User:Samuraiantiqueworld/Japanese kikko armor

Kikko is a type of Japanese (samurai) armor made from small iron or hardened leather hexagon plates. Kikko is a lightweight portable folding (tatami) armor and is the Japanese version of brigandine. The kikko was attached to clothing by sewing the kikko to cloth through holes drilled in the kikko, or the kikko could be sewn between two layers of cloth and hidden from sight by sewing around each individual piece of kikko and enclosing the kikko in individual compartments. The kikko could be attached to each other by links of chain (kusari) through holes drilled in the kikko. Kikko was used in traditional armor (kikko gusoku) and kikko armored clothing was also made. Kikko armor was made for every class of samurai, from high level to low level.

George Cameron Stone in his monumental book "A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times" p.150 referred to kikko as "brigandine" he said "In Japan brigandines were often used", "They were generally small hexagons", "The plates were of steel or hard leather", and that "Occasionally they covered the whole body".

Ian Bottomley in his book "Arms and Armor of the Samurai: The History of Weaponry in Ancient Japan" p.88 pictures a forehead protector "hitai ate" with a kikko hood. and calls the kikko chest armor or "kikko gane do" a form of "tatami" or folding armor.

Also See

 * Tatami-dō
 * Brigandine
 * Chainmail
 * Japanese armor
 * Commons:Category:Japanese chain mail