[Gubook Janggoon]

Wow..some of these look similar!...is this a common style in Asian armor at that time?


Yamato Armor



Gaya Armor

[Kulong]

They don't look that similar to me. Both have very basic and plain design.

[caocao74]

Gubuk Janggoon, on Feb 9 2005, 01:30 PM, said:

Wow..some of these look similar!...is this a common style in Asian armor at that time?

Hard to say. The torso-covering armour seems common. The helmet design shows similarities, but they are not greatly different from Republican Roman cavalry helms.
Links between the Korean Peninsula and the pre-Yamato and Yamato states of Japan are clear to see elsewhere though.

[Yun]

The tanko (短甲) armour of the Kofun period and of Gaya seems unique at first sight in being made of large pieces of iron plate at a time when most armour in the region was made of small pieces of lamellar. But as 《中国古兵器论丛》 (Collected Articles on Ancient Chinese Weaponry), a book written by Yang Hong 杨泓 argues, this armour technology was also imported from China via Korea during the late 4th century, and reflected Han dynasty designs. It then developed in the opposite direction from Chinese armour - the pieces became larger rather than smaller, for ease of manufacture.

However, the tanko armour was steadily phased out in favour of the keiko armour (with small lamellar pieces) in the late 5th century, while lamellar horse armour was also adopted. Yang Hong theorises that this was a result of wars with the armoured cavalry of Koguryo, in which the Japanese were defeated along with their allies Paekche. The gema (甲马) armoured heavy cavalry of Koguryo was in turn borrowed from China's Age of Fragmentation armies.

So the tanko was a style distinctly from Japan and southern Korea, but was replaced after about a century with a style more similar to China and the rest of Korea.

[TMPikachu]

In the book "Oriental Armour" the author claims the tanko was the greatest armor in the world, at it's time. I always wonderd, if it was, why was mainland style lamellar adopted?

It is also worm with arm guards, which extend to protect the elbow

[Gubook Janggoon]

Wow..very informative...Thanks! TMPikachu...do you have any pictures from your book to share?

[Yun]

A Japanese Kofun period figurine of a warrior in tanko armour:

[Gubook Janggoon]

Kandie, on Apr 6 2005, 12:58 PM, said:

Yamato and Gaya shared much of the same high culture like no others did to begin with.
Yamato actually has a foothold in Imna(Mimana).

*smacks forehead..

The Mimana theory again...

That's a theory that holds no water whatsoever except with a few diehards in Japan. There's simply no real sources to back it up except for Nihongi, which is a highly fictional source.

[Gubook Janggoon]

Kandie, on Apr 6 2005, 03:41 PM, said:

What, in your opinion, is likely the reality of cultural and political relations between southern Korean peninsula and western Japan back then?

Note: Yamato/Kofun culture exceeded technologically and socially any previous indigenous cultures found on the Japanese isles. Could the Yamato be indigenous?

I'm sure that they were close and buddy buddy. But the Yamato/Wa colony in Korea has no basis whatsoever. No mainland source ever mentions it.

[Gubook Janggoon]

Kandie, on Apr 6 2005, 04:00 PM, said:

I think the Kudara colonized Japan. Gaya, Mimana, being lesser "han" states, were thus subject to Kudara-Yamato influence.

That's your own opinion I guess.

BTW Mimana, or Mioyama in Korean, is actually one of the states of the Gaya federation. It evolves into Dae Gaya along with Bon Gaya, and all the others.

[Gubook Janggoon]

Kandie, on Apr 6 2005, 04:09 PM, said:

Why didn't the Gaya federation become one of the contenders of the Samguk period? How did Silla and Paekche absorb the Gaya?

From what I've heard, pressure on both sides by Baekje and Shilla stunted its growth.

It existed mainly as a confederacy with Bon Gaya having most of the power at first and Dae Gaya taking control later...The former tended to lean towards Shilla while the Latter towards Baekje.