Dō — Chest Armor

The dō is the suit. Everything else attaches to it, hangs from it, or is judged against it — and a cuirass that sits badly cannot be rescued by any amount of quality elsewhere.

It is also where the history of Japanese armor is most legible. As firearms arrived in the sixteenth century, the laced scale construction that had defined the tradition for six hundred years gave way to solid riveted plate, and the change is visible at a glance:

• Okegawa-dō — horizontal riveted plates, "tub-sided". The workhorse of the Sengoku battlefield.
• Hotoke-dō — a smooth, seamless breastplate with no visible plate lines. Named for the serene surface of a Buddha figure.
• Nuinobe-dō — laced scale construction, the older and more labour-intensive form. Still the most beautiful.
• Tatami-dō — plates and chainmail on cloth backing. Folds flat.

Every cuirass here includes its skirt panels (kusazuri) and shoulder straps (watagami), lacquered and laced to match. Sizing is by chest and waist measurement; a cuirass should close with the cords under tension, not at their limit.

Buying a cuirass separately is how most people upgrade a suit without replacing it.