Why do you collect an original Japanese armor

[Yves]

Would like to hear from people here why they are collecting Japanese armor. 

Thanks.

[Iekatsu]

Armour is a personal representation of their owners, it involved the skill of multiple craftsman and is a synergy of function and style. It is an interesting field of study because it is not as well researched and is relatively inexpensive and under valued in the great scheme of things.

 

[Yves]

Thank you for your explanation.

Relatively inexpensive: hm. 

[Iekatsu]

Well you can get a very nice helmet for cheaper than you can get a very nice sword. And if you were to compare it with European armour of the same age, it is not even in the same ball park price wise.

 

[Shogun8]

2 hours ago, Iekatsu said:

Well you can get a very nice helmet for cheaper than you can get a very nice sword. And if you were to compare it with European armour of the same age, it is not even in the same ball park price wise.

 

Fully agree here.

[Bugyotsuji]

My wife freaked out having a suit of armour in the hall, but gradually she came to like it there. Now she feels that it somehow guards the house.

Actually it's pretty amazing when you start to realize how many materials were used and what skill was involved to fashion the armour into something functional, not too heavy and not too light, which also looks both good and fearsome. And then you start to discover the endless blend and variety of colour and material to be found extant. Instant time slip.

And people sometimes comment on it, and ask questions. In some ways the ultimate decoration, the traditional centrepiece of the house of a bushi.

[Yves]

It somehow relates to me on a different level than purely the appreciation of the technique and art of it or the aesthetics. For me it represents the warrior and all of the challenges that same warrior would face during the time he would wear it, but still faced all of those dangers with seeming indifference.