Some very strange Japanese armor.

[estcrh]

These are listed by the Met museum as Japanese gauntlets, 18th century, I have never seen anything like them but they do have some Japanese armor elements. If Japanese maybe they were an attempt to recreate European gauntlets.

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/se ... n&ft=Japan

 

[christianmalterre]

No articulated handprotection?-how did those have ben used???

Maybe somthing for Muto-Dori practice with live-blades?

The do remind me somehow on Kendo-Gloves...

For what use are those both "Hooks" intended?

 

Christian

[Drago]

Beautiful. It sure looks European inspired. But I can only say it "looks like it", I am not sure.

 

The hooks, first thing I thought was they serve the same purpose as the hook on a Jutte, to catch the blade that is sliding off the armor plates. But they do look a bit too flimsy for that.

[IanB]

All, These gauntlets are indeed unusual but not entirely unprecedented. George Cameron Stone illustrates them in his 'Glossary', in addition to a pair of gloves covered in mail and another pair done in kikko. There is a pair of kote in Venice that have the usual tekko extended by additional plates and mail that reach to the ends of the fingers and thumb forming a built-in gauntlet. Just what the purpose of the hooks attached to the wrist-plate is can only be speculation. Catching a sword is a possibility, but their location would have made the operation awkward, needing the wearer to bend the wrist downwards. In this position I suspect the blade would tend to hit the edge of the wrist-plate rather than sliding down into the hook. It would have been more natural had the hooks to be on the inside of the wrists. In addition, why are they fitted on both hands? Had the hooks been shorter I would have said they were to connect the gauntlets to a pair of kote in some way but they seem far too long for that. I'm stumped on this one.

It isn't unusual for armours to sprout hooks and other personal modifications. I have a dou with quite a large pivoting spiral hook in black lacquered iron attached over the right hip. On the right breast is a similar but smaller spiral hook, that on the left being a conventional gilded ring. I'm sure the hook on the hip is to fasten the reins of your horse to whilst you shoot with a bow. why it is duplicated on the breast I have no idea. I saw another armour in Tokyo once with a kind of built in support-arm hinged to the left side that was supposedly to help in shooting a matchlock. That was very silly and must have been a real nuisance.

Ian Bottomley

[estcrh]

 

The hooks, first thing I thought was they serve the same purpose as the hook on a Jutte, to catch the blade that is sliding off the armor plates. But they do look a bit too flimsy for that.

I am not so sure that the hook of a jutte was meant for anything other than holding the jutte in a belt or waist line when not being used. I have not seen any evidence that shows the hook of a jutte being used against a sword in that way. Since the kote pictured are han kote or gauntlets I think its possible that the hooks were used for hanging them on a belt etc when not being used. I have seen mitten style han kote before but not this articulating kind.

 

[Luc T]

strange... maybe they were there to attach the kote.