Watching* Seven Samurai*. The lead samurai has a little skullcap (made of lacquer armor, I presume?) that just covers his forehead. What’s up with that? What is it’s purpose? Does it really do that much, as compared to a full helmet?
One of the primary sword strikes used by Samurai was to the forehead. Blows were seldom full strength and were often pulled back quickly - the idea being to strike hard enough to penetrate (and kill) but not so hard that the sword would stick in the victim. (Think of a warrior wading through a field of enemies, striking short, quick blows to multiple opponents in rapid succession.) With that in mind, seemingly minimal protection to the forehead could actually be of value.
Of course, not getting hit would be of greater value… 
I don’t buy that. Commitment to a strike is necessary in order to cause death/disablement. Wrist cuts won’t accomplish either in most cases and only allows more time for your opponent to kill you.
Most likely they are decorative in nature, or simply an innacurate artifact of the movie, and not really somethign historically used.
A cap of hardened leather might have been of more use. Do you a picture of the item in question?
Katanas are for cutting and slicing, not stabbing. Samurai armor is designed to deflect slicing blows; such a headpiece will cause almost any blow that’s not exactly perpendicular to glance off. It may still get an ear, but shouldn’t cause a mortal wound.
It jives with what I remember (albeit from fiction). Somebody is just as dead with your sword an inch or two into their head as they would be with it seven inches down–but the former is a lot easier to pull out. And the top of the head (men) is definitely a major target area in kendo.
ETA: It’s not that you wouldn’t commit fully to the blow, per se–just that you’d plan for it to stop shortly after hitting the head, versus a blow that would stop on its own, and risk getting lodged in the head.
ETA2: Men (kendo) - Wikipedia
Emphasis added.
There’s more to it than just the protective value of that particular piece of armor. In the movie, the samurai are offended by the means by which the villagers acquired the armor and refuse to accept it. But after Toshiro Mifune rebukes them, some of them take a token piece of armor as a sort of reconciliation. It could be that the lead samurai took one small but highly visible piece of a larger set more for this reason than for any practical value. Or, more precisely, that Kurosawa wanted to indicate this to his audience.
Of course, this is entirely leaving out that a katana (which would be the appropriate word for the swords in the movie’s era) were not primary battlefield weapons, even less so than the film showed. You wouldn’t be going through a battlefield hitting people with your sword - you’d be using a spear or polearm. Maybe a greatsword. The katana would be used for cavalry slashes or as a backup weapon. In fact, cheap swords may have been used more often by ill-trained levies than as a
Kendo is entirely irrelevant to actual historical usage, because it’s been so heavily tilted towards sparring and duelling - just like the post-warfare Samurai developed it to be. We don’t know a great deal about the actual sword techniques used by period samurai, although some indications suggest it was not a major factor until the high feudal era. Japan lacked a professional military class until relatively recently, and previous era’s armed forces used quite different weapons and techniques.
Missing the end of that sentence.
But we’re also looking at a piece of fiction, here. It would be like discussing fencing techniques in a discussion about a piece of equipment worn in a western film. It may not be relevant to how things actually happened in the period, but it may very well inform why a particular piece of wardrobe was chosen.
Sorry: should say something like: “In fact, cheap swords may have been used more often by ill-trained levies than as a professional warrior’s weapon.” It was something like a sidearm in the high feudal era. In the early samurai era, it was more important, but that was because of the significance of cavalry raiding.
I heartily agree, but that’s not very useful in analyzing the movie unless there are some other indications that they used Kendo. That particular character didn’t really use specific Kendo techniques that I saw (one other did, but he didn’t use much if any armor). In fact, the guy wearing the armor didn’t fight much.
here’s a pic of it, by the way:
And it could very well be leather. The gloss made me think of lacquer armor.
It could be that the guy wants a piece of armor that protects a major target spot but which is light and unencumbering. There is significant value in not being weighed down or half-blinded by a bulky helmet.
I just noticed that the younger samurai has body armor under his robe. Interesting implications…
That piece is called a hitaigane.
From http://www.blackhydraarmouries.com/Glossary/Glossary2.htm :
Hitai ate: (also Hitaigane )— A metal plate that protects the forehead; usually attached to a headcloth. Late form of happuri worn in place of a helmet.
Wouldn’t that particular blow if done with a real sword also cause a lot of bloodflow? Bleeding wounds getting blood in the face and eyes would make it difficult to fight properly … losing an ear not so much.
I think putting a crease in your brain is more the intent. That top-of-head blow is at least in theory supposed to go through your skull.
If you can out enough force into it, it will, too. It’ll go straight through a helmet. Of course, people testing usually try this stunt with perfect leverage and a big long swing, neither of which is probably on the battlefield…
Oh, psh, you say that like taking a big, grand sweep with both your arms high over your head is leaving yourself wide open to being stabbed in the guts… 