Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/184

 occurred in Japanese armour from generation to generation had their origin in improved methods of construction. In general appearance it differed from the panoply of all other nations. To its essential parts we may with propriety apply the European terms helmet, corselet, taches, epaulières, brassarts, cuissarts, and greaves. But individually and in combination these parts were not at all like the originals of the Occidental terms. Perhaps the easiest way to describe the difference is to say that whereas a Norman Knight seemed to be clad in a suit of metal clothes, a Japanese bushi looked as if he wore protective curtains. The Japanese armour was, in fact, suspended from the person rather than fitted to it. It had only one element counter-parted in the European suit, namely, a tabard, which, in the case of men of rank, was made of the richest brocade. Iron or leather were the chief materials, and as the lamin were strung together with a vast number of coloured cords—silk or leather—an appearance of considerable brilliancy was produced. Ornamentation did not stop there. Plating and inlaying with gold and silver were freely resorted to, and exquisitely finished decoration in chiselled, inlaid, and repoussé work was profusely applied to the helmet and its appendages, the corselet, the epaulières, and the brassarts. On the whole, however, despite the highly artistic character of its ornamentation, the loose, pendulous nature of