Old styles of armour and copies of famous ancient armours became fashionable again several of the armours on show in the Oriental Gallery in Leeds were made during the Edo period, but have archaic stylistic features such as individual lamellar scales or the big shoulder guards and neckguards that were popular during the times when o-yoroiВ were worn. The glory days of the past must have seemed a long way away to the samurai, and this nostalgia was shown in part through the continued importance of arms and armour, not so much as functional equipment any more, but more for the implications of rank, status and honour that the pieces conveyed on their owners.ДЇor example, the right to wear two swords, the katana and the wakizashi, at the same time, was restricted to members of the military class those who were ranked lower in the social order, such as merchants, were only permitted to wear a short sword. A feudal chain of obligation between vassals, lords and ultimately the Shogun was codified in the ideal of Bushido or the вЂWay of the WarriorвЂ™, which reinforced the necessity of absolute personal loyalty and obedience.

External influence was reduced to a minimum as the Shogunate shut down the majority of foreign trade amid concerns about Western ambitions within the country. A close eye was kept on the buke (warrior class) in an effort to stamp out all opportunities for insurrection. Once the civil wars were brought to a final close in the early 1600s by the victories of Tokugawa Ieyasu, though, the period of closely monitored peace known as the Edo period descended on Japan and lasted until the mid-19th century. Armour was simplified and the lacing was reduced in order to make it more practical during extended periods of warfare, as well as quicker and cheaper to produce for large numbers of troops. Laced rows of individual lamellar scales were reduced in favour of constructions incorporating solid plates, which provided better protection against bullets, and much experimentation was conducted to find a way of producing bullet-proof armour.

The new prevalence of firearms and the prolonged siege warfare that characterised the civil wars prompted further developments in armour. This was famously proven at the battle of Nagashino in 1575, when the arquebusiers of the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu annihilated the cavalry charge of Takeda Katsuyori.

The Japanese daimyo (nobles), who by this point were embroiled in the protracted civil wars known generally as sengoku jidai or вЂage of the country at warвЂ™, adopted this new technology with enthusiasm, and the Japanese matchlock ( teppo) became a crucial weapon on the battlefield. In the mid-16th century the Portuguese arrived in Japan and brought matchlock firearms with them.

How to make a medieval archer costume