What role does a shield play?

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Joonie73:
The Japanese used shields. What are you talking about?

You fool! What you saw were samurai spinning their swords so fast that they merely appeared to be large round shields!

And besides, there is no honor in hiding behind a shield

Seriously, though - I've never seen a Japanese shield, and I've seen lots of Japanese armor. I cannot say for certain that such things never existed, but I've never seen any evidence of them... most shields did not tend to be as durable as body armor or helmets (shields had a lower proportion of metal) so they didn't survive as well, and so, maybe in ancient history there were wooden Japanese shields that have since decayed... but I've never seen them in books, paintings, or any other art either...