Dujeong-gap (Eastern Brigandine)
Korean armor with brass-studded iron plates
The dujeong-gap ('head-nail armor'), the eastern brigandine, is one of the most representative figures of the military armor of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, an armor made by laying small iron plates close-set between two layers of cloth and fastening them with brass rivets driven from the outside. Seen from without, on a face of blue or red cloth, the round heads of the brass rivets stand in even rows that make a striking pattern of dots, and from this the armor took its very name, head-nail armor. Inside, an iron plate the size of a palm is fastened by each rivet, and so even if a rivet at one place comes loose, the plate at another place is still alive, making a soft and tough structure. In its outside form it is much like the Western brigandine, but its parent line lies closer to the cotton armor (mian-jia) of Mongol and Ming-Qing China, and so it is seen as the result of a separate growth of the East Asian line of riveted armor. From the late 16th century, after the Imjin War (1592-1598) shook Joseon's army, it took its place as standard, and until the late 19th century it was worn alike by foot, horse, and the royal guard.