What is a samurais armor made of?

Answer 1

The undergarment was woven from cloth made from the rice plant, on top of that garment, there was a layer of silk especially woven for combat, very similar to kevlar actually, on top of that, came bamboo plates, tied together with silk chords, which are in fact stronger than nylon, making them very hard to cut. The helmet, was made of a steel core (the rounded "bowl" part that fits on the skull), and it was covered with layers of highly compressed bamboo, the "wings" of the Samurai helmet, that is the part that covers the back of the neck, that was largely compressed bamboo. The technology for bamboo compression is not new; it was known in China in ancient times, and both Chinese and Japanese used compressed bamboo plating for armor.

On its own, obviously its not as strong as steel BUT, layered on top of silk, and having tightly compressed layers of bamboo, they offered plenty of protection against cuts and spear thrusts, not to mention arrow fire. Like European midieval armor, again it came in layers. First there was the traditional "thong" undergarments worn by all Japanese of the feudal era, on top of the undergarments, came the gi-like standard clothing, on top of that, there was a "gi" made from tightly woven silk, on top of that, oh sorry I forgot this one, there was a leather shirt, lather shin protectors, basically leather everything, beneath the compressed bamboo plating. The armor itself, again, consisted of two layers, leather made from deer skin because its flexible but really tough, and on top of that leather, compressed bamboo, which together would form gauntlets or breastplates or whatever you needed.

Beneath the plating again, they wore what was a sort of tightly woven silk gi, a material very similar to kevlar. Samurai armor was effective protection against cutting or stabbing, but, its Achilles heel, as with midieval armor, was that it offered no protection against blunt weapons such as war hammers or morning stars, or, in Japan's case, no protection against the Tetsubo, arguably the most sadistic war weapon ever conceived.

The Tetsubo, is a heavy Japanese oak (very strong) wooden club, with steel studs throughout except the handle area. An average Tetsubo weighs around 20 to 30 lbs, and only the strongest Samurai could wield them effectively. If you were struck cleanly with that thing, even while wearing bodyarmor, you did not get up; like I said, its easily the most evil primitive weapon ever conceived.