They also used shield in the classical period. In fact their levy system was copied from the Chinese Sui and Tang dynasties armies, with similar armaments including rectangular hand shields. However as time went by, the regular army was phased out in favour of privately raised provincial warbands (IE Samurai), mainly to deal with the Emishi in Mutsu and Dewa.

The kind of operations carried by this warbands favoured Horse Archer tactics wich meant shields fell out of use aside from pavises and mantlets used in sieges and ships.