European and Japanese Armor Mobility (with Metatron)

How freely can you move in European or Japanese style harness? Let's find out!

**Correction** Metatron's armor should be reported as 32-35 lbs (14.5-16kg)

***NOTES***
The primary reason we chose two armors from 200 years apart is because we both had quality harnesses made specifically for us that happened to be from those times. The primary intent here is not to compare Japanese to European directly, but to show that both styles of armor are perfectly mobile from the standpoint of a person who needs to fight in them (it should be obvious that they were mobile enough to fight in since...well... lots of people fought in them... but for some reason the lay public is still skeptical that you could move in armor, especially Medieval European armor). Armor of course needs to fit properly to not artificially limit mobility, so we thought the value of showing two well-fitted armors was greater than trying to match the time periods perfectly while potentially sacrificing good fit. Otherwise you end up seeing people trying to overcome armor that doesn't fit which could have potentially backfired and perpetuated the myths we're trying to address.

The second and less direct reason, which is really more coincidence, is that technologically, although separated in time, these two harnesses are probably more evenly comparable than Japanese and European harness both from ca. 1400. The shaping of European armor at that time was vastly superior to the equivalent Japanese harness which in my understanding incorporated very little anatomical shaping and primarily hung from the shoulders. The later Japanese harnesses (like the one in the video) took design elements from European armors to incorporate the load bearing lessons that the Europeans had already figured out. It is essentially Japanese armor with European influence.

Metatron's Video - https://youtu.be/X2Wk4w9Z05w

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Видео European and Japanese Armor Mobility (with Metatron) канала Knyght Errant