Suit of armour
Category
Arms and armour
Date
1750 - 1800
Materials
Iron, copper, gold, lacquer, silk, hemp, hair, leather
Place of origin
Japan
Order this imageCollection
Snowshill Manor and Garden, Gloucestershire
NT 1328748
Summary
Suit of samurai armour, Japanese, of dōmaru (‘body-wrap’) type, consisting of a ridged iron helmet (suji kabuto) with a red tasselled cord tied into a bow on the back (agemaki) with attached neck guard (shikoro), an iron mask (menpō) with attached throat guard (nodowa) with full silk lacing (kebiki odoshi), a pair of shoulder guards (sode), a pair of ‘splint’ sleeves (shinogote, i.e. with iron strips on the forearms), a cuirass (dō) with scale-like plates with full lacing (kebiki odoshi) in dark blue silk, the solid plates bordered with leather with a stencilled iris design (shōbugawa), with a main covering of leather stencilled with a lion design (shishigawa) and metal fittings (kanamono) with chrysanthemum-shaped rivets (kikubyō) of red patinated copper, a red tasselled cord tied into a bow on the back (agemaki), with cords in multi-coloured silk (takuboku no himo or ‘woodpecker cord’) and with a attached skirt plates (kusazuri), thigh guards (haidate) and shin guards (suneate), also all laced in dark blue silk. All fabric foundations are of dark blue hemp cloth stamped with circular designs of dragons in gold. This armour was made for a large man.
Full description
Charles Wade’s Notebook 1340945.3 (SNO.Misc.959.3), p. 46: ‘Oyoroi. SAMURAI. Japanese armour. lacquered helmet of 22 plates with wide wings. Crest of 3 mallets. Mask. Body of ‘coated’ black lacquer. braided Blue & coral Red. Large shoulder (sketch of crest) guards. Apron of chain & plates (sketch of these here). The sleeve & leg pieces are similar. Short sword with lacquer sheath. fr. Cambridge.’
Provenance
Purchased by Charles Paget Wade (1883-1956) from James Whitaker, 68 Bridge Street, Cambridge, 17 June 1940, for £4 10s; given by Wade to the National Trust with Snowshill Manor, 1951.