Japanese suit of armor in need of repair

[charles heesh]

Hello to all I am new to this forum.

I recently purchased for my sensei a partial suit of Japanese armor in fairly decent condition but it does need some repair and wanted to ask this group if any one knows of a restorer here in the US? With the exchange rate between the dollar and yen I think it would be cost prohibitive to have done in Japan. The armor is for what I believe is a foot soldier. The body armor is of two piece construction, plain brown lacquer over what appears to be iron plates attached to the body. The body is hinged on one side.Some of the lacquer has fallen off exposing the iron underneath. The shoulder pads and thigh skirt, sorry I do not know the Japanese names for these items, are attached to the body with colored silk which has been cut off the body. The arm and hand mail is intact but the material underneath is falling apart and there is some minor surface rust. There is no helmet or other parts. I would like to find someone who can reattach the shoulder and thigh parts and relacquer the body plates that need it. Thank you all for any information provided. Charlie H.

[sanjuro]

Hi Charles.

 

May I suggest you have a word with Andy Mancabelli at Yamabushi Antiques. The contact for the site is in the links section at the head of this page. Just go to the site and email him from there. Andy is probably one of the most knowledgable guys when it comes to Katchu, and he restores armours being himself trained in Japan. He will also know of other restoration houses if he cant help you any other way. Its a good place to start. :D

 

Good luck with the restoration.

[Clive Sinclaire]

Hi Charles

Funnily enough, I am on the same path. Only this month I came into possesion of a low-rank retainer's armour that had severe flood damage. In fact most of the fabric parts were rotted away there was a thick coating of mud on much of the kusari and lower parts which were mostly seperated. I managed to clean off most of the mud but am unable to proceed further without expert help. Ian Bottomly recommended a restorer to me and I was amazed to find a Japanese trained restorer who only lives about 70 miles from me! His website is http://www.katchushi.com although I realise being based in the UK he is probably of no help to you.

I am currently arranging for him to give me an estimate of time and money on, what is mainly a re-lacing job. Its something of a new thing for me as, although I do have armour, I have never needed the services of an expert restorer.

I hope you keep us informed of how it goes and I will do the same.

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

 

PS Your sensei is indeed a lucky man if you are buying him suits of armour!

[cabowen]

Only this month I came into possesion of a low-rank retainer's armour that had severe flood damage. In fact most of the fabric parts were rotted away there was a thick coating of mud on much of the kusari and lower parts which were mostly seperated. I managed to clean off most of the mud but am unable to proceed further without expert help.

 

Have you checked it with a Geiger counter????

[Clive Sinclaire]

Hi Chris

Good point but I bought it in the UK and it had been with the family for some 130 years. They have pics, which I am trying to obtain, of it before all the damage. Inside the lid of the box was the date: KAEI SHISHI NEN SHOGATSU KICHI-NICHI, the owners name MINAMOTO KATSUHARU with kakihan and an address TANSHU..... and finally TENSHITA HAI EH which is some kind of congratulations or well-wishing?

At first I was unwilling to take this massive restoration job on and kept the owner sitting on my tatami for an hour whilst we discussed matters (he also had a pretty nice sword, a naginata, a gendaito, a tachi and a jingasa, all for sale). Suffice it to say that, unwilling as I was, I allowed myself to be persuaded and took the armour on. I also bought the naginata and the jingasa. Unfortunately he harboured hugely unrealistic expectations for both the good sword and the gendaito and I thought the tachi was saiha so I was pleased when he had some difficulty standing up after so long on the tatami! My superior negotiating skills prevailed ( "it will take me the rest of my life to restore this, you will have to give it to me if you want to get rid of it etc. etc" ) The armour cost me the princely sum of ichiman yen!! proving that good fortune occaisionaly rewards the righteous. (which is why Guido has to pay for everything!)

 

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

[peterqu]

Hello Charles,I have used Robert Soanes on a four occasions and he is a pleasure to do business with .Not only is his work very good but he is reasonably priced and delivers on time.Need I add that this is a rarity in restoration work.Regards