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Samurai Helmets

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Re: Samurai Helmets

#41

Post by MisterOctober »

crooked-v wrote: post #34
sorokod wrote: post #19

Is the fantastic impracticality of these helmets due to the handicap principal ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_principle )?

Some of these are almost certainly just ceremonial pieces, but the ones that aren't would have served a distinctive signpost for troops under a samurai's command, the same way that flags strapped to armor and horses were common in premodern warfare through the world. Fighting without radios or even so much as binoculars is extremely confusing, and if you're leading a bunch of peasant militia who get a bare minimum of…

Yep! I went to the "Art of Armor" exhibition when it came to Phoenix Art Museum - saw this stuff up close and bought the catalog, which confirms that many of the fancier pieces were ceremonial in nature -- especially the ones with big vertical decorations

Side note : one of the most amazing parts of the exhibition was the archery equipment -- fantastic and frightening-looking arrow broadheads especially

Re: Samurai Helmets

#42

Post by GrumpyNl »

Causality1 wrote: post #30
sorokod wrote: post #19

Is the fantastic impracticality of these helmets due to the handicap principal ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_principle )?

Nope, it's due to the fact these come from the period after the samurai had changed from soldiers to aristocratic bureaucrats. It's doubtful any of these saw a single battle.

Number 3 would do great in battle, they could see him coming from over the horizon.

Re: Samurai Helmets

#43

Post by herewulf »

Causality1 wrote: post #30
sorokod wrote: post #19

Is the fantastic impracticality of these helmets due to the handicap principal ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_principle )?

Nope, it's due to the fact these come from the period after the samurai had changed from soldiers to aristocratic bureaucrats. It's doubtful any of these saw a single battle.

I'm under the impression that samurai only wore armor in real battles and never for ceremony (preferring other, equally elaborate garments for that). This is in contrast with medieval Europe where there are many examples of elaborate, ceremonial-only armor (such as full suits for children of royalty, etc). Can anyone confirm?

Re: Samurai Helmets

#44

Post by crooked-v »

jschwartzi wrote: post #40
sorokod wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and the face masks?

These would be useful for both terrorizing your enemies and also ensuring that you don't take a blow to the face.

Also, easily exploitable high-quality iron was much rarer in Japan than in Europe, so reinforced masks gave some face protection while being incredibly cheaper than steel faceplates on helmets.

Re: Samurai Helmets

#45

Post by [deleted] »

zentropia wrote: post #26
ereyes01 wrote: post #7

After looking at pictures of a bunch of samurai helmets, I came to a realization that Darth Vader's helmet is more or less the shape of a samurai helmet. Maybe this should have been obvious to me (especially being a fan of the Hidden Fortress film), but it was a cool discovery for me.

George Lucas was inspired by samurai films. This film are called jidai seki (period films). From jidai --> jedi. Also C3PO and R2D2 are inspired by the couple of mongrels in Hidden Fortress.

[deleted]

Re: Samurai Helmets

#46

Post by thaumasiotes »

cnahr wrote: post #14
Isamu wrote: post #10

There's an interesting helmet with a large statue of Fudo Myo-o, the "immovable radiant king" of Shingon Buddhism. I don't recall seeing another helmet with a full statue. Are there more examples?

That was the first and only one I had seen, too. I suppose there may be a few more but they certainly seem to be rare. This exhibition had no other examples. The helmet with a flame-engulfed dragon that was shown mounted on an armor suit comes closest.

Armor 1 and Armor 3 both feature heavy use of a light bluish thread for decoration. In China a similar blue, made from kingfisher feathers, would be an imperial symbol -- do you know if there's any relationship / what the significance in Japan was?

Re: Samurai Helmets

#47

Post by saidajigumi »

I highly recommend checking out the Samurai Collection[1] referenced here, if you can get to one of its showings – it travels around quite regularly. The exhibit is great, both in size (good, but not overwhelming) and presentation details. Especially the full (O-yoroi) armor, which is in transparent cases that let you get up close on all sides to see how the armor is constructed, and the many levels of artisanship that go into each piece.

Also, the exhibition venues will often do things like find local artisans to demonstrate related skills. E.g. I demoed making the armor lacing braids (as much as 200-400 yards, in reeled silk, per suit!) when the show was at the Portland Art Museum.

[1] http://samuraicollection.org/aboutus_history.html

Re: Samurai Helmets

#48

Post by benj111 »

lainga wrote: post #22
zzo38computer wrote: post #4

What is the mass of the helmet?

I tried one on once at a hole-in-the-wall samurai museum in Tokyo. It was pretty hefty but very well-supported - my head didn't feel wobbly or strained.

"hole-in-the-wall.... museum"

My interest is piqued.

I'm inferring that they're just very small museums? Do they have any essential characteristics?

Google isn't being very helpful.

Re: Samurai Helmets

#49

Post by DavidAdams »

sorokod wrote: post #28
astrodust wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's likely an artifact of the samurai fighting style which is quite different from conventional continental fighting as experienced by regular troops.

Can you briefly describe the style of fighting that makes this sort of headgear practical?

For one thing, despite their cool swords, I understand that the Samurai preferred to kill people with arrows when possible. They were all accoplished archers, including firing from horseback, which, as we all know from the Mongols, is a very effective way of defeating non-mounted foes.

Re: Samurai Helmets

#50

Post by agumonkey »

guiomie wrote: post #20
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

George Lucas was heavily inspired by "7 Samurai" by Akira Kurosawa. Its a must watch if you like samurai movies.

Interesting I always thought it was artistically derived from the german ww1-ww2 helmets.

It's a blend of both. The breathing mask was lifted off ww2 equipment IIRC.
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