question about samurai outift

in some of the pictures I've seenos samurai in armour, many of the lords or shoguns wear what appears to a sort of vest or surcoat over their armour. Cam anyone tell me what this piece is called? Also, did only the higher ranking samurai wear this as part of their outift.

From what I can understand you are talking about a Haori (over coat) or a Jinbaoi (over vest). I don't think there was any real class distiction on who would wear them. Of course, the higher the rank the nicer the clothing. In combat only a general would probably wear one since it would kind of get in the way in battle.

check this site out...it will help you:
http://www.fightingarts.com/ubbthreads/s...page=0#15747488

thanks