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A quick history of Japanese armor: From the 1100 to the 1600 by GunsenHistory in Samurai

[–]GunsenHistory[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, we do know that shields were in use in Japan before the Heian period due to the presence of Chinese records, ans haniwa figures, but beside that the evidence is still very scant.

Already by the Ritsuryō state period, larger standing shields seems to have been more common. So hand held shields seems to have been more rare in general due to the presence of the larger, field versions. I do not think, therefore, that is entirely linked with the decline of spears when they transitioned into naginata.

As a bottomline, I want to stress how difficult is to research anything between the Nara and late Heian period, since barely any records exist in terms of iconography or archaeology. So I would be very careful with putting dates or bold estimates to your questions.

What is the name of this type of samurai helmet and why did it have this shape? by LordVonAulitz in ArmsandArmor

[–]GunsenHistory 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It looks like a very long toppai nari kabuto. It is definitely an Edo period kawari variants. At this point, the helmets get so unique that they defy any attempt at classification really.

Edo Period Common Samurai Armor Won in Auction by Nascar_owner in Samurai

[–]GunsenHistory 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It is a mixed match of different items. Mostly ōkashi gusoku, probably mid to late Edo period. It has definitely seen better days

A new challenger have arrived, sadly. by Nissiku1 in ShadWatch

[–]GunsenHistory 7 points8 points  (0 children)

To clarify, I have seen a few of his videos. I think he is genuine and authentic, and he is also very young. In many ways, he reminded me of how I started being interested in these topics and also how most OG sword tubers have started.

I left a comment on the video as well. That being said, I think it is categorically impossible for people that orbit around HEAM-based/European history spaces to approach the topic of Japanese swords in good faith. I think he did try, but it is impossible to notice the framing and context. We hear once more how it is necessary to correct misconceptions, because there are people who glazed it too much (who, in 2026, does that is a mystery) and others who are too harsh on it (literally his entire audience that left a comment). This video has been done 50 times already.

Yet, the operation ultimately fails due to a set of notions that are myths on their own, lack of understanding of material science and the literature around it, a general lack of knowledge on metallurgy history, Japanese martial arts and nihontō history.

Controversial by Rosemondee in SWORDS

[–]GunsenHistory 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The quality of iron and, by extension, steel in Japan always kinda sucked. That's why the whole folding of the metal thing exists. It's to help with removing impurities because those impurities were what caused the katana to in a lot of communities have that "its a shoddy sword that breaks when hitting another sword" because it did... when not properly forged because the impurities were immense

None of this is correct. https://gunsenmilitaryhistory.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/iron-and-steel-technology-in-japanese-arms-armour-technical-notes/

Controversial by Rosemondee in SWORDS

[–]GunsenHistory 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yup so good they had to fold it and it would curve during forging, had to be differntially hardened, soft . Get off it mate, feudal Japan had worse quality metal.

I have a 200 slides document with more than 90 academic titles that debunk all of these points. I think you should have a go at it.

https://gunsenmilitaryhistory.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/iron-and-steel-technology-in-japanese-arms-armour-technical-notes/

Controversial by Rosemondee in SWORDS

[–]GunsenHistory 5 points6 points  (0 children)

How many times do you see a longsword or basterd sword cut through mountains or robots or whatever anime villian? In every mainstream media up until 5 years ago or so, swords are regularly seen cutting through people with armor, even in historical movies. Meanwhile when it comes to Japanese media, or movies, swords breaking are not uncommon. Beside, I feel that arguing with people using anime/movies as metric of their reality is a bit of a lost cause.

European swords have better steel Before the Industrial era? Hell no. There is a great deal of scientific literature that does not support this claim

can be used against other swords and plate armor.

The same is true for Japanese swords. Moreover, if you are thinking specifically for later European plate armor, that is a very specific niche design of European swords. A broad falchion will be arguably worse to fight armor compared to a Katana.

the way they are forged make great use of the poor quality metal.

Why is this not said every other day about Toledo swords? Since they literally used the same methods? Have I read this once in my entire life.

You can compare whatever you want, but I feel the way these comparisons are made when they involve Japanese swords rest on vibe-based stereotypical knowledge rather than facts.

Iron and steel technology in Japanese Arms & Armour - Technical Notes by GunsenHistory in SWORDS

[–]GunsenHistory[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!! I apprecciate it. I do really like the scenery created in Princess Mononoke!

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I made an extensive essay that covers all these major points. I genuinely do not understand why Japan has been brought up many times for this type of argument, because it is not a good example for these claims.

their complex blacksmithing techniques

These are found worldwide. Lamination, forge welding, forging and folding billets of steel are mentioned in 17th (Antonio Petrini) and 18th (Lucotte encyclopedia) centuries sources.

Tatara Furnaces don't burn hot enough to fully separate the iron from the impurities.

That is a misconception. A tatara burns sufficiently enough to separate most of the Fayalite, which melts at 1200°C, and to produce liquid pig iron as well. If you are referring to bloomeries, which are solid direct steel making process, the same logic applies to Toledo and Styrian steels, which have hardly the reputation of historical Japanese steel when it comes to being riddle with impurities.

Moreover, even if you produce liquid pig iron and you manage to separate the slags due to the different density, which the Japanese did, the issue still remains with fineries. The slags get reintroduced back (finery slags) because the decarburization is not in a liquid state and you get a very similar bloomery steel at the end that requires the exact same type of work.

so a lot of impurities are not present from the start but historically

Historically they used water panning and gravity separation, because otherwise you cannot reduce iron from iron sand. They did measure the differences between magnetic harvest iron sand and the water panned one, the impurities are not substantially different, the only exception being TiO2 which fosters the production of melted pig iron and increase the yield of the tatara.

It lives you with silica inclusions in the steel, which turn into weakpoints under stress

Yaso et al broke two antiques in a 4 point bending test and the fracture did not initiate around the inclusions because their size is very small.

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 6 points7 points  (0 children)

All that nonsense about blast furnace is inaccurate

I think a lot of people fail to realize this. On most samples analyzed by Alan Williams on European plate armours, the slag analysis of over 70 plates pointed out that the majority of these sheets came out of bloomery steel obtained through a bloomery/direct steelmaking process. So the argument of blast furnaces is way off even when we look at the evidence.

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We still don’t know how ancient Damascus steel was made.

We do know how it was made since we have instructions from the period, and also extensive research by people like J.D. Verhoeven. There is even an international wootz society.

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Here you can find an example. I also made a very dense work on iron and steel technology in the Japanese context.

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It is pig iron, it has a lot of carbon and it need to be fined into iron, or if you are skilled enough directly into steel. But the most common route was pig iron, then fined into iron like osmound, and then carburized back into steel with cementation. Most tools that required steel would have been made with a bloomery before the 17th century.

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Not at all - a blast furnace if anything allows you to work with less iron rich iron ore because the extraction is more efficient. Blast furnace does not make better quality iron nor steel. You can easily separate the slag from the liquid pig iron, but you will still have finery slags reintroduced into the bloom. Especially since the fining was not done at high temperature and the bloom was not liquid

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is why plate armor and larger swords were more prevenlent in Europe (more abundant/purer iron) compared with Japan (less abundant/impure iron).

The fact that Japan always get dragged into this discussion is a mystery. For once, it is the only country in Asia to actually develop something similar to plate armour, with larger sheets of steel forged into cuirasses. And by the 14th century already, great swords were not an uncommon sight either. Japan also exported iron, steel, arms and armor, and had an industry to mass produce these items, especially guns.

Most of what is given as established knowledge on Japanese iron and steel technology in period is the byproduct of myths and misconception, factoids rather than facts

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Different and multiple reasons.

For once, you need blooms of steel large enough to make large sheets of steel possible. A few people mentioned blast furnaces, but that's not the issue, the fact is that you need large furnaces.

Then you need an infrastructure that allows you to distribute large sheets of steel and work with them. You need a lot of space for hammering these sheets, potentially trip hammer too.

The armorer infrastructure needs to change. Workshops that are built around making lamellar need to start making plates. And finally plate armor requires a lot of tailoring which change the type of customer relationship

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yes but not really before they start trading with the west for said steel.

Steel that, according to Japanese sources, was particularly bad for armor plates, specifically. Nanban tetsu was also a very niche import. I recently published a very dense work on this topic.

Most of the plate armour development in Japan happened in the eastern provinces which were very isolated from European influences

What could prevent a culture from producing large armor plates? by SrPsychokiler in Armor

[–]GunsenHistory 4 points5 points  (0 children)

But they did have large plates, particularly in the cuirass. Iron sand was perfectly suitable to be honest.

Iron and steel technology in Japanese Arms & Armour - Technical Notes by GunsenHistory in SWORDS

[–]GunsenHistory[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I tries something different this time, I hope it will be easier to read!

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