Seppuku the head could, both metaphorically and literally, rest in its owner's hands. Those who did not belong to the samurai caste were never ordered or expected to carry out seppuku. Samurai generally could carry out the act only with permission. Sometimes a "daimyō" was called upon to perform seppuku as the basis of a peace agreement. This weakened the defeated clan so that resistance effectively ceased. Toyotomi Hideyoshi used an enemy's suicide in this way on several occasions, the most dramatic of which effectively ended a dynasty of "daimyōs". When the Hōjō were defeated at Odawara in 1590, Hideyoshi insisted
Samurai Red Seal Ship (朱印船) allowing him to trade between Japan and Indo-China. On a return journey from Batavia Joosten drowned after his ship ran aground. As far back as the seventh century Japanese warriors wore a form of "lamellar armor", this armor eventually evolved into the armor worn by the samurai. The first types of Japanese armors identified as samurai armor were known as "yoroi". These early samurai armors were made from small individual scales known as "kozane". The kozane were made from either iron or leather and were bound together into small strips, the strips were coated with lacquer