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armor signature location


Peter Bleed

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Dear Friends,

I beg the assembled wisdom of the Forum. I am looking at an uchi-dashi do with a nice dragon, and a russet/blue finish. The associated kabuto has a late Edo era Myochin signature. But I am not seeing a signature on the do. Any suggestions where a signature might be lurking?

Peter

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Peter, The usual place for a signature on a go-mai-do is on the outside of the front half-plate under the right arm. Having said that, I have also seen them on the inside the front plate, chiselled in the iron, the area being left free of lacquer. Yet another place might be on the inside of the lower edge somewhere. I once played with a yukinoshita do for a couple of days before I noticed it was signed in the latter position.

Ian Bottomley

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Peter, You don't surprise me. By and large armourers were quite prepared to stick their names inside helmets, and occasionally masks, but seem to have been a bit reluctant to sign other examples of their work. You say the do in question is an uchidashi do. Is it by any chance a yukinoshita do with uchidashi work on the front plate? If so, I have a theory about these.

Ian Bottomley

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Ian,

I attach an image of the armor that is current absorbing my interest. It is a 4 hinge, 5 plate dou, but it is built of multiple panels. I have never owned a yukinoshita armor (tho, with my interest in Sendai, I would love to have one). My expectation is that yukinoshita dou tend to be sleek, almost like corsets. And weren't they typically made with single, large plate? The armor I'm looking at is built of several plates and it has a barrel shape. It also is not a Sendai armor since the kote have the mitsubshi crest!

So, please share your reactions and tell us your "theory about these."

Peter

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Peter, As you say not a yukinoshita dou although there are similarities. From the shape of the muneita and general shape, I would describe yours as an uchidashi oshu dou. These were derived from yukinoshita dou during the Edo period. You have a very fine looking dou that has the look of the work done by Myochin Muneo. I have one by him in a similar style that has Bishamon riding a fish dragon on the front done in silver and gold overlay. Just for the record, yukinoshita dou are go mai dou that have the hinges riveted on externally, have only three holes for the shoulder fastening cords and, as you say, have a single front plate that give the impression of tapering towards the waist. A large number of genuine yukinoshite dou turn up with embossed front plates - something which has always struck me as anomalous since the style was specifically designed for serious use. I have a theory, entirely unsubstantiated, that these dou were sold off from the Date armoury during the early Meiji period and reworked to make them more attractive to tourists. Originally they would have been lacquered, but those that are embossed have that rather 'crusty', dark russet finish suggesting the original lacquer was burnt off, a process that would soften the front plate making embossing easier. I have seen quite a few embossed jingasa and helmet bowls that show no trace of ever having been used and have the same rough textured finish - the bowls never have any trace of lacquer under the peak and no evidence they were ever fitted with a shikoro. Similarly the jingasa are usually just given a coat of thin black lacquer underneath with rather crude loops made from strips of iron for the internal pads rather than properly made rings. My guess is there was a specific workshop who specialised in turning out this embossed work to satisfy the demand for the ornate and unusual.

Ian

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Ian,

Thank you for your wonderful comments. I have a few responses. But before I get to them, I would like to point out that the forum really and truly is wonderful. The forum provides us with an opportunity to pose questions – even naïve ones – and quickly get the expert opinions from people like Ian Bottomley and John Lissenden. This ain’t bad, friends!

Okay, back to the dou. Your suggestion that Sendai yukinoshita dou were systematically tarted up in Meiji times is most interesting. I am a great fan of Sendai Shinto blades. I love Kunikane style masame, but one of the banes of collecting Sendai Shinto is so-called “ato-mei”. There were 14 generations of the line, but they fell on hard times at number 4 so later generations made lots of mumei blades that went right into the Date arsenal. The story I heard was that in Meiji times, the unsigned blades of the later generations were sold and ‘signed’ with names of one of the first three generations. If blades were being embellished, one has to suppose that it might also have happened armor. Certainly, Sendai kanagu-ya had the ability to do this work. Think of all those Sendai tansu!

All this to say, 1) thank you, and 2) very interesting ‘theory.’

Peter

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Peter, Your story of the ato-mei blades is very interesting indeed since it suggests the Date arsenal was indeed sold off in the early Meiji period. I was fortunate to gain access to the armour store at Sendai Museum many years ago and was astonished by the number of armours, but all made for the various daimyo (and would you believe their wives?). I do not remember seeing much in the way of munition material other than a group of yari in one corner.

Ian

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Just for the record, yukinoshita dou are go mai dou that have the hinges riveted on externally, have only three holes for the shoulder fastening cords and, as you say, have a single front plate that give the impression of tapering towards the waist.
Ian, I have seen several dou labeled as sendai/yukinoshita with more than three holes for the shoulder cords and with multiple front plates??? The Manufacture of Armour and Helmets in 16th century Japan shows a three plate one between p.96 and p.98, it looks like this one which I would have labeled as a one also, are there variances or are these being mislabeled

 

 

compactdou5.jpg

compactdou4.jpg

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Eric, I would call this dou a yukinoshita dou as well, but I was quoting Orikasa T. when he was describing the armour discovered in the tomb of Date Masamune - which I suppose is the definitive yukinoshita dou. He states that it is a 'black lacquered go mai dou in the yukinoshita style ... The takahimo cords .... are not running from the oshitsuke no ita but are knotted to the tips of the watagami. Such kind of construction comes strictly speaking under the term watagami tesaki tsuke. ... There are three holes for the lacing of the takahimo, all of the same diameter as was common in olden times, and the upper two holes which lie parallel are equipped with shitadome.' The signature cannot now be read but Orikasa states it is almost certainly Yukinoshita Hisaie. Although the rear plate on this dou is made from three plates like that you illustrate, the front is in one. Interestingly, Date Masamune's armour was first covered with thin leather before the black lacquer was applied. Normally the lacquer was applied directly to the metal.

 

Ian

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Thanks Ian, so the time period of construction and who the armor maker was may explain these differences.

 

Peter, nice armor, its not often that you can see the details of the uchidashi so close, if you have any more pictures of your armor I would like to see the other panels.

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Eric, I think you are correct. We can get too precious as to 'what is this called' and 'what exactly is that'. Like swordsmiths who made blades with different hamon, armourers also made variants on a theme to comply with the customer's requirements. There is a dou in the Royal Armouries collection that is to all intents and purposes a yukinoshita dou of rather large dimensions. This closely follows the general pattern except that the front plate is in two pieces, joined down the medial line with a row of prominent rivets. Maybe the armourer did this because he didn't have a sufficiently large plate to make it in one piece or maybe the customer wanted it that way. We will never know.

Ian Bottomley

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