron, hai-date, of brocade covered with mail or mixed plate and mail. The legs below the knee were protected by close fitting greaves, sune-ate, of plate; and the feet were covered with bearskin shoes, tsurumaki, or with mail or plate tabi. The arm guards, kote, were brocade sleeves covered with mixed plate and mail. They usually ended in guantlets which covered only the backs of the hands and thumbs. Mail guantlets were rare but were sometimes used. Large guards, sode, were hung on the shoulders. They were either single plates, two hinged together or made up of strops or rows of scales laced together."
[1]
"The Japanese made more varieties of mail than all the rest of the world put together."
[1]
[1]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
’the last pieces of armour were for the forearms and shins. very few have survived unscathed, but enough have to give us some ideas as to their construction. there were generally two types: those formed like tubes, of one or two semi-circular plates and those made of splints. usually attached to the forearm guards were flat metal plates or a lamellar deffence fo rthe back of the hand. [1] "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth. The armor found in the grove mounds of prior to 400 B.C. is made by riveting together small pieces of iron to make helmets and cuirasses. Some of the latter give quite the effect of plate armor but are built up of small pieces. By the 10th century, the earliest time of which we have definite knowledge, it had assumed a characteristic form which it retained until armor was abandoned in the middle of the 19th century. A Japanese suit, fig. 78, consists of a helmet, kabuto, usually made of a large number of narrow plates riveted together with raised edges at the joints. It has a small peak, maizashi, in front and a wide neck guard, shikoro, made of strips of steel or of scales of leather or steel laced together with heavy silk or leather cords. One or more of these pieces is turned back in front to form ear guards, fukigayeshi. The front is usually decorated with two horn-like pieces, kuwagata, representing the leaves of a water plant; between them is an ornament, maidate, corresponding to the European crest. The face is covered by a steel mask, menpo, to which a laminated neck guard, yodare-kake, is attached. There are five varieties of menpo - covering the entire face - all of the face below the eyes - the forehead and cheeks only - and two for the cheeks and chin only. Of these, the second is much most used. A gorget, nodowa, was sometimes worn but was not considered as a regular part of the suit. The body was enclosed in a corselet, do, made of plates or strips laced together with silk or leather cords. It either opened at the side, do-maru, or at the back haramaki-do. Attached to it were shoulder pieces, watagami, from which it hung. The taces, kusazuri, made of strips laced together, hung from the do. Under these was worn an apron, hai-date, of brocade covered with mail or mixed plate and mail. The legs below the knee were protected by close fitting greaves, sune-ate, of plate; and the feet were covered with bearskin shoes, tsurumaki, or with mail or plate tabi. The arm guards, kote, were brocade sleeves covered with mixed plate and mail. They usually ended in guantlets which covered only the backs of the hands and thumbs. Mail guantlets were rare but were sometimes used. Large guards, sode, were hung on the shoulders. They were either single plates, two hinged together or made up of strops or rows of scales laced together." [2] "The Japanese made more varieties of mail than all the rest of the world put together." [2]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.45.
[2]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
’Japanese armorers did not confine themselves to metal, and instead incorporated lighter and ore malleable materials such as leather and silk (or other fibers) along with iron or steel parts.’ [1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.169.
’The advantages of armor composed of lames, covered with lacquer, and using a combination of materials contributed to the widespread use of this type of armor construction in Japan from the late Heian period until the middle of the 14th century.’ [1] "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth. The armor found in the grove mounds of prior to 400 B.C. is made by riveting together small pieces of iron to make helmets and cuirasses. Some of the latter give quite the effect of plate armor but are built up of small pieces. By the 10th century, the earliest time of which we have definite knowledge, it had assumed a characteristic form which it retained until armor was abandoned in the middle of the 19th century. A Japanese suit, fig. 78, consists of a helmet, kabuto, usually made of a large number of narrow plates riveted together with raised edges at the joints. It has a small peak, maizashi, in front and a wide neck guard, shikoro, made of strips of steel or of scales of leather or steel laced together with heavy silk or leather cords. One or more of these pieces is turned back in front to form ear guards, fukigayeshi. The front is usually decorated with two horn-like pieces, kuwagata, representing the leaves of a water plant; between them is an ornament, maidate, corresponding to the European crest. The face is covered by a steel mask, menpo, to which a laminated neck guard, yodare-kake, is attached. There are five varieties of menpo - covering the entire face - all of the face below the eyes - the forehead and cheeks only - and two for the cheeks and chin only. Of these, the second is much most used. A gorget, nodowa, was sometimes worn but was not considered as a regular part of the suit. The body was enclosed in a corselet, do, made of plates or strips laced together with silk or leather cords. It either opened at the side, do-maru, or at the back haramaki-do. Attached to it were shoulder pieces, watagami, from which it hung. The taces, kusazuri, made of strips laced together, hung from the do. Under these was worn an apron, hai-date, of brocade covered with mail or mixed plate and mail. The legs below the knee were protected by close fitting greaves, sune-ate, of plate; and the feet were covered with bearskin shoes, tsurumaki, or with mail or plate tabi. The arm guards, kote, were brocade sleeves covered with mixed plate and mail. They usually ended in guantlets which covered only the backs of the hands and thumbs. Mail guantlets were rare but were sometimes used. Large guards, sode, were hung on the shoulders. They were either single plates, two hinged together or made up of strops or rows of scales laced together." [2] "The Japanese made more varieties of mail than all the rest of the world put together." [2]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.170
[2]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
From the 5th century a rounder form of helmet called mabizachi-tsuke kabuto (’visor-attached helmet’), with a ’baseball cap’ flat visor, was also worn with the tanko. this was an important style, modeled after the helmets of the Korean and Chinese warriors encountered on the continent. Such helmets were made en suite with the later lamellar armours, but examples have been found in the same tombs as tanko. most had a cup-shaped crest holder supported by a bronze tube, presumably for some sort of plume. [1]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.45.
’Kieko’ armour, developed from ’tanko’ iron-plates armour from about the 8th century CE, was used by mounted armours. This lead to ’o-yoroi’ armour "made of hundreds of small iron plates arranged like articulated blinds and was remarkably flexible. Japanese infantry wore ’haramaki’ armor ("body wrap") and later ’tatami’ mail and plate armour that was sewn into a fabric base. [1] "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth. The armor found in the grove mounds of prior to 400 B.C. is made by riveting together small pieces of iron to make helmets and cuirasses. Some of the latter give quite the effect of plate armor but are built up of small pieces. By the 10th century, the earliest time of which we have definite knowledge, it had assumed a characteristic form which it retained until armor was abandoned in the middle of the 19th century. A Japanese suit, fig. 78, consists of a helmet, kabuto, usually made of a large number of narrow plates riveted together with raised edges at the joints. It has a small peak, maizashi, in front and a wide neck guard, shikoro, made of strips of steel or of scales of leather or steel laced together with heavy silk or leather cords. One or more of these pieces is turned back in front to form ear guards, fukigayeshi. The front is usually decorated with two horn-like pieces, kuwagata, representing the leaves of a water plant; between them is an ornament, maidate, corresponding to the European crest. The face is covered by a steel mask, menpo, to which a laminated neck guard, yodare-kake, is attached. There are five varieties of menpo - covering the entire face - all of the face below the eyes - the forehead and cheeks only - and two for the cheeks and chin only. Of these, the second is much most used. A gorget, nodowa, was sometimes worn but was not considered as a regular part of the suit. The body was enclosed in a corselet, do, made of plates or strips laced together with silk or leather cords. It either opened at the side, do-maru, or at the back haramaki-do. Attached to it were shoulder pieces, watagami, from which it hung. The taces, kusazuri, made of strips laced together, hung from the do. Under these was worn an apron, hai-date, of brocade covered with mail or mixed plate and mail. The legs below the knee were protected by close fitting greaves, sune-ate, of plate; and the feet were covered with bearskin shoes, tsurumaki, or with mail or plate tabi. The arm guards, kote, were brocade sleeves covered with mixed plate and mail. They usually ended in guantlets which covered only the backs of the hands and thumbs. Mail guantlets were rare but were sometimes used. Large guards, sode, were hung on the shoulders. They were either single plates, two hinged together or made up of strops or rows of scales laced together." [2] "The Japanese made more varieties of mail than all the rest of the world put together." [2]
[1]: (Nolan 2006, 26) Cathal J Nolan. 2006. The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. Volume 1 A - K. Greenwood Press. Westport.
[2]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.