Being a JSA guy, I have no small amount of respect for the samurai of old and their arms and armor. However, Japanese maille, which seems as though it would be by its construction weaker than "international"-style maille, baffles me occaisonally. Considering that the Japanese knew of and used international maille side-by-side with their own style, it seems that there's more to the issue than it appears and that Japanese-style maille may be more protective than it seems. The fact that Japanese maille was always sewn onto a fabric backing and never (to my knowledge, anyways) used alone as a gambeson, and that incoming blows would probably land between rings and meet the full strength of the whole arrangement instead of working towards splitting a single ring may have gone some ways towards adding strength to the arrangement, but that's just a guess on my part.

Does anyone have any solid info on the subject?

Although I dont really have much knowledge on Asian armor, I have spent a lot of time making both European and Japanese maille. It was my understanding that the Japanese style was just used on the jointed, flexible, unarmorable areas (ie. armpits etc.) It wasn't meant to cover an entire individual like European maille did. Japanese 6 in 1 style flexes in all directions as European will only flex in one making it (in my mind) more suitable for areas like the armpit.

Mike

Another thing to consider is that the rings were much smaller than in European maille, and the mesh corrospondingly finer. While that may make Japanese maille seem weaker, remember that there are proportionately more rings per square inch than on, say, an English hauberk. It's very intricate work. I saw some originals at a Shinto shrine in Shimizu and was blown away by how delicate the work was. It made me positively ashamed of my own poor handiwork.

The weapons and techniques against which the maille was intended to guard must also be taken into account. A katana is smaller and lighter than a XIIa, and would not be employed in exactly the same way in battle. Also--and this is only a guess, in case more informed people wish to correct me--it seems as though Japanese maille almost always complimented other types of armor, whereas its Western cousins were intended to stand more or less alone for centuries, requisite padding notwithstanding.

I'd always assumed it was for flexibility too, to cover those areas where plate or the leather/iron plates and slik ties such as in sode wouldn't work because of the requirements for movement and this was why they used a fine maille. But never really thought about it. Is the strength of Japanese maille so much inferior to European that the strength of the latter would outweigh the flexibility of the former ?

I agree that the large areas of fine maille on kote often seen between sparse plates could render a pretty nasty (bone breaking) blow even if the sword did not cut through (as mentioned above katana or tachi are lighter than some European swords but by no means light-weight - I've always thought them very heavy for their size and very designed for a heavy, regardless of sharp,cut). Maybe it was a sacrifice of protection for lightness and flexibility. Certainly against some of the heavier, broad sengoku-jidai blades it would seem risky (a couple of beautiful examples of that style/school in the recent big British Museum exhibition of Japanese swords)

How the maille would stand up to thrusts from yari or katana I don't know. But then again I've always thought Japanese masks on yoroi to be quite light and vunerable too, if the person wore one at all. Maybe again sacrifices of weight and convenience against protection ?

Daniel

My knowledge as far as Japanese armour goes is not what it should beit is a bit like Japanese swords, a study unto itself but heres a few things about Japanese maille. One it was not uncommon for Japanese maille to be made from steel and tempered , while European maille was made from iron which doesn't have the carbon content to be tempered. Also the rings in Japanese maille tended to be of two or ever three turns(by this I mean the rings actually looked like a key ring , and in order to put them together you would "screw" if you will each ring onto its partners in the same way you put keys on a ring ) which would make for a very strong construct. The only sample of Japanese maille i've had hands on time with were a pair of early 18th century (if I recall correctly) arm defenses and the maille was all built in this fashion.

The size of the rings used in European maille varied quite a bit from piece to piece as it does with indo persian maille , some garments can be made from rings that are absolutely tiny while others may have rings up to nearly 1/2" as on the Savafid maille shirt in the Higgins Museum (large ring maille was also popular in eastern Europe from what I understand the point being to show off the colorful garments beneath. I've seen pictures of several cossak maile shirts with rings to rival the Higgins shirt). The rings of the Japanese armour I handled were on the small to tiny end of European maille.