chris covington

Sorry if I wasn’t clear. That’s why I indicated it is tricky. As you can see from the numbers I found the range is between $7,500 and $600,000. Now the prices listed are from the 1850s-1860s 212 ryo, 300 ryo, etc). This is the tail end of the Edo era. The information about modern value of ryo comes from an unnamed Japanese school textbook. The book states a ryo at the start of the Edo was about ¥100,000 yen and it fell to about ¥3,000 by the end of the Edo. That gives us an approximate timeline, but that also gives us a price of $7,500 for a full O-yoroi, hence my comment about someone making one for me for that price. I find that highly suspect. The Currency Museum of Japan states “nominal value equivalent 300,000–400,000 yen, but was worth only 120,000–130,000 yen in practice, or 40,000 yen in terms of rice.” That is another huge gap. This is why I suggested the four to one ratio of koku to ryo, a historically pretty standard ratio that lets us get an approximate modern value. That would give us the price of $2,000 per ryo. Given that the late Miura sensei sold his O-yoroi for $500,000 before he passed, it seems like it isn’t far off. Currency debasement is always problematic though. I collect coins issued by the Knights of St. John while they controlled Rhodes and Malta. The need to debase currency brought havoc on the Maltese economy and makes figuring out values in modern times very challenging. We should at least try though. Just my thought. Chris

So the value of the ryo is tricky. The numbers given range from as low as ¥3,000 at the end of the Edo all the way up to ¥400,000 at the start of the Edo in today’s yen, but I can’t find context or how those numbers are calculated. The context I can find though it that historically one ryo was equal to four koku of rice in the Tensho era 1573-1592. This is a good working number for me because commodity prices I feel are historically more stable over long average periods of time (even though in the short term they fluctuate wildly). So we know from my first post a koku of rice is about $500US today (the currency I’d prefer to work with since I’m from the US). So each ryo is about $2,000. That would put a domaru around $424,000, and an O-yoroi at $600,000. If we assume the lowest number in late Edo (which I’m a little suspect of, but it might have to do with weight and gold purity of the coins making it tricky to nail down) we are looking at $25 a ryo so an O-yoroi would cost $7,500. If anyone will make a traditional O-yoroi for me for $7,500 please let me know!!! I’ll be happy to pay that! Chris

I agree. I think some people will be put off by it (most of those karuta tatami shikoro we've seen are a little jarring to the modern eye, right?). The Edo aesthetic has really colored our understanding of what these helmets should look like. We can see Mr. Otsuka added a more typical shikoro, and as we know the original helmet was modified for one. I think that is a fair solution but it doesn't capture the original intent of the katchushi or how the helmet was originally used and worn. As you can see on the hachitsuke no ita Mr. Otsuka didn't even bother drilling the holes for the original shikoro configuration. He knew from the start he wasn't going to mess around and try to figure out the original shikoro.

I am sure he had every skill needed to make those spike rivets. From what I have seen they are time consuming, but not impossible to make. Just a LOT of file work. I think it was more likely a detail simply overlooked. The nails probably were "good enough" or maybe that is just how he learned? It was a solution to a problem, just a more modern solution. Maybe in the past the old Saika smiths would have done the same, but they didn't have a hardware store where they could just pick up a box of 500 roofing nails. They had to make everything they used themselves, or obtain those parts from a craftsman. This is why I appreciate Arthur's work, he has the option to take shortcuts, to use modern solutions, but his personal demand for authenticity in his work drives him to work like the original smiths did. How many people making armor are doing that today?

Arthur challenged me to take a hammer to steel. I've turned the basement kitchen into a small workshop space. I'll never have the skill with it that some of these gentlemen have, but it has been very enlightening. I have a new found respect for the traditional artisans and a much more firm grasp on the "why" the old smiths did what they did. I don't think I have the patience for 62 plates! All the best, Chris

He was certainly skilled. I rather like his tachi koshirae. I have no idea why many modern makers choose nails over custom rivets. I don't think the spike rivets are so much difficult to make, as they are tedious and time consuming (Arthur, correct me if I'm wrong). But on armors and helmets like Mr. Otsuka's I can't imagine saving a few days of file work would have been a concern. It is likely a tiny detail overlooked, or an attempt to solve a problem that just wasn't a traditional solution. I can't say. All of the modern fakers have run with that though, which makes spotting fakes so much easier. A lot of modern guys go 95% of the way on projects, but that last 5% is where the magic is. Thanks for sharing the photos and the good conversation. Best regards, Chris

Mr. Otsuka’s example is one of the better examples. But as you say, he wasn’t professional. That is the difference between the enthusiasts and the people trained. This helmet has a pretty obvious and easy to see point. Compare the spiked rivets on this and on Arthur’s helmet. Mr. Otsuka’s work used nails for rivets, much unlike the original and Arthur’s work. Modern Japanese hobbyists employ this shortcut technique, and the results are usually glaring. It is also a good point to evaluate the many fake okitenugui that come on the market (I of course don’t mean to imply Mr. Otsuka was making fakes, only that fakers use the same technique). Sadly, most people don’t study these things deeply, and buy on face value and an auction house’s description. Best regards, Chris

Thanks for contributing more to the thread! I agree that it was an unobtainable amount of money for most. The numbers you show are on par. 30 ryo would be about 30 koku. A koku is about $500 UD so about $15,000 US today. I suggested $7,000, based on my numbers, was nigh impossible. Doubling just makes it worse! We have far greater purchase power today, and a greater percentage of the population today has that purchase power. That being said, modern made traditional armor is a luxury most still can’t/won’t swing. We could have a katchushi make us armor, or get a car to take us to work. For most the answer is simple. Chris

It is difficult to nail down cost of living between cultures and eras. The Edo era is a completely different ball of wax, too. The price of antiques ebbs and flows with interest in the items. $400 US from 1930, with inflation would be about $7,000 today, a steal deal, but I don't think the interest in Japanese armor was high then (keeping in mind there was a depression going on, too). I recently went through some of my comic books at my parent's house. I was flabbergasted at the prices some of these books are commanding now. I'm talking about the cost of armor when ordered new, not the collector's market. The cost for new armor seems fairly stable between at least two cultures (English and Japanese), and during various points in time (14th cen. and 17th cen. England, 16th cen. Japan, and modern day). The value of the artisan it seems has stayed the same, which I find very interesting. The percentage of people with that level of purchasing power has greatly changed, but the overall value of the workmanship seems pretty stable. I'd love to find and chart more data points, across different cultures, and eras, but that is a project beyond my current time management. The cost/quality of a house vs. armor was the point Mr. Mirua was making, I think. The Kaga ashigaru had a very high standard of living, with nice houses. They also had high quality armor. Impoverished clans probably had poor quality homes and poor kit. This makes sense. Of course, like in some very poor neighborhood you see people living in government housing and driving a fancy car. So maybe there were situations like that? Living in a hovel and rocking shiny armor? :D Chris

That is an interesting point. Obviously the Maeda were filthy rich, second only to the Tokugawa, so it makes sense their men were well kept. Mr. Tokugawa Tsunenari wrote in his book “The Edo Inheritance” that one of his coworkers at Nippon Yusen was the head of the Maeda clan. Their boss would yell, “Tokugawa, Maeda, get in here!” It was the first time anyone likely yelled like that since Toyotomi Hideyoshi! 🤣

I only have the prices I listed, so I can't say for sure about Edo prices. European armor is tricky too because of value fluctuations but here are some ball park numbers on British armors. The value of the pound varied wildly across history. I use the National Archives converter page to help with that (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#currency-result). A suit of armor owned by an unnamed knight in 1374 cost about £17. This is about $12,500 US today. The Duke of Gloucester commissioned an armor in 1397 for £103 or about $80,000 today. In 1614 the Prince of Wales commissioned an engraved and gilded suit of full plate armor for £340 or about $57,000 today. This is very comparable to the prices listed for Japanese armor when translated into modern USD. Without more data it would be unfair to draw too many conclusions, but if you'll indulge me a little, I think we can see that the cost of defending yourself was pretty standard across the board and continues to be valued fairly today. The okitenugui helmet that Arthur is working on is a piece of art (ha! no pun intended). It is a replica of a very famous helmet misattributed to Kusanoki Masashige. I have seen a few attempts by famous smiths to replicate it with varying degrees of success. Arthur's is by far the most authentic and accurate replica. Arthur also has the added challenge of fitting it to a modern western head, far more oval in shape than the typical 16th century Japanese skull (which tended to be more round). He had to scale the helmet up to fit the wearer and address the added length to the sides so that it could be wearable. I'm sure Arthur could better explain some of the optical illusions he had to use to get it to look right. Arthur is something of a madman (sorry Arthur). Every rivet was hand filed to shape. Each of the washers was hand cut and filed to create the flower design just like the original. Even the orange odoshi was hand woven in the kuteuchi style. There have been no short cuts taken. Watching this helmet materialize has been a pleasure. Best regards, Chris

Why 900 days? I feel like that is a mighty specific number?!

How much did a samurai pay for his armor? by Christopher R. Covington How much did a samurai have to spend (or did his boss have to spend) to get a suit of armor? Japan is a resource poor country, compared to many other places. There is little arable land and because the islands are geographically young, you don’t find large deposits of ore like iron. Japan creates wealth through value added instead. They are perhaps the masters of adding value as their disproportionate place on the world economy shows, compared to many resource-rich countries. Translating the price of goods and services into modern currency (the USD for my sake) is a little tricky but I think we can get a fair idea of what a suit of armor would cost. I will be looking at the very end of the Muromachi era. This was a period of near collapse of the Ashikaga military government and right in the middle of a 150 year civil war. This era is interesting to me because the founders of the martial arts I study lived during this time, as well as the Catholic Samurai-Saint Blessed Justus Takayama Ukon. It is also helpful because there is some record of prices from this period. The first thing we have to do is a little conversion between two units of value. Japan was an agrarian society and one of the most important units of measurement, and the standard of trade, was the koku of rice. One koku of rice could feed a full grown man for a year. It is about 180 liters. Taxes were collected in rice. Feudal domains and the wealth of the lords who owned them were measured in koku of rice, because rice was life. In today’s USD one koku of rice is approximately $500. A number of factors can change that, but it is a good starting point. Carrying rice in sacks with you everywhere wasn’t possible for daily transactions. The Japanese had various coins made from gold, silver, and copper that circulated for commerce. The coinage was based on Chinese coins and many were imported for domestic use. 1,000 copper coins were worth approximately 2/3rd of an ounce of gold. At today’s price that is about $1,075 worth of gold. This unit would be called kanmon. You could buy two koku of rice for a kanmon. This gives us a fairly stable price even across centuries. Today’s gold price and today’s rice price match the medieval Japanese prices near perfectly. Two koku of rice is $1,000 and 2/3rd of an ounce of gold is about the same. So this helps us get a good idea of armor costs relative to commodities that are still valued and traded! We must keep in mind that many people living in Japan at this time were peasants. They were subject to war, famine, and poverty at a much higher rate. Prices were far less stable as well. Many families lived off of only a dozen koku of rice per year, or less, effectively abject poverty by today’s standards. To be fair, most of the world was living at this level of poverty, so it isn’t unique to Japan. I found a gentleman who posted some prices of armor from the tail end of the Muromachi era. We have three levels of armor he mentions; upper class full armor, lower class full armor, and hara-ate (a type of cuirass that only protects the front belly). The hara-ate is approximately 2 kanmon. This is about $2,000 USD. This is pretty expensive for belly armor (maybe it came with a simple leather hat?). This was better than peasants could buy and what a lower ranked samurai, or an upper ranked ashigaru (foot solider) might have. They might have been able to buy it themselves or they might have been outfitted with it, by their boss. In an agrarian society this would have been a VERY expensive piece of armor, and it didn’t even offer that much protection. For a wealthy farmer a better buy would have been an ox, for the same 2 kanmon price. Oxen were very popular beasts of burden. For an average suit of armor, a warrior (at this point it probably would have been exclusively samurai, not ashigaru) would have to come up with 7 kanmon. There is no explanation about what this comes with. I would assume a full body armor, shoulders, helmet and likely shin, thigh and arm guards. It might have just been the body, shoulders and a helmet. This is $7,000 for very simple armor. There would be no bells or whistles, no fancy brass trim, printed leather covering, etc. This is a fighting man’s armor. Now, we might think to ourselves, $7,000 isn’t THAT much, the price of a used car, maybe? But remember we aren’t dealing with 21st century Japan, Canada, US, etc. but an agrarian Japan where most people would have lived in what today we would consider abject poverty. This $7,000 would have been nigh impossible for most of the population. Then we get into the fancy stuff. These armors would have cost several dozen kanmon. We are talking $80,000 or more for a suit of armor. This is the bells and whistles. Gilded plates with real gold, full body armor, and every inch of you covered in steel, rawhide leather, and silk. Copious amount of lacquer harden your armor and protect it for centuries. Wooden gods and devotions adorn your helmet as votive offerings of protection. These are your commanders, generals, and warlords. These are the super-rich and powerful of society. Some of these guys were so rich that they might have a few different suits, each as expensive as the last! Today we are far richer, and far more capable to buying something like this. Sadly, we don’t value quality like they did back then. There are craftsmen alive today that can make these armors, and they cost close to what they would have cost then. It might cost $25,000-500,000 for a new custom suit of armor, but we have other priorities. We no longer fight in these armors so there is very little practical reason to have one made. There are also much cheaper options. There are numerous factories in China that make the Japanese style armors for costume. Many of the Chinese factories even supply the parts to be assembled in Japan by Japanese factories. These armors cost a fraction of the price, but you get a fraction of the quality. We value cheap and disposable/replaceable over true craftsmanship. Somehow these craftsmen have figured out how to survive practicing a dying art (I suspect a lot of their income is from repairing old armors, and not making new pieces). Not everyone can prioritize traditionally-made, modern, medieval armor, but it is something to think about as you admire the antique armors in the museum and online. These things were expensive back then and they remain so today, for good reason. For reference, a photo of a modern made okitenugui by the very talented American katchushi Arthur Goetz.

Mine is the one with the blue shinobi-no-o on the stand. It is in pretty nice shape and I keep it in storage mostly to prevent UV damage since urushi is organic and degrades in the sun. I have a large head and it actually fits my fat dome. The suits of armors are fit to standard sizes: small, medium, and large. Mine is large. The dou almost fits (I need to drop an inch or two on the belly). It is rare for antique armor to fit a thick western body type, so it’s pretty cool. This isn’t daimyo grade armor, but the large number of extant examples really allows us to compare, particularly in the case of the one damaged by amateur restoration. And I think that is the point of the original post, right? We need to seek out *appropriately* trained repair people. Just because someone has a close skill doesn’t mean it is appropriate. That chocolate cake frosting urushi is like a sword polish from an amateur. To an untrained eye it might look fine, but to someone experienced it is all wrong. Chris

Hi Colin, I wanted to address your post about untrained amateurs working on antiques. I realize this post went sideways, but I thought maybe this post would bring it back to the original topic. Two Christmases ago my wife surprised me with a bit of armor, a dou and matching kabuto (the rest was lost to history, sold off for parts or whatever). In undergrad I focused on the Bakumatsu and this armor is from the very tail end of the Edo. It is an okashi gusoku from the Kaga Coastal Defense unit. I realize it isn’t the highest grade armor but the thoughtfulness of the gift makes it very special to me. Anyway, in my research I’ve found about 18 different suits of this pattern of armor in various levels of completeness (each suit has an armory number and I think the highest I’ve seen in 97). Some are lone helmets, others kabuto and dou like mine and a few complete suits. One, which sold at auction several years back, really struck my interest. I’ll call it the red helmet for the red shinobi-no-o.This was supposedly “expertly” repaired. Upon closer inspection you can see the hand was no expert, but a clear amateur. The other full helmet is mine. I found two images of two other helmets. I picked them, along with mine, because you can get in close to helmet and they are in similar positions so you can compare apples to apples. Look at the urushi on the red shinobi no o helmet. Look at the thickness, color, and “stucco” pattern in it. It is thick. It looks like chocolate cake frosting applied by a child. The red color is clearly trying to emulate the old red that often had mercury in it, and it falls short. The stucco like pattern is coarse and uneven. Compare that to the other three. There is a very bright red helmet, but even that has thinly applied urushi and the sabi pattern is even and fine. Of all the other armors I’ve seen in this type, they are the same thin and even (again, I picked the ones I did because the images where at a similar angle so it makes it a fairer comparison). The amateur who did the “repair” probably learned how to urushi chopsticks, bowls, and pens. Those are fine pursuits (a friend of mine learned to urushi that stuff while stationed in Japan) but not the same. Those skills needed to urushi armor are not the same as chopsticks, bowls, and pens. There are dozens of youtube videos that can teach you the later. The former on the other hand is rare information (for good reason). I’m sure the amateur who “repaired” the red shinobi no o helmet thought he did a great job, but anyone with an eye for antiques can see it is a train wreck. The problem is, some poor guy paid a lot of money expecting “expert” restoration and got anything but. It might boarder on vandalism. One thing I’ve noticed with certain segments of the armor community is they have more money than knowledge. They’ll buy some seriously suspect stuff on the word of auction houses, and take it at face value. But that is a topic for another day. Anyway, I hope your carving skill is better than that amateur urushi skill. Best regards, Chris

I like some of the koshirae even though I would never buy something like that. I really like the sword with the multi sized same', red tsuba and blu saya. I think the use of the same' is very interesting and fun to look at. I am also a big fan of the three models, they really make the display that much more interesting

Is that a water dipper like the ones found outside of Shinto shrines? Don't forget to sign all of your posts per the rules here. You can edit your signature in your profile so it does it automatically. Best regards, Chris

Hello all, Another post about menuki selection got me thinking about koshirae. I have developed an interest in Heianjo shinchu zogan tsuba in their own right but what sort of koshirae would be appropriate for such a tsuba? Would there be certain material or theme for the fuchi, kashira and menuki that would fit best? What type of saya would be best? Simple black lacquer or something more bold? Does anyone have a photos of a koshirae with a brass inlay Heianjo tsuba? Thanks for reading!

Kurt, I love the eggplant theme so I'd love to see a photo of your tsuba. Eggplants are a popular motif for New Years along with Mt. Fuji and hawks. Fuji Taka Nasu. If you dream about any of them on New Years eve you will have a lucky year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsuyume). Cheers, Chris

Mr. Bernard, Do you just pull all of these wonderful tsuba out to make the rest of us jealous? Because it is working! Cheers! Chris

Mikolaj, Both are very pleasing tsuba. The above example I really like because of the little goose flying away. Canadian geese have been flying south for winter and stopping by Maryland on their journey. I am usually on duty at 7am and I often see them in a field near my station first thing in the morning as the sun comes up. I watch them fly away, usually there is morning mist so this motif feels very current to me. It has a fall time feel to me. The other one with the dark shiney patina and no geese reminds me of spring time for some reason. Maybe I am feeling poetic? I also wonder if this is really meant to be day break or a night time theme, maybe the moon with mist? I only ask because I found another tsuba with the same theme mist and goose. It has a kozuka with it that has a goose in flight with a silver moon in the background. http://silverlakes.homestead.com/Masatsugu_Tanto.html. Just my thoughts. Either way I like both tsuba. Cheers, Chris

I don't have much to offer as far as the mei goes but I do find this to be a very tasteful tsuba and I love the design. Thank you for sharing with us. Chris

That guy gets two thumbs up for his name alone! :D :D Do you still have that sword or photos of it? It seems like it is somehting of an important sword that helped bring Yasukuni swords into the mainstream. Cheers, The American Chris Covington

If you head north about 45min to an hour to Baltimore the Walter's Art gallery has a number of swords, armor and tsuba on display in the Hackerman House.

Mr. Bowen I can understand that. It seems like the production quality at Minatogawa shrine was very high indeed. My only complaint about this book is the lack of photos of the blades. The oshigata are nice to have as references though. I would love to see some about these sword on par with the Kishida Yasukuni book. Even if we just had more comprehensive photos on better paper it would be worth it!