Well, now we will return to the East and … but first, let us recall the Indian cuirass charaina - a box-shaped armor consisting of four flat plates. It is interesting what prevented rational Europeans from wearing such armor, because it is difficult to come up with something more rational. True, on some charains you can see bulges on the chest, which can be mistaken for an imitation of the pectoral muscles. But these "bulges" are so aestheticized that they can only be considered a hint of "muscularity."
Japanese neo-do breastplate. Left - front, right - back.
The mirror became a typical Turkish armor, as well as "Muscovite" in the 16th century. This armor could be worn both on ordinary clothes and on chain mail, it had shoulder pads, a breastplate and a backrest and sides. That is, it was convenient for an archer, but it turned out to be also convenient for a horse-drawn shooter with a firearm.
Turkish mirror.
Similar armor was used by the Chinese, who did not wear chain mail, unless they got them as trophies, as well as the Indians. They had armor very similar to the Chinese armor "ding ga", that is, "a thousand nails." In Indian it sounds "chilta khazar masha" and is translated as "a robe of a thousand nails." In fact, there were only plates and rivets, as well as large polished plates sewn into the fabric.
Indian armor "chilta khazar masha", XIX century. Royal Arsenal in Leeds, England.
In India, they learned to make cuirasses similar to European ones, and again with a certain hint of "muscularity", although not at all. That is, "anatomy" both in Europe and in Asia did not take root and, in general, remained a part of the culture of antiquity.
A fresco depicting a horseman in armor made of plates (or stripes of leather, judging by the image, one can assume this and that) from Penjikent.
Here, again, it should be noted that since the time of ancient Assyria (and Sumer!), The East preferred armor made of plates. Plates, plates, and again plates are found in burials of the Minusinsk Basin and practically throughout Asia. They are depicted on frescoes from Penjikent and in the book miniatures "Shahnameh", that is, where people shot from a bow from a horse, it was armor, which consisted of many metal or leather plates, that was the most optimal means of protection.
Samurai armor with a cuirass of vertical stripes.
However, we know a country where traditions, religion, local conditions, and … acquaintance with someone else's, in this case, European culture, influenced the development of the cuirass in the most unusual way. The Indians also began to make cuirasses with a rib on the chest after meeting the Europeans who wore them. However, it was in Japan that the development of the cuirass on armor was perhaps the most bizarre and unusual.
Typical Yokihagi-hisitoji-okegawa-do Sayotome Ietada armor. Edo period, c. 1690 - 1720
Since we have already talked about Japanese armor here, just remember that the earliest of them were also lamellar, like all other Asians, and in fact there is nothing to be surprised at, because the Japanese language belongs to the Altaic group of languages, that is, on its islands where, according to one of the authors of the VO, they formed a "natural empire", they were aliens who entered into a fierce battle with the local Emisi aborigines for land and domination. The main weapon of the newcomer Japanese was a long bow, from which they fired from a horse, and it was here that their old "negligent cut" armor was replaced by new ones - box-shaped, like charaina, but made of separate plates, armor of o-yoroi … For their manufacture, three types of metal plates were used: large - with three rows of holes, medium - with two and very narrow with one row. Their combination made it possible to obtain extremely durable and tough (!) Armor. At the same time, the chest part of the armor was covered with a bright cloth so that the bowstring of the bow glided freely over it.
Tameshi-do is the so-called "tried and tested armor." Bullet marks were a guarantee of their quality! Tokyo National Museum.
Over time, other armor appeared, already without fabric on the chest, but the very principle of using the plates remained unchanged. Until the Japanese got acquainted with the firearms brought by the Europeans. And literally immediately after its spread, Japanese gunsmiths create three types of new armor at once: yokihagi-hisitoji okegawa-do, tatehagi-okegawa-do and just okegawa-do. It is possible that the Japanese spied the design of the first armor from the Europeans, who already had cuirasses made of metal strips at that time. In it, the cuirass consisted of longitudinal metal plates, connected by lacing and wire crosswise. Their entire surface was varnished, and sometimes the coating was so thick that the cuirass seemed completely smooth and only the fastenings themselves were visible on it. In okegawa-do armor, the plates were connected by forging. Moreover, each of them had a "side" clearly visible on its outer surface.
Typical okegawa-do with plates connected by forging and an odd addition of top plates on cords. The name of this armor will be so long that it makes no sense to reproduce it. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The tatehagi-okegavado armor was called so by the word "tate" - "shield", which the Japanese made from vertical boards knocked together, and served as an analogue of the European pavese. This armor was assembled from vertical metal plates connected by blind rivets. The surface of such a cuirass was also covered with various types of primer (here the Japanese proved themselves to be unsurpassed craftsmen!), For example, powder of crushed ceramics and coral, chopped straw, gold powder, and again varnish through which the primer shone through.
Armor with chased cuirass from the Walters Museum in Baltimore, USA.
If the rivet heads were visible, the armor was called kakari-do. Yukinoshita-do armor was box-shaped and consisted of one-piece forged and almost flat sections that connected at hinges. They were also called kanto-do and sendai-do (after the localities) and became very popular after the famous commander Date Masamune dressed the entire army in them.
Another chased breastplate 1573-1623. from the Walters Museum, Baltimore, USA.
At the same time, one-piece forged globular cuirasses of hotoke-do appeared and … a fancy "mixture" traditional for Japan - dangae-do: the top of the cuirass is made of horizontal stripes, and the bottom is made of traditional plates on cords! Actually, in Europe, similar armor called brigandine was known back in the XIV century and spread widely during the Hundred Years War, but they were arranged differently. In them, stripes were riveted onto the fabric from the inside, and not like in Japanese armor.
The design of the European brigandine. Rice. A. Sheps.
However, there were also very funny armor in Japan, it is not clear how it appeared, and most importantly, it is not clear why and why. This armor is of the same type of "tosei gusoku", that is, new armor that has an "anatomical nyo-do cuirass" or "Buddha's torso." One of the Japanese religious sects believed that there are as many buddhas as there are grains of sand on the banks of the river, and since this is so, why not make a shell in the shape of a Buddha's torso? Naturally, the "torso" looked purely Japanese,there was no antique grace in these sagging folds of skin and ribs of the ascetic. The cuirass was covered not to pink paint, but on top of it with varnish, which further enhanced its "nakedness".
Breastplate ne-do, XIX century
But the most original was the katanuga-do armor, in which part of the cuirass was one-piece forged, in the form of a "Buddha's torso", and part of the plates tied with cords imitating a monk's robe. Why did the Japanese need "this"? Who knows?
Katanuga-do armor, believed to belong to Kato Kiyomasa, Muromachi era, Tokyo National Museum.
Finally, the Japanese also used European-style cuirasses, both imported by the Portuguese and Dutch, and made by local craftsmen on European models. Kusazuri legguards were attached to them, and so it was a typical European cuirass of the corresponding time and purely European fashion. True, they were not polished. The Japanese painted and varnished them.
Namban-do ("armor of the southern barbarians") Sakakibara Yasumasa. Tokyo National Museum.
Namban-do breastplate with a slouch at the bottom, characteristic of the European cuirass. The Japanese attached kusazuri to it and coated it with brown varnish.
Finally, flat cuirasses with embossed images of dragons and gods also spread - also a purely Japanese invention, although cuirasses decorated with overlaid metal details and or also chased, were also well known in Europe.
Ceremonial armor of the Swedish king Eric XIV, 1563 - 1564 all were covered with engraving, embossing and carving on metal with blackening and gilding. Nice, isn't it? But the Japanese would definitely not like such armor. Zwinger Museums, Dresden.
Thus, we can conclude that the fashion for "anatomical cuirasses" ended in Japan, and quite late, somewhere in the nineteenth century, and has never returned.
Well, over time, the value of cuirasses gradually faded away. And above all because if they still somehow held the bullets, then what kind of cuirass could protect from a cannonball? Moreover, the guns became more and more maneuverable and quick-firing! Hole from a 6-pounder cannonball in the cuirass of the Carabinieri of the 2nd Carabinieri Regiment of Napoleon's Army, Army Museum, Paris.
