Tatami (Japanese armour)


Tatami, or tatami gusoku and gusoku, was a type of lightweight portable folding Japanese armour worn during the feudal era of Japan by the samurai class and their foot soldiers. The Tatami dō or the tatami katabira were the main components of a full suit of tatami armour.

Structure

A ' includes a tatami dō or ' and a tatami kabuto ', or ' or similar type of head protection along with the other related parts of a full suit of Japanese armour. Collapsible head protection such as and other collapsible armor are also tatami armor; a traditional kabuto could also be part of a tatami gusoku.
Tatami armour was lightweight, portable, convenient for transportation, and they were manufactured inexpensively for the ashigaru light infantry. Tatami armours were worn by all samurai classes from the highest class to the lowest class. The higher class samurai wore elaborate armour while the lower class samurai and retainers wore simpler versions.
In his book Arms and Armor of the Samurai: The History of Weaponry in Ancient Japan Ian Bottomley shows a karuta tatami do and a karuta tatami kabuto, and discusses different types of tatami dō karuta gane dō and kikko gane dō on p. 91. George Cameron Stone shows a kikko tatami armor on p. 606 of his book A glossary of the construction, decoration, and use of arms and armor.

Types of Tatami armour

Karuta tatami armour