Shogun8

The seated figure is actually an original sculpt by the artist. It only stands about 35" high. His work is very interesting and he captures the details of katchu quite accurately. John

Hi Martin, As Luc says, dating menpo is very difficult - and that's coming from someone with loads of experience. With reference to your menpo, it's hard to say from that one picture. I can give you a couple of guidelines, however remember there are always exceptions to any rule with Japanese armour. Older menpo (i.e. pre-Edo) usually have larger orifices, including larger mouths and ase-nagashi-no-ana (sweat hole under the chin). Also, older masks tend to be deeper. When it comes to Etchu-bo or yasuri men (those with parallel etched lines) from the Iwai/Yozaemon school, earlier examples have the nosepiece riveted on while later examples have a removable nosepiece. John

This is very fascinating, Luc! I look forward to hearing how the investigation develops... John

Here's a Saotome koboshi with the 2 rows of rivets on the front row: John

Hi Guy, I think that 3 rows of koboshi on the front plate was a fairly common trait amongst armourers except for the Saotome. Saotome kabuto only had 2 rows. Of course, the one truism that one learns from studying Japanese armour is that there are always exceptions to any rule... Luc probably has more to say. John

Guy and Luc, Those are both beautiful and elegant kabuto! Can't believe how perfectly the shikoro fits the hachi on Guy's and Luc, I love the hidden odoshi on yours. Serious stuff indeed. John

Sorry, Brian - just did! John

Ian, correct me if I'm wrong, but the hachi seems rather higher than the normal 62 plate suji bachi, don't you think? I'm not sure if I'd go so far to say it's topai or shiinari, but I'd be interesting to hear your (or anyone else's) view on this. John

I think the hachi itself looks fine, but it's my suggestion that the shiten no byo and the hibiki no ana were added later. I can think of no other reason why they would not be located on the proper plates. Perhaps Ian, Luc or some of the other experts may have a theory about this.

Hey Justin, If you look at the front view, you can see that the shiten no byo (the long protruding rivets) and the hibiki no ana (the holes underneath the shiten no byo) are not on the same corresponding plates from the front central plate (i.e. they don't mirror each other). No self-respecting Japanese armourer would ever do that. Also, the distance between the shiten no byo and the hibiki no ana seems too great - they're usually much closer together.

Really bizarre. Also, there seems to be too much space between the shiten no byo and the hibiki no ana. Maybe these were later additions?

^^+1! Thanks for sharing, Dave!

Nice kabuto. Did you do the urushi restoration?

Hi Geraint, That is indeed the same one - I remember seeing it on the Yamabushi website awhile ago. With reference to the solid and one piece shikoro, I have seen a few, including this one in the Barbier-Muller collection being exhibited in Quebec City. Here is a pic I took: And here's a pic of a sumizukinnari that's been published: