Defensive Armor of the Archaic Period 175 



Ts'in and Han, iron armor and helmets {Vie k'ai mou) gradually came into 

 use. These two characters {k'ai mou) are formed with the classifier 

 'metal' {kin), for these objects were made from iron." This chronologi- 

 cal division of words and matters, indeed, corresponds to the facts as 

 expressed in the documents of literature. The comment of Ts'ai Ch'en 

 relates to the speech of the Prince of Lu, Po K'in, son of Chou Kung 

 {Shu king, IV, 19), in which he admonished his soldiers to see that their 

 cuirasses and helmets were well sewed together (that is, were in good 

 order), and that the laces of their shields were well secured. In this 

 passage the three means for making the complete defensive armor of the 

 primeval epoch are named; and these are followed by the three principal 

 representatives of offensive armor, — the bow, the long and the short 

 spears. 



We meet in the early period essentially two varieties of hide armor, 

 distinguished by two different words, kia (No. 1 167) and kiai (No. 1518). 

 The latter, as will be seen (p. 195), was scale armor, composed of im- 

 bricated leather pieces which were cut out in the shape of scales (com- 

 pare Plate XIV). The former was a cuirass made in imitation of a 

 coat. Our knowledge of this device is mainly founded on the State 

 Handbook containing the ritual and institutes of the Chou dynasty, 

 the Chou li. A special office of armorers was instituted at the Court of 

 the Chou dynasty; they were called han jen, "men who envelop {han, 

 No. 3809) the body with a protective contrivance." The manufacture 

 of these military leathern costumes is minutely described in the Chou li. 1 



"The armorers make the cuirasses {kia). Those made from the 

 hide of the two-horned rhinoceros {si) consist of seven layers of hide; 

 those made from the hide of the single-horned rhinoceros {se) consist of 

 six layers; those made from a combination of both hides consist of five 

 layers. The first endure a hundred years; the second, two hundred 

 years; the third, three hundred years. In order to accomplish a cuirass, 

 first, a form (dummy) is made, 2 and then the hide is cut in accordance 

 with it. The hide pieces are weighed; and two piles equal in weight 

 are apportioned, the one for the upper, the other for the lower part 

 of the cuirass. The long strips, into which the hide has been cut up, 



1 Biot, Vol. II, p. 506. The work of Biot is here, as in other instances, quoted 

 for easy reference, as by referring to Biot the Chinese text may readily be looked up; 

 but my rendering is based on the original text, and on several points deviates from 

 that of Biot, and fundamentally, in this passage descriptive of armor. 



2 The dummy was patterned according to the figure of the individual for whom 

 the cuirass was intended, and the hide was tailored and adjusted in correspondence 

 with the dummy. It was left on the latter for some time, until it was thoroughly 

 hardened and had assumed the required shape. The process was the same as that still 

 practised on a smaller scale by the Chinese hatters, who fashion their caps over wooden 

 models. 



