I recently read up a bit on the history of the Samurai, with descriptions of their gear and armory and well, and one thing struck me: a decided lack of shields, especially when compared to their European counterparts. In what I've seen of Korean and Chinese depictions of medieval and earlier military, this seems true as well. This might just be owing to my own lack of knowledge on the subject, but I am curious; is there any reason for this apparent aversion to shield and shield-like constructions?
This question has been asked a couple times before. Here are two of the best threads;
Is it true that there were no shields in Japan during the Samurai and in that case why?
TLDR; The Chinese used shields. The Japanese used shields to an extent but not the personal shields that we are familiar with. Many of the most common Japanese weapons were impractical with shields.
In Japan there were shields, but they were not personal shields. If you look at images of the Genpei War, you see foot soldiers putting up big wooden shields in front of them with samurai with full armor on horseback nearby.
These big shields were used all the way into the Warring States period. During sieges, the attackers often brought with them bamboo shields to stop the bullets from musket fire.
You can see shields from this painting that I found on Japanese blogs. http://www.fuji-torii.com/baishiken/diary.cgi?no=57
http://blog-imgs-58-origin.fc2.com/t/o/t/totalmatomedia/20130905191853_34_1.jpg
And an artist's rendition of a bamboo shield from another blog http://blog-imgs-62-origin.fc2.com/c/a/p/capricorn09928/2013102220045503c.jpg
Actually shields were used in early Japanese warfare. I can't think of any books right off the top of my head but the earlier cultures like the Jomon and yayoi and Kofun used shields and huge cleaver like swords. The Nara period starting around 700 is where the samurais are sent west to fight the Emeshi. The Samurais developed into horse archers and that's when you see the complete disappearance of the shield. Mounted Archers would be the backbone of warfare in Japan until the mongol invasion and the begging of the feudal era, By that time in the 1400's shields would be antiquated as guns would be quickly introduced and Japanese warfare would evolve into large spear formations supported by heavy horse and ranged infantry. It wasn't an aversion its just shields and Mounted Archers don't mix. As for Korea I'm no expert but i think Koreans did use them to some extent.
