Tokyo, Japan Apr. 25 Thurs 9:01PM
History Through Samurai
What is Samurai?
Samurai, usually referred to as Bushi in Japanese, were military nobility and warriors of Japan from medieval times to early modernization. Samurai lived by a code of honor, loyalty and duty to one’s master until death. During Japan’s military heyday, it is estimated that about 10% of the Japanese population were samurai. After the Meiji Restoration, samurai rights were abolished and led to the decline of the samurai population in Japan.
Just like other warriors, samurai wore body armor. At the Samurai Museum in Tokyo, many examples of samurai armor, weapons, and other items are on display.
The Samurai Museum
First Floor Exhibition
Typically, the armor was made for men of a height of about 150cm, but as each samurai’s height and size differed, the armor was basically tailor-made. The armor was only used by samurai in battle.
As for samurai weapons, swords first come to mind. There are three types of swords that were common among samurai:
Long sword – Ootachi
Normal length – Katana
Short sword – Tachi (popular in Kamakura period)
Most of the armor are not replicas and were used in the real battles hundreds of years ago!
Second Floor Exhibition
How to Wear Samurai Armor
Because the samurai armor can be extremely heavy and complicated, the way to put on the armor is as follows:
- Put on shoes
- Put on pants
- Put on arm protectors
- Put on body armor
- Put on shoulder armor
- Put on neck armor
- Put on face mask
- Put on helmet
You can actually try on the samurai armor costumes for 500 yen (less than $5 USD!)
(Source: https://tictokyo.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/samurai-museum/)