[Alexander Ren]

Did the Japanese ever use shields? I have heard and seen alot of emphasis placed on the swords, pole arms (yari and naginata), and bows that the samurai used in battle but have never heard or seen anything about the Japanese using shields.

I will admit that most of what I have seen on the samurai is from hollywood (Ex: "The Last Samurai" and "Shogun") and the history channel and we all know how reliable (or lack thereof) those sources can be.

I had noticed that in every account or movie of samurai there is nothing about shields shown or talked about. Did the Japanese never develope and use shields? If so they are the only culture that I know of that never employed them. Is this true?

Thanks in advance for your replies.
Alex

[Hisham Gaballa]

I do know that the Japanese used shields very early on in their history, before the 5th century AD. But that's about all I do know.

[Risto Rautiainen]

And later on (don´t ask when) they used a pavise type of movable wall to protect them selves from arrows.

[Boris Bedrosov]

Hello everyone!

The answer is YES, but as Hisham already said, they used them as a warrior's equipment up to the 5-6th C. Sorry, I don't remember its specific name, but if you want, I can check in my books. Somewhere in them I have even a picture of an ancient Japanese warrior, carrying a shield.
After that the samurai used the shields only in fortification role. What you saw, watching the final battle in "The Last Samurai" (for example) is historically correct. Genarally speaking, the reason for "dismissing" the shield in his primary role as a defensive equipment was the expanding of the size of the ken (the ancestor of the tachi and katana) and its transformation into a two-hand sword. As you see, there was no way to fight with two-hand weapon and carrying a shield in the same time.
Happy New Year to all of you, friends!

Regards!
Boris

[Alexander Ren]

Thanks for your replies.

I ended up finding a discussion on SFI after I posted this that included a post about the samurai using shields early on but did not specify the time frame.

Thanks... Alex

[Boris Bedrosov]

Hello, everyone!

I just want to add something, what I checked yesterday.
The name of the shield in Japanese is "te-date". It has a rectangular shape with cut bottom and central parts - something like this ) (, and curved upper part - something like this ^. In the upper one-third is attached the shield-boss, usually with star with "curved beams" form. The te-date was made from hard wood.
If the shield is used in fortification role (in the late periods) its name is tate, and it was quite bigger than the te-date. As Risto said it was similar to European pavise. After the introduction of firearms in Japan, the tate was covered with steel plate armour.
The second reason for "dismissing" the te-date was use of the bow yumi by the Japanese cavalry-men.

Regards!
Boris

[Matt G]

Hopefully these pictures will add to Boris' description. I took these pictures from Stephen Turnbull's "Samurai Warriors".

The first appears to fit the description Boris Gave for the te-date. The book makes no mention of the shield in the photo's caption.

The second picture has a description that reads:

"This type of wooden shield was used throughout the samurai period. It was planted in the ground and provided protection for missile troops. Contemporary illustrations often depict them with mon painted on the front "

I think this may match the second description for the tate.

Boris, if I am mistaken, please let us know.

[Boris Bedrosov]

Matt

Thanks for the wonderful pictures.
They are exactly what you think. The first is te-date, and the second - tate.
Happy New Year! Cheers!

Regards!
Boris