Song Infantry Armor

The Standard Lamellar Armour issued by Heavy Infantry in the Song Dynasty, purpose-built for infantry to counter cavalry. Its iron components were hot-forged, perforated and laced together with cowhide thongs to withstand charges by Jurchen and Western Xia cavalry.

The lamellae are made from wrought iron, shaped by hot-forging techniques and hardened via quenching with 0.8–1 mm thick. When overlapped, the lamellae provide a double-layer protection with a thickness of up to 2mm. The edges of each lamella were ground and rolled to prevent sharp corners from cutting the leather lacing. A complete standard Buren Jia (Infantryman’s Armour) consists of 1825 iron lamellae of varying sizes. It features separate pauldrons paired with full-length arm guards. The lamellae on pauldrons and arm guards overlap and interlock, allowing the lamellae to slide against one another when the wearer moves their arms. The body armour connects downwards a wide full thigh skirt covering the shins. Combined with a helmet and lamellar neck guard, the full set weighs around 35 kg.

Weapons are not included in the armor suit