Armor - Armor

A type of armor. Also written as 甲・輔. It was worn mainly on the battlefield to protect the body from attacks by enemy arrows, swords, and long swords, and was the name of various armors centered on doko (body armor). Together with the helmet (kabuto) worn on the head, it is called kacchu (armor). In the late Heian period, with the rise of the samurai class, o-yoroi (large armor), which was perfected in the 10th century as Japan's representative armor, was popular among high-ranking samurai as armor against horseback archery, but after the conflict between the Northern and Southern Courts, when hand-to-hand combat became the main form of combat, light armor such as domaru (body armor) and haramaki (belly warmer) that were used by low-ranking soldiers on horseback came to be used by military commanders as well. In the mid-16th century, under the influence of Western armor, modern armor came into use and O-yoroi became merely ceremonial equipment, falling into a state of temporary abolition after the Azuchi-Momoyama period.

[Ichiro Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

武具の一つ。甲・介とも書く。おもに戦陣において、敵の放つ矢や刀・長刀などの攻撃から身体各部を掩護(えんご)するために着用したもので、胴甲(どうこう)を中心とする諸具足(しょぐそく)の名称であった。頭にかぶる兜(かぶと)とあわせて甲冑(かっちゅう)という。平安後期、武士階級の勃興(ぼっこう)とともに、10世紀に日本の代表的な鎧として完成をみた大鎧(おおよろい)は、騎射戦に対する甲冑として上級武士の間に盛行をみたが、南北朝の争乱を経て、白兵集団戦が戦闘の主体となると、馬側(ばそく)の下卒(かそつ)たちの武具であった軽装の胴丸(どうまる)や腹巻(はらまき)が武将の間にも用いられるようになった。16世紀の中ごろ西洋甲冑の影響を受けて、当世具足(とうせいぐそく)が用いられるようになり、大鎧は儀礼的な装具と化し、安土(あづち)桃山時代以降一時廃絶状態に陥った。

［渡邉一郎］

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