Luc T

this is one of the more scarce Iwai men. Are there file marks on the teeth? One of the characteristics of this variation is the lack of the nagashi no ana, and the file strokes on the teeth. I don't know if it is objective to link it to Yozaemon, but it is one of the finest Iwai one can find.

A nice kabuto Alain, but I like the menpo too. interesting research!

It’s this agemaki no kanamono. I saw pictures of the armor, the kanamono are the same style. And yes, this one is missing on the armor.

Quite something Piers, thanks for sharing your experience. here the armor i was referring to. I seems to have a piece of it in my collection

Kusunoki Masashige, the big example for the kamikaze pilots, and all who want to die for the emperor. i know the Minatogawa jinja owns an armor, attributed as his, but in fact made in the 16th century. I would be very happy with some good pictures of this armor.

Well, it all sounds great. I hope for the day the armour community also can gather again.

As Uwe said, likely Myochin. Really nice uchidachi!

An old hoate indeed! I like it.

wow...very impressive tengu! thanks for sharing!

And our friend Sasama said: Takeyasu (武保) Nakahachiman Takeyasu (中八幡武保), late Edo period, lived in Edo. He was an armourer of the Hachisuka family (蜂須賀) who were daimyô of the Tokushima fief (徳島藩) of Awa province. His income was 4 koku and a stipend for the support of three persons. There is an iron black-lacquered navy blue sugake-laced gomai-dô-gusoku by Takeyasu extant whose kote are signed „Ashû-shin Nakahachiman Takeyasu kore o saku“ (阿州臣中八幡武保作之), the suneate are signed „Ashû-shin Minamoto Takeyasu kore o saku“ (阿州臣 源武保作之) and the haidate „Ashû-shin Takeyasu saku“ (阿州臣保作). We also know signatures of the kind „Ashû-shin – Minamoto Takeyasu kore o tsukuru“ (阿州臣・源武保造之).

the first known koboshi by the Joshu are Narikuni 1565, Norikuni 1567, 1568,1569 (3), 1570 (2) etc... the last Joshu koboshi known at this moment is by Norikuni, 1584. Others are Ienaga (1572); Yasushige (1569); Kunihisa (1578)... There is an article about the Joshu kabuto in our Japanese Armor Society yearbook 'KATCHU nr 3', with some very surprising information. These signed and dated pieces are good reference material for the many unsigned works indeed.

It turns out to be Kanno san, an expert about horse related equipment and use of armor on the battlefield. One of the main personalities of the soma noma oi.

Thomas, the early Bamen had 3 rows of koboshi on the front plate. Most of them were signed: ́Echizen no Kuni Toyohara-jû Sadao saku ́ (越前国豊原住貞生作).

in the case of Iwai, this should be exceptional, if so most probably on the inside, the back of the kusazuri, suneate, kote. In that case, it will probably be the inventory numbers, red urushi on a dark background. Interesting dou! Is it nerikawa (lacquered leather)?

Gary, is it possible to post a top view of your kabuto?

btw, in the modern literature about armor, Kansai is a generalism seen as the region west of Japan, without Kyushu and Kishu Kanto is the Tohoku region, Sagami, Joshu.. east of Japan.

My point is, and I quote Orikasa sensei: ‘The most prolific age of Kabuto was the Warring States Period Sengoku Jidai, (in the later stages of Muromachi), when clashes and conflicts were affected by the arrival on the scene and the general adoption of guns, meaning that methods of warfare had to change. For protective wear, i.e. Katchu, this was a revolutionary challenge. In such a world, Kabuto too had to change, and all kinds of unusual Kabuto appeared, including 62-Ken suji kabuto, 62-Ken koboshi kabuto, Hineno Zunari Kabuto, etc. It is thought that the increasing frequency of armed clashes must have required kabuto to be made in large quantities, but there are very few extant examples that can be trusted to carry reliable provenance. We can speculate that most original examples were degraded in subsequent warfare, or were refashioned into new replacement kabuto, etc.’ (Koki no Shiori, Teruo Orikasa, 2019, JAS edition) as such, it is necessary to have the item in the hand to examine the patina, corrosion etc. And even then it is tricky. Now, about the style. The Eastern warlords did not like fantasies. They even skipped the hachimanza on their most precious kabuto’s. Their kabuto were hightech at the moment, they did not need frivolity. This kabuto has a very basic hachimanza, which does not correspond with the fancy haraidate. The mabezashi, I have no first class material to compare, but I presume you have some? For the record, the kabuto by Yukinoshita Masaie had such mabezashi, but that’s a completely different style of kabuto.

another one, late muromachi.

thomas, here 2 late muromachi koboshi, signed joshu Norikuni. One with original mabezashi and haraidate dai, the other one nicely converted according the West-Japanese momoyama fashion.

But before we continue, I just want to say this is no contest nor a quiz, It is about sharing knowledge and a passion.

the shinsa members were Takemura san, Matsumoto san, Nishioka san, Nagata san, and the last one I can't read, but I think it was me. Nagata and Matsumoto are the specialists for this kind of kabuto. (Orikasa is always very sceptical to date these kabuto muromachi, but that is his opinion).

Thomas, look at the corrosion and patina. They are different. The haraidate dai seems atypical for the region, and a bit too flashy for the period. The mabezashi normally has cut-outs on the koshimaki. But I have seen this type before. It could be original, but it’s possibly an edo replacement. but all your arguments are valuble Thomas.

Interesting discussion. what do we have: a 62 plate koboshi number of koboshi per plate? Gary? no hibiki no ana no shiten no byo Small but perfect finished tehen no ana no nonsense but functional hachimanza. irregular shaped koboshi irregular aligned koboshi placed close to the suji. a probably replaced haraidate dai. a mabezashi that is possibly replaced too. According the style, we have a Kanto kabuto who did we have there: the Joshu. This is not a Joshu kabuto the Yashu. There are no koboshi known by them. the soshu (Sagami, Odawara) there was an Ietsugu who made koboshi +-30koboshi per plate. I have seen several of his work and it looks very much like this one. Ietsugu is recorded in the shin katchushi meikan as early edo. But there must have been several Soshu smiths with this name during the end of the momoyama-early edo period by my humble opinion. Gary, is it possible to post a picture with the names of the shinsa members? Some of them know these schools very good. But I am not sure if they were in the shinsa for this kabuto. there is a fair chance that this old boy is signed. Then we could be sure. Now we have to judge on what wee see.

And on the back, very important, the name of the judges. Transparency and responsability.

Gary, here the explanation of the Nkbkhk paper