[Wolfgang Armbruster]

I recently saw an incredible Japanese movie named "When the last sword is drawn" (Mibu gishi den). The story deals with the Shinsengumi militia during the late Tokugawa Shogunate in the 19th century. Different from the horrible "last samurai" crap this movie appears to be quite authentic. No twisting of historical facts, realistic sword-fights (even broken and bend blades appear) and a great story.

But now to my question. The film shows a lot of night-raids and assaults by the Shinsengumi. All the militia members are wearing mail-shirts and gloves under their coats/haoris. The shirts spot high collars to protect the neck.
Is that plausible or just artistic licence? I was under the impression that mail was only (and rarely) used to cover the armpits of battle-field armour.
I hope that someone with better knowledge on japanese armour can answer my question

I couldn't find a better picture, but you can see the the mail-shirts and gloves:


http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff04-lastsword.htm


P.S. I can only recommend this film. Truly great historical movies are seldom made nowadays. It's out on dvd already.

[Kjell Magnusson]

Well, I can't say I'm in a position to say anything much with too great a certainty, but from what I've heard, mail seems to have been used for more than just the armpits historically. The suit in the first picture attached for example (ca 1750-1820 apparently) has sleeves mainly of mail (although that might not be too easy to tell from my pic...), with a cloth backing. I'm under the impression that this is pretty much "standard", but you might want a better source for that...

The second suit (no date, 16th century as a wild guess maybe?), is of a plate-and-chain construction, and thus shows another case of mail in use (though admittedly not too much of it).

[Craig Peters]

In the book The Way of the Ninja: Secret Techniques by Masaaki Hatsumi, http://www.myArmoury.com/books/item.php?ASIN=4770028059 Masaaki has a photo on page 100 of a man in a complete suit of maille which would be "worn underneath the Ninja costume."

[Wolfgang Armbruster]

Thx for the replies!
Seems like it wasn't unlikely for people to wear mail-shirts after all. I wonder how Japanese mail was constructed after all.
I guess it was riveted (as it should).

[Jonathon Janusz]

I don't know how much it will help, but here is one of the most extensive resources on the Internet I've been able to find on Japanese armour making:

http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/katchu/index.html

[Lloyd Clark]

I was stationed in Japan for three years and I have pictures (somewhere) of one maille shirt and other maille pieces I took at the Hachiman Temple museum. Now I just have to find them.

I was trying to get pictures (this was 1985) of the "Eastern" style of maille the "ju" (10 in Japanese) which looks much like a cross with paired sets of rings 2 into 8 (it doesn't lie flat, but the rings were extremely small and butted).

I'll go through my old Navy pictures and see if I can find them, scan them, and sent them to anyone that is interested.

[Kjell Magnusson]

Something akin to these two pictures maybe?