The focal point of samurai armor is the elaborate helmet design that makes the wearer stand out In the battle field. The design is usually celebrated the ability of their owners, like this sixteenth century rabbit piece, showing off playfulness in the face of death.
Unlike the foot soldiers who had the most basic protection. The samurai carried the colorful armor that was light but exceptionally strong, and able to withstand arrows and sword strikes. While wealthy samurai relied on underlings to train their new recruits, lower ranking samurai took on this chore themselves.
A samurai new that his own life depended on the skills and equipment of his foot soldiers, who wore the cheapest kind of armor.
Samurai armor could be very expensive; therefore the simplest version for a foot soldier is this. This is layers of paper and layers of cotton cloth glued together, then lacquered over to make it water proof. Surprisingly this can be as good as metal armor, which I’ve slashing blows, or even from stabs.
However this would not really stand off to spear thrusts.
Although the first samurai started of as mounted archers, they soon mastered all sorts of weaponry including spears, bows, and even a few rare and expensive guns introduced by European traders. But it is their swordsmanship that has made such legend.
