Editing Chain mail (section)

==In Asia==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 135-S-14-13-33, Tibetexpedition, Neujahrsparade, Rta pa.jpg|thumb|upright|Tibetan warrior in mail reinforced by additional [[mirror armour|mirror plate]]]]
Mail armour was introduced to the Middle East and Asia through the Romans and was adopted by the [[Sassanid]] Persians starting in the 3rd century AD, where it was supplemental to the scale and [[lamellar armour]] already used. Mail was commonly also used as horse armour for [[cataphracts]] and heavy cavalry as well as armour for the soldiers themselves. Asian mail could be just as heavy as the European variety and sometimes had prayer symbols stamped on the rings as a sign of their craftsmanship as well as for divine protection.<ref>David G Alexander, Decorated and inscribed mail shirts in the Metropolitan Museum, Waffen- und Kostumkunde 27 (1985), 29–36</ref>

Mail armour is mentioned in the [[Quran]] as being a gift revealed by [[Allah]] to [[David]]:

<blockquote>21:80 It was We Who taught him the making of coats of mail for your benefit, to guard you from each other's violence: will ye then be grateful? (Yusuf Ali's translation)</blockquote>

[[File:Great Mogul And His Court Returning From The Great Mosque At Delhi India - Oil Painting by American Artist Edwin Lord Weeks.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mughal Army]]]]
From the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], mail was quickly adopted in [[Central Asia]] by [[Timur]] (Tamerlane) and the Sogdians and by India's [[Delhi Sultanate]]. Mail armour was introduced by the [[Turkish people|Turks]] in late 12th century and commonly used by [[Turkic peoples|Turk]] and the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] and [[Suri Empire|Suri]] armies where it eventually became the armour of choice in India.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} Indian mail was constructed with alternating rows of solid links and round riveted links and it was often integrated with plate protection (mail and plate armour).

=== China ===
{{multiple images|perrow=2| total_width = 220|align=left
|image1=Xixia Chainmail Armor (41985701161).jpg
|image2=宋朝雕刻 02.jpg|Song axeman in mail and lamellar armour
|footer= ''Left:'' [[Western Xia]] mail armour. 
''Right:'' [[Song dynasty]] axeman in mail and lamellar armour}}
Mail was introduced to [[China]] when its allies in Central Asia paid tribute to the [[Tang dynasty|Tang Emperor]] in 718 by giving him a coat of "link armour" assumed to be mail. Earliest assumed reference to mail can be found in early 3rd century record by [[Cao Zhi]], being called "chained ring armor".<ref>{{cite book |title=曹子建集|chapter=8 |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%9B%B9%E5%AD%90%E5%BB%BA%E9%9B%86/%E5%8D%B7%E5%85%AB|quote= 先帝赐臣铠：黑光、明光各一领、两当铠一领、环锁铠一领、马铠一领。今代以昇平，兵革无事，乞悉以付铠曹自理。 }}</ref>  China first encountered the armour in 384 when its allies in the nation of [[Kuchi]] arrived wearing "armour similar to chains". Once in China, mail was imported but was not produced widely. Due to its flexibility, comfort, and rarity, it was typically the armour of high-ranking guards and those who could afford the exotic import (to show off their social status) rather than the armour of the rank and file, who used more common brigandine, scale, and [[Lamellar armour|lamellar]] types. However, it was one of the few military products that China imported from foreigners. Mail spread to Korea slightly later where it was imported as the armour of imperial guards and generals.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

===Japan===
{{Main|Kusari (Japanese mail armour)}}
[[File:Japanese kusari armor.JPG|thumb|upright|Edo period Japanese (samurai) chain armour or kusari gusoku]]

In [[Japan]], mail is called ''[[Commons:Category:Japanese chain mail|kusari]]'' which means chain. When the word ''kusari'' is used in conjunction with an armoured item it usually means that mail makes up the majority of the armour composition.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=J5PgapzD6FoC&dq=kusari&pg=PA70 ''A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries and in All Times'', George Cameron Stone, Courier Dover Publications, 1999 p. 403] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527194906/https://books.google.com/books?id=J5PgapzD6FoC&pg=PA70&dq=kusari&hl=en&ei=509hTfGDMIa0lQfds-CTDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBA |date=2016-05-27 }}</ref> An example of this would be ''kusari gusoku'' which means chain armour.  ''Kusari'' [[Commons:Category:Kusari katabira|jackets]], [[Commons:Category:Kusari zukin|hoods]], [[Commons:Category:Kusari han kote|gloves]], [[Commons:Category:Kusari vests|vests]], [[Commons:Category:Kusari suneate|shin guards]], shoulder guards, [[Commons:Category:Kusari haidate|thigh guards]], and other armoured clothing were produced, even ''[[Commons:Category:Kusari tabi|kusari tabi]]'' socks.

''[[Commons:Category:Japanese chain mail|Kusari]]'' was used in [[Japanese armour|samurai armour]] at least from the time of the Mongol invasion (1270s) but particularly from the [[Nambokucho Period]] (1336–1392).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QOH-icuirzAC&dq=Japanese+mail+armor&pg=PA92 ''Brassey's Book of Body Armor'', Robert C. Woosnam-Savage, Anthony Hall, Brassey's, 2002 p.92] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504162308/https://books.google.com/books?id=QOH-icuirzAC&pg=PA92&dq=Japanese+mail+armor&hl=en&ei=P7tgTYPtNIeglAfPrbDnCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ |date=2016-05-04 }}</ref> The Japanese used many different weave methods including a square 4-in-1 pattern (''so gusari''), a hexagonal 6-in-1 pattern (''hana gusari'') and a European 4-in-1 (''nanban gusari'').<ref>Ian Bottomley & A.P. Hopson ''Arms and Armor of the Samurai: The History of Weaponry in Ancient Japan'' P.57 & P.186 {{ISBN|1-86222-002-6}}</ref> The rings of Japanese mail were much smaller than their European counterparts; they would be used in patches to link together plates and to drape over vulnerable areas such as the armpits.

''Riveted kusari'' was known and used in Japan. On page 58 of the book ''Japanese Arms & Armor: Introduction'' by H. Russell Robinson, there is a picture of Japanese riveted kusari,<ref>''Japanese Arms & Armor: Introduction'' by H. Russell Robinson, London, Arms & Armour P., p. 58, {{ISBN|9780853680192}}.</ref> and
this quote from the translated reference of [[Sakakibara Kozan|Sakakibara Kozan's]] 1800 book, ''The Manufacture of Armour and Helmets in Sixteenth-Century Japan'', shows that the Japanese not only knew of and used riveted kusari but that they manufactured it as well.

<blockquote>...&nbsp;karakuri-namban (riveted namban), with stout links each closed by a rivet. Its invention is credited to Fukushima Dembei Kunitaka, pupil, of Hojo Awa no Kami Ujifusa, but it is also said to be derived directly from foreign models. It is heavy because the links are tinned (biakuro-nagashi) and these are also sharp-edged because they are punched out of iron plate<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=s2oiAQAAIAAJ&q=kusari The manufacture of armour and helmets in sixteenth century Japan: (Chūkokatchū seisakuben) Kōzan Sakakibara, C. E. Tuttle, 1964 p.84] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512140812/https://books.google.com/books?ei=07dgTeb5KYH6lwey1JGIDA&ct=result&id=s2oiAQAAIAAJ&dq=kusari+armor&q=kusari |date=2016-05-12 }}</ref></blockquote>

Butted or split (twisted) links made up the majority of ''kusari'' links used by the Japanese. Links were either ''butted'' together meaning that the ends touched each other and were not riveted, or the ''kusari'' was constructed with links where the wire was turned or twisted<ref name=b1>{{cite book|author=George Cameron Stone|title=A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries and in All Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5PgapzD6FoC&pg=PA424|access-date=18 February 2011|date=2 July 1999|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|isbn=978-0-486-40726-5|page=424|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603190342/https://books.google.com/books?id=J5PgapzD6FoC&pg=PA424|archive-date=3 June 2016}}</ref> two or more times; these split links are similar to the modern split ring commonly used on keychains. The rings were lacquered black to prevent rusting, and were always stitched onto a backing of cloth or leather. The kusari was sometimes concealed entirely between layers of cloth.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=s2oiAQAAIAAJ&q=kusari ''The manufacture of armour and helmets in sixteenth century Japan'': (Chūkokatchū seisakuben) Kōzan Sakakibara, C. E. Tuttle, 1964 p.85] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512140812/https://books.google.com/books?ei=07dgTeb5KYH6lwey1JGIDA&ct=result&id=s2oiAQAAIAAJ&dq=kusari+armor&q=kusari |date=2016-05-12 }}</ref>

''Kusari gusoku'' or chain armour was commonly used during the [[Edo period]] 1603 to 1868 as a stand-alone defense. According to George Cameron Stone

<blockquote>Entire suits of mail ''kusari gusoku'' were worn on occasions, sometimes under the ordinary clothing<ref name="stone61">{{cite book|author=George Cameron Stone|title=A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries and in All Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5PgapzD6FoC&pg=PA61|access-date=18 February 2011|date=2 July 1999|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|isbn=978-0-486-40726-5|page=61|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501230820/https://books.google.com/books?id=J5PgapzD6FoC&pg=PA61|archive-date=1 May 2016}}</ref></blockquote>

In his book ''Arms and Armor of the Samurai: The History of Weaponry in Ancient Japan'',<ref>Ian Bottomley & A.P. Hopson ''Arms and Armor of the Samurai: The History of Weaponry in Ancient Japan'' pp. 155–156 {{ISBN|1-86222-002-6}}</ref> Ian Bottomley shows a picture of a kusari armour and mentions ''[[Commons:Category:Kusari katabira|kusari katabira]]'' (chain jackets) with detachable arms being worn by samurai police officials during the Edo period. The end of the samurai era in the 1860s, along with the 1876 ban on wearing swords in public, marked the end of any practical use for mail and other armour in Japan. Japan turned to a conscription army and uniforms replaced armour.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zPyswmGDBFkC&dq=meiji+sword+ban&pg=PA43 ''The connoisseur's book of Japanese swords'', Kōkan Nagayama, Kodansha International] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427212530/https://books.google.com/books?id=zPyswmGDBFkC&pg=PA43&dq=meiji+sword+ban&hl=en&ei=gN53TZvlMJT3rAGo79H_CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA |date=2016-04-27 }}, 1998 p. 43</ref>