Shogun8

This is so cool - First Nations with nihonto!

My issue is not only that I have very specific aesthetic criteria, but I'm trying to square that with learning as I go along. For example, since my collecting focus is armour, I'm naturally drawn to katchushi tsuba, but also other unusual/"kawari" motifs like skulls, worm-eaten wood, etc. and wondering if such motifs are "correct" for the blades that I have. Then there are the questions about having koshirae made, etc.. My blades aren't important but I would like to complete them without spending an arm and a leg.

Agree with most that I prefer #1 aesthetically, regardless of price - it just seems finer and better proportioned.

Very nice, Rob! I too have a daisho project. My blades are Uda, both Hozon, with the katana from late Nanbokucho and the wakizashi from Muromachi.

Equally interesting was this story: http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/09/09/scholars-confirm-first-discovery-of-Japanese-sword-from-master-bladesmith-masamune-in-150-years/

I don't think the technology is quite there yet, is it?

Lukas, These large horns were a form of wakidate or side crests, as Geraint has said. They were actually sculpted out of a relatively light material called harikake, such as hollowed out wood, leather or papier mache which were then lacquered. They were designed to break off under duress and this relative fragility resulted in true Edo or earlier examples being quite rare, with most examples of maedate (front crests); wakidate (side crests); ushirodate (rear crests) and zudate (top crests) that one sees outside of museums being modern reproductions. John

It's always sad to lose a member of our community. RIP. John

I had seen that before, but for some reason I had the impression that since there's been so much difficulty finding someone, that the net was being opened wider to include North America.

How about Pierre Nadeau? www.soulsmithing.com

Eric, So much about this fascinating hobby is about personal taste, opinion and approach. You're absolutely right that I can't tell everything from the photos supplied by Christian, but based on what I can see, I would have no qualms at all about displaying this armour. All the areas of damage you point out have to do with individual strands of odoshi, not swaths of it. Most of the odoshi is still intact and the urushi seems to be in very good condition. Personally speaking, it's in good enough condition to display and like most collectors, having just acquired the armour (with the accompanying excitement about displaying it), I'd probably be reticent to immediately go out and spend the time and money to have it repaired/restored. This would mean being without it for several months at the very minimum; the risk of sending it wherever it's going (and then sending it back); and the attendant costs of the restoration. My feeling is display it as is and if the parts start falling off (doubtful), then deal with it at that time. Someone else might have a completely different opinion - and I respect that. John

Eric, Sure, there are a number of detached or broken laces, but I've seen much worse. There's certainly no reason not to display the armour until such time that Christian decides to have the odoshi repaired or replaced. If it were my first armour (assuming that it's Christian's first armour), I'd be excited to display it too. John

Ahh, of course Carlo. Ashigaru and the like very often only wore just the front part of a haramaki or tatami dou or haratare (which were often just leather), paired with happuri. I think a warrior swinging one of these hefty blades from horseback with the added momentum would slice through this light armour fairly easily, but I'm sure studies have been done for this sort of thing.

Carlo, In the Nanbokucho and earlier, armour was by-and-large of the o-yoroi type (the so-called "great armour", characterized by their huge sode (shoulder guards), which were designed to fend off arrows), constructed of small, lacquered plates called hon kozane. O-yoroi were very heavy and bulky and were worn by higher-ranked samurai, usually on horseback. Later on came the domaru and haramaki which were still made out of these smaller lacquered plates but were much more mobile and flexible. To my knowledge, the heavier plate armour that started appearing in the late Muromachi/Momoyama were developed as a defence primarily against the matchlock and not necessarily heavier swords. John

At first I thought "great!", but just actually skimmed the Japanese section - very basic and erroneous statements...

Thanks for sharing, Peter. Do you know when this article was written? John

Unfortunately, what has been seen cannot be unseen.

Firstly, this menpo was forged out of one piece of iron which is a very rare feat, with very few armourers having the skill level necessary for such an accomplishment. The two armourers known for this type of work were Ryoei and Kunitaka and they were famous even back in the Edo period. Ryoei especially was very well known and though he never signed his work, they are quite distinctive and fairly easy to spot, but very rare. His contemporary (and reputed student) Kunitaka was said to forge masks that were even better quality than Ryoei (especially in the quality of iron) and this is the only Kunitaka that I have ever seen (I own a Ryoei). The quality looked to be quite superb and I think a lot of collectors recognized this, as is reflected in the price achieved. As an aside, although the auction house called this mask an Oie-bo, it is not an Oie-bo which was a very specific style of mask reserved for the bakufu that was made by the Iwai school of armourers.

I like to think that I got things started with my opening bid of 8K!!!

So incredible! Thanks for sharing.

Does anyone know what this sold for?

Decent first acquisition, Greg! Welcome to the dark side... There is no singular book that focuses on zunari kabuto in English but there is an out-of-print one in Japanese. Very difficult to find and very expensive.

Hi Cerjak, The only thing that I would add to what Ian and Uwe have said is that the shikoro (neck guard) seems to be a later addition to the helmet because in a couple of the images, it seems to sit above the koshimaki (the flange to which the shikoro attaches). An original shikoro would fit exactly, with the horizontal flange completely visible. John

Very promising, Mike! That looks indeed like the tare (throat guard) for the menpo - so you're halfway there in that restoration. I wonder too if that is the rest of the kote (armoured sleeves) that go with the tekko (hand guards) in the box shown on the last image. It would be good if you could take out all the parts and lay them out like you have in the first five images.

Absolutely gorgeous! And fantastic work by Robert! I'm really gaining a fuller appreciation for such overlooked pieces of a samurai's battle wardrobe. Thanks for sharing, Eric. John