Eastern Armor

While the knights and conquistadors of the western world were fighting it out with their enemies, the eastern world was developing their own armor. In Japan, armor for them began in the 5th-8th century with the tanko, which was made up of iron plates, some large and some small. It was soon replaced by lamellar armor from the Asiatic mainland made from iron scales laced with leather thongs. They then took this armor and developed the keiko, which means 'hanging armor' and used by mounted warriors. Samurai armor was finally developed by the end of the Heian period in 1185. Also during that time the art of sword fighting for sport came into being, as what we now know today as Kendo, the 'Way of the Sword.' Of course this meant that armor had to be developed for that as well.

Another sect of Japanese warriors that are surmised to have arisen at the turn of the 14th century were the Ninja. For the most part, the only ninja armor, relied on was that of stealth and deception. Ninjas have become a large part of modern day, appearing in a multitude of movies, and of course, anime.

In China, a unique kind of armor was developed from the end of the Tang dynasty and used throughout the Ming dynasty. It was also a kind of lamellar armor, but much different in construction than that of the other eastern armors.

And on other islands in the pacific ocean, isolated from the rest of the world, people developed their own Oceania armor to defend against the primitive weapons that they themselves created.