Can anyone tell me a little about my armor - Do.

[Caracal]

Hi

 

 

 

When it was made / time period, there is a small door to open on the front see picture

 

Did it belong to a higher ranked samurai or foot soldier? Moon / crest in front what clan can it be?

 

Robert

[IanB]

       Well done a great dou of the type used by Zesai - it goes with your helmet and mask.

Ian Bottomley

[myochin]

Dear Robert,

 

Can you tell us if there are any characters (kanji) engraved on the Inside of your dô ?

 

Thanks

Paul

[SteveM]

The crest is a fan with the letter 大 (dai, meaning big or great). 

 

A bit like the one below, but with a different character

https://kamon.myoji-yurai.net/kamonDetail.htm?kamonName=%E4%BA%94%E6%9C%AC%E9%AA%A8%E6%89%87%E3%81%AB%E5%90%89%E6%96%87%E5%AD%97

[Bugyotsuji]

五本骨扇に剣大　Too small to see properly, but if it's Kendai, it was used by the Matsudaira of Tsuyama Castle, so this could be a vassal family.

 

https://ameblo.jp/daimyo-hanamoto/image-11897564610-13009724218.html

 

Is that evaluation paperwork related to this dou, in pic#2?

[Ken-Hawaii]

Interesting dou. After more than 30 years of wearing bogu, neither my wife nor I have ever seen anything like that. Any idea what that hinged door was used for?

[Caracal]

I can not find any signature where to look as it may be unclear.

 

When Do looks like this what can I do to get it restored and does it make any sense? I have several parts but they have fallen off due to age. Or just keep Do?

 

Is there any value in this Do with loose parts?

 

The paper in the background is a 1978 diploma (shodan) signed by Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama (中山 正 敏) Nakayama Masatoshi and Sensei Keinsuke Enoeda, Japan Karate Association - JKA.

 

Thanks for all the answers

[uwe]

In my eyes, this is a rare dou and of course worth restoring. It should be reunited with its kabuto and menpo to form a “matching set” at the end. The parts you have seems to be the kusazuri and the sode. Hard to tell whether complete or not....
Anyway, some meters of odoshi should solve most of the problems!

[Jon Masutatsu]

Robert

 

As Uwe mentioned this armour is worth some

TLC.

 

I could help you out if you should decide

to restore the odoshi.

 

Jon

[Bugyotsuji]

Re Rurisai-dou, Rurisai-gusoku. 瑠璃斎胴

 

The armourer who invented this kind of Gusoku is alleged to have been 瑠璃斎 Rurisai. Whereas there sometimes used to be a flapped pouch fitted to the dou or gesan/kusazuri, called a 鼻紙袋 Hanagami-bukuro (nose tissue pouch) or 前袋 Mae-bukuro (frontal pouch), this little door/shutter was a new evolution. 

 

It is said that your hand will find the foldover of your haori inside and the large knot tying the Hitatare bands, where you could fit useful things inside such as funeral expenses, a strip of 手拭 tenugui or a 厨子 Zushi portable Buddha shrine, or you could even even scratch your belly!

[Luc T]

It looks like you own a fine Zesai armor Robert. This was for a rather high ranking samurai

[Caracal]

Thank you all for your help, as usual I appreciate your professional answers that help me to search further with my questions.

 

All the best

 

Robert