I'm curious because shields seem like they're used everywhere except in the east, and I've never heard about them being used in Japan. Seems like shields would be the natural defense against arrows. Please enlighten me.
This question has been asked and answered several times before.
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/16ekic/is_it_true_that_there_were_no_shields_in_japan/ http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/voutd/why_were_shields_so_much_more_prevalent_in/
In short, hand shields were used in Japanese warfare early on but fell out of favor because of diminished usefulness. In the Sengoku era (i.e. "Samurai Times"), infantrymen were primarily armed with spears and then later with matchlock muskets, neither of which are convenient to use with a hand shield.