The first prototype for Japanese samurai armor came about in the form of the yoroi during the Gempei War of 1181-1185. Each piece of armor consisted of a set of small iron plates called kozane laced together by leather cord. The resultant strips were then lacquered to protect the material against rust and then a series were tied together horizontally with silk cords called kebiki-odoshi to produce a light and fairly resilient armor plate.

The ‘Do’ was the name of the upper-body armor of the samurai. This comprised of the ‘Sode’, the suspended shoulder and upper-arm protection plates. The Sode had hoops by which silk cord was tied and then fixed to the back of the armor in an ‘agemaki’ / decorative knotted tassel. Guards were also placed over the shoulder cords, and a leather plate placed across the bow cords to prevent them from been cut or becoming ensnared during a skirmish.

Samurais had protective helmet, known as kabuto. It was formed of eight to a dozen plates all fixed together with cone shaped bolts. In the eleventh century the type of helmet Hoshi Kabuto were characterized by large, high standing, rivet heads. Also, as many samurai had long hair, in the centre of the helmet’s crown was made a gap for the ponytail. Like in many other cultures, a samurai’s helmet had not only a protective role, but it was also meant to show the samurai’s rank, and that is why the kabuto was often be very elaborate and decorative looking.

The kabuto with its characteristic fukigaeshi (winglets or turnbacks) at the front of the shikoro (neck guard) and the kuwagata (twin horned crest) above the helmet’s peak gave the samurai its enduring and appealing image. Shikoro is the name of the thick five-plated protector of the back of the head, neck and the cheekbone which was fastened to the bowl of the helmet. The top four plates of the Shikoro would be upturned to create the fukigaeshi. The fukigaeshi are useful in the prevention of the vertical slicing of the shikoro’s horizontal fastening chords.

A visor is also on the front of helmet and is known as the mabisashi. the mabisashi is not only meant to protect the samurai from the light of the sun, but to also protect him from the extended and downward strike of the enemy’s sword.A silk cap-like headgear was worn under the helmet. Up to the 14th century the o-yoroi or ‘great armour’ was standard for the samurai. Its box-like appearance, large square sode, and equally large kusazuri was ideal for mounted warfare.

As the samurai during this early time of the Gempei War fought much on horseback and utilized bows and arrows, the right arm of the standard samurai soldier had no restricting protection to allow for the drawing back of the bow. A light protective sleeve was worn on the left arm. Not all fighters during the Gempei War were of the samurai class, and therefore were equipped differently and wore a different style of lighter armor called the ‘Do Maru’ By about the 14th century warfare in Japan was changing. Samurai were more and more fighting on foot and campaigns were becoming more protracted and lengthy. the samurai armor needed important changes because the traditional o-yoroi was getting too heavy for this. As a result the proud samurai has chosen to wear do-maru (literally ‘torso round’) as well as it was lighter and easier for the wearer to move and fight in.
http://www.samuraisword4u.com/samurai-armor/the-samurai-armor

In the 16th century Japanese body armour made a gradual transition, starting from kozane (many small scales laced tightly together), evolving to larger plates still laced together (lamellar armour), and finally to few large plates riveted together, or even solid breastplates.

Cheaper armours of tatami or kikko design continued in use throughout this period, sometimes even for high nobles. Mail was in common use as a component of other armour (armpit protection, for example), but not for body armour or full suits.

Throughout this period shino (splint) armour was the most common protection for vambraces and greaves. Cheap shino gave minimal protection. Regular shino filled the spaces between splints with mail. In extreme cases the splints might overlap, giving excellent protection equivalent to plate armour.

Lamellar armour was in common use even after plate breastplates came into favour in the later 16th century. Sode (pauldrons) and Kasazuri (tassets) were almost invariably of lamellar construction.

BODY ARMOUR: DO (Cuirass) and KUSAZURI (Tassets)
Body armour almost invariably included hanging tassets to protect the hips and vitals. The body armour gradually shifted towards larger and larger plates, eventually riveted together rather than laced, and finally into rigid plate.

Tatami do: (folding armour)
Torso armour of tatami, small plates connected with mail. Common armour for ashigaru, although sometimes used as light armour by even wealthy lords
DEF 4, locations 10-13.

Kikko do: (brigandine)
This type of light armour was quite rarely used for protection of the torso, but it did exist and full suits were constructed of kikko in the Edo period (c.1600 and later).
DEF 4, locations 10-13.

Kozane do: (scale armour)
By the middle 16th century this armour, of small scales laced together, was a little out-of-date and very expensive because of the enormous work required in the lacing. It would have been used only by high nobles.
DEF 5, locations 10-13.

Mogami do: (lamellar)
This armour gained in popularity through the 16th century until it was replaced by the okegawa do and its relatives as the standard body armour after c.1560.
DEF 6, locations 10-13.

Kiritsuke kozane: (mock scale armour)
This armour was made of plates riveted together, but cut and decorated to look like scale armour.
DEF 7, locations 10-13.

Okegawa do: (tub-sided armour)
Riveted plate cuirass and tassets. Very popular and relatively inexpensive. Appears c.1550, becomes the most popular do after c.1560.
DEF 7, locations 10-13.

Hara-ate: Plate half-armour. Breastplate and front tassets (locations 10-13, front only).
DEF 7.

The okegawa do and hara-ate could be made proof against shot (DEF 8).

ARM ARMOUR: KOTE (Sleeves) and SODE (Pauldrons)

Cheap kote: Fabric sleeves protected by simple splints sewn to the outer part of the arm. This is common cheap armour for ashigaru, not fancy or very protective. Locations 6-9, all with activation roll 11-.
DEF 3. Not worn with sode.

Full Kote: Full sleeves of tatami armour, or less commonly of kikko (brigandine). Mostly made for ashigaru, although sometimes worn as light armour by high nobles. Protects locations Locations 6-9. Location 6 has activation roll 11-. DEF 4. The inner arm was often unarmoured, giving activation roll 14- for locations 7-9. Not worn with sode (pauldrons).

Oda-gote: Sleeves of mail with attached tiny plates. Could be full sleeves as described here or worn with sode (pauldrons) as described below. Protects location 6 on 11-; locations 7-9 without activation roll. DEF 5.

Sode and Kote: Pauldrons and vambraces. The vast majority of sode were of lamellar construction; similarly, most kote were splints connected by mail or overlapping (DEF 5). Sode protect location 8 (upper arm) and 9 (shoulder); kote worn with sode protect location 6 (on 11-) and 7 (lower arm). Some samurai wore a manjuwa; an additional protective garment which covered the armpit with mail. Without a manjuwa, sode should be given an activation roll of 14- on locations 8-9. Similarly, many kote were unarmoured on the inner arm, so should be given an activation roll of 14- on hits to location 7. Shino (splint) kote that enclosed the forearm in a full protective tube were called tsutsu-gote, and have no activation roll on hit location 7.

	
Sode (lamellar) and manjuwa	DEF 6, locations 8-9
Sode without manjuwa		DEF 6, locations 8-9 (on 14-)
Shino Kote			DEF 5, locations 6 (11-) and 7 (14-)
Tsutsu-gote			DEF 5, locations 6 (11-) and 7
Oda-gote			DEF 5, locations 6 (11-) and 7
Lamellar Kote			DEF 6, locations 6 (11-) and 7
Plate kote			DEF 7, locations 6 (11-) and 7

LEG ARMOUR: HAIDATE (Thigh-armour) and SUNEATE (Greaves)

Haidate: Haidate (thigh-plates) was additional thigh protection for foot combat. It was not always worn; many samurai preferred to keep greater mobility. Haidate give no protection against attacks from behind. They might be strapped to the leg or left flapping loose, in which case they might not protect against all attacks from the front either. Haidate were usually made of multiple small plates laced together, although tatami, kikko, mail and decorated mail versions were also constructed.

Tatami or kikko haidate		DEF 4, locations 14-15 (front only)
Mail or Oda-haidate		DEF 5, locations 14-15 (front only)
Lamellar haidate (most common)	DEF 6, locations 14-15 (front only)

Sumeate: Suneate (greaves) were usually made to match the kote (vambrace). The vast majority of suneate were of shino (splint) construction. Cheap greaves gave no protection to the back of the leg; even fancier greaves still left much of the back of the leg unprotected. Armour marked `front only' will give no protection to attacks from behind. The foot (location 18) was invariably unprotected.

Cheap shino (splint) suneate	DEF 3, locations 17-16 (front only)
Tatami or kekko suneate		DEF 4, locations 17 (front only) and 16
Oda-gote suneate		DEF 5, locations 17 (front only) and 16
Shino suneate (most common)	DEF 5, locations 17 (front only) and 16
Lamellar suneate		DEF 6, locations 17 (front only) and 16
Plate suneate			DEF 7, locations 17 (front only) and 16

HELMET

Kabuto: Full helmet, almost always including shikoro (a lamellar skirt protecting the nape of the neck). Often worn with a nodowa (gorget) protecting the front of the neck. Mempo (face masks protecting the lower half of the face) were often worn, but full face armour (somen) was very uncomfortable and rarely worn. Although the somen was a single shaped metal plate, no padding was worn beneath it, so it gives much less protection than it would otherwise do.

Kabuto could be very fancy, with up to 120 plates. Simple kabuto were unfashionable because of their simplicity, even though they were much better armour and could be made shot-proof. Some helmets and shikoro were made of tatami armour as well, although these would only have been issued to ashigaru and low-ranking samurai.

Simple kabuto (shot-proof)	DEF 8, locations 4-5
Simple kabuto (normal)		DEF 7, locations 4-5
Fancy kabuto			DEF 6, locations 4-5
Very fancy kabuto		DEF 5, locations 4-5
Tatami kabuto			DEF 4, locations 4-5
Somen				DEF 4, location 3
Jingasa				DEF 6, location 5

FULL ARMOUR: Most samurai would wear a kabuto, do and kusazari, sode and kote, plus suneate. Haidate might be worn or not. Kote and suneate were usually of similar construction, most commonly shino (splint). Full kote (rather than sode and kote) was less common.

Cheaper armour for ashigaru could be a kabuto or jingasa (or tatami kabuto with tatami armour), do and kusazari (both possibly of tatami construction), full kote, and suneate.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Tatami: folding armour. Common for lowest-born warriors, but sometimes used even by high nobles. Small metal plates connected by mail, usually over a lightly quilted lining. DEF 4. Even helmets could be made this way.

Kikko: hexagonal brigandine. Perhaps the most common type of non-solid armour. DEF 4.

Mail: Japanese mail was more loosely woven than European, and often incorporated intricate patterns. DEF 5.

Kozane: scale armour. DEF 5.

Lamellar: Most common armour for the Japanese warrior. The vast majority of Kusazuri (tassets) and Sode (shoulder protection) were of multiple lames laced together. Many Do (breastplates) were also constructed this way. DEF 6.

Shino: Splint armour. Commonest form of armour for the Kote (sleeves) and Suneate (greaves). DEF 5.

Suneate: greaves. Protection for the lower leg (locations 16-17). Usually of splint. Give reduced protection from behind (either no armour, or in some cases location 16 but not 17, only when struck from behind).

Haidate: thigh-shields. Protect location 14-15. Used for foot combat; many samurai didn't wear them, preferring to keep greater mobility. They do not protect against attacks from behind.

Shikoro: Lamellar neck-guard, depending from the helmet. Protects location 4.

Kote: armoured sleeves. Most commonly splints. Protect location 6-7. Location 6 is only protected on an 11-. With many kote the inner arm is not armoured, giving location 7 a 14- activation roll.

Kiritsuke Kozane: mock scale armour. Plate armour riveted together, but carefully cut to look like scale armour. DEF 7.

Do: Cuirass: body armour. Protects locations 10-12.

Kusazuri: Tassets. Protect locations 13-14.

Sode: similar to Kusazuri, but they protect locations 8-9. The inner arm and armpit are not armoured; this can be reflected by giving the armour an activation of 14- for Samurai who do not wear an additional protection for those areas (such armour existed, but was not commonly worn)

Okegawa do: plate cuirass. Used for the cuirass (locations 10-12), sometimes also with tassets (locations 13-14). DEF 8. Very popular and relatively inexpensive.

Hara-ate: plate half-armour. Breastplate and front tassets (locations 10-14, front only). DEF 8. 
Written by David Kuijt http://surbrook.devermore.net/herosource/japanarmor.html

Ninja is the on'yomi reading of the two kanji 忍者 used to write shinobi-no-mono (忍の者), which is the native Japanese word for people who practice ninjutsu (sometimes erroneously transliterated as ninjitsu 忍術). The words: ninja and shinobi-no-mono, along with shinobi, another variant; became popular in the post-World War II culture[citation needed]. The term shinobi (historically sino2bi2 written with the Man'yōgana 志能備), has been traced as far back as the late 8th century when Heguri Uji no Iratsume wrote a poem[1] [2] to Ōtomo no Yakamochi. The underlying connotation of shinobi (忍), in Sino-Japanese means "to steal away" and—by extension—"to forbear," hence its association with stealth and invisibility. Mono (者, likewise pronounced sha or ja) means "person." The nin of ninjutsu is the same as that in ninja, whereas jutsu (術) means skill or art, so ninjutsu means "the skill of going unperceived" or "the art of stealth"; hence, ninja and shinobi-no-mono (as well as shinobi) may be translated as "one skilled in the art of stealth." Similarly, the pre-war word ninjutsu-zukai means "one who uses the art of remaining unperceived."

Other terms which may be used are oniwaban (お庭番 "one in the garden", suppa, rappa, mitsumono, kusa (草 grass) and Iga-mono (one from Iga).

In English, the plural of ninja can be either unchanged as ninja, reflecting the Japanese language's lack of grammatical number, or the regular English plural ninjas.[3]


[edit] Historical period of origin
The ninja use of stealth tactics against better-armed enemy samurai does not mean that they were limited to espionage and undercover work: that is simply where their actions most notably differed from the more accepted tactics of samurai. Their weapons and tactics were partially derived from the need to conceal or defend themselves quickly from samurai, which can be seen from the similarities between many of their weapons and various sickles and threshing tools used at the time. [1].

Ninjas as a group first began to be written about in 15th century feudal Japan as martial organizations predominately in the regions of Iga and Koga of central Japan, though the practice of guerrilla warfare and undercover espionage operations goes back much further.

At this time, the conflicts between the clans of daimyo that controlled small regions of land had established guerrilla warfare and assassination as a valuable alternative to frontal assault. Since Bushido, the Samurai Code, forbade such tactics as dishonorable, a daimyo could not expect his own troops to perform the tasks required; thus, he had to buy or broker the assistance of ninja to perform selective strikes, espionage, assassination, and infiltration of enemy strongholds (Turnbull 2003).

There are a few people and groups of people regarded as having been potential historical ninja from approximately the same time period. It is rumored that some of the higher-ranking daimyos and shoguns were in fact ninja, and exploited their role as ninja-hunters to deflect suspicion and obscure their participation in the 'dishonorable' ninja methods and training.

Though typically classified as assassins, many of the ninja were warriors in all senses. In Hayes's book, Mystic Arts of the Ninja, Hattori Hanzo, one of the most well-known ninja, is depicted in armor similar to that of a samurai. Hayes also says that those who ended up recording the history of the ninja were typically those within positions of power in the military dictatorships, and that students of history should realize that the history of the ninja was kept by observers writing about their activities as seen from the outside.

"Ninjutsu did not come into being as a specific well defined art in the first place, and many centuries passed before ninjutsu was established as an independent system of knowledge in its own right. Ninjutsu developed as a highly illegal counter culture to the ruling Samurai elite, and for this reason alone, the origins of the art were shrouded by centuries of mystery, concealment, and deliberate confusion of history" The Historical Ninja. --By Sōke Masaaki Hatsumi

A similar account is given by 10th dan instructor Stephen K. Hayes, who was the first American to be accepted as a student by Grandmaster Hatsumi-- "The predecessors of Japan's' ninja were so called rebels favoring Buddhism who fled into the mountains near Kyoto as early as the 7th century A.D. to escape religious persecution and death at the hands of imperial forces" Ninjutsu: The Art of Invisibility.


[edit] Historical organization
In their history, ninja groups were small and structured around families and villages, later developing a more martial hierarchy that was able to mesh more closely with that of samurai and the daimyo. These certain ninjutsu trained groups were set in these villages for protection against raiders and robbers.

While ninjas were limited exclusively to males, "ninja museums" in Japan declare women to have been ninjas as well (Turnbull 2003). A female ninja may be kunoichi (くノ一); the characters are derived from the strokes that make up the kanji for female (女). They were sometimes depicted as spies who learned the secrets of an enemy by seduction; though it's just as likely they were employed as household servants, putting them in a position to overhear potentially valuable information. [2]

As a martial organization, ninja would have had many rules, and keeping secret the ninja's clan and the daimyo who gave them their orders would have been one of the most important ones.[citation needed].

For modern hierarchy in ninjutsu, see: Ninjutsu


[edit] Historical garb, technique, and image
There is no evidence that historical ninja limited themselves to all-black suits. In modern times, camouflage based upon dark colors such as dark red and dark blue can be used to give better concealment at night. Some cloaks may have been reversible: dark colored on the outside for concealment during the night, and white colored on the inside for concealment in the snow. Some ninja may have worn the same armor or clothing as samurai or Japanese peasants.

The stereotypical ninja that continually wears easily identifiable black outfits (shinobi shozoku) comes from the Kabuki theater. [3] Prop handlers would dress in black and move props around on the stage. The audience would obviously see the prop handlers, but would pretend they were invisible. Building on that willing suspension of disbelief, ninja characters also came to be portrayed in the theater as wearing similar all-black suits. This either implied to the audience that the ninja were also invisible, or simply made the audience unable to tell a ninja character from many prop handlers until the ninja character distinguished himself from the other stagehands with a scripted attack or assassination.

Ninja boots (jika-tabi), like much of the rest of Japanese footwear from the time, have a split-toe design that improves gripping and wall/rope climbing. They are soft enough to be virtually silent. Ninja also attached special spikes to the bottoms of the boots called ashiko.

The actual head covering suggested by Sōke Masaaki Hatsumi (in his book The Way of the Ninja: Secret Techniques) utilizes what is referred to as sanjaku-tenugui, (three-foot cloths). It involves the tying of two three-foot cloths around the head in such a way as to make the mask flexible in configuration but securely bound. Some wear a long robe, most of the time dark blue (紺色 kon'iro) for stealth.


[edit] Associated equipment
The assassination, espionage, and infiltration tasks of the ninja led to the development of specialized technology in concealable weapons and infiltration tools.


[edit] Specialized weapons and tactics
Ninja also employed a variety of weapons and tricks using gunpowder. Smoke bombs and firecrackers were widely used to aid an escape or create a diversion for an attack. They used timed fuses to delay explosions. Ōzutsu (cannons) they constructed could be used to launch fiery sparks as well as projectiles at a target. Small "bombs" called metsubushi (目潰し, "eye closers" were filled with sand and sometimes metal dust. This sand would be carried in bamboo segments or in hollowed eggs and thrown at someone, the shell would crack, and the assailant would be blinded. Even land mines were constructed that used a mechanical fuse or a lit, oil-soaked string. Secrets of making desirable mixes of gunpowder were strictly guarded in many ninja clans.

Other forms of trickery were said to be used for escaping and combat. Ashiaro are wooden pads attached to the ninja's tabi (thick socks with a separate "toe" for bigger toe; used with sandals). The ashiaro would be carved to look like an animal's paw, or a child's foot, allowing the ninja to leave tracks that most likely would not be noticed.

Also a small ring worn on a ninja's finger called a shobo would be used for hand-to-hand combat. The shobo (or as known in many styles of ninjutsu, the shabo) would have a small notch of wood used to hit assailant's pressure points for sharp pain, sometimes causing temporary paralysis. A suntetsu is very similar to a shobo. It could be a small oval shaped piece of wood affixed to the finger by a small strap. The suntetsu would be held against a finger (mostly middle) on the palm-side and when the hand that was thrust at an opponent, the longer piece of wood like the size of ones larger arm would be used to hit the pressure points such as the solar plexus.