uwe

Tsuba is nice! Signed “美喬作” (Yoshitaka saku = made by Yoshitaka). Maybe Iwamoto lineage??

Probably “東廣斎寿光”…

“寛隨” maybe Hiroyuki + kao ?? Not sure about the reading…

Could 三田 refer to Sanda in Settsu?

The other side is a date, Shōwa Kanoetatsu = 1940

I see, thanks Moriyama San! The writing of Ogasawara (the famous family) is 小笠原 instead of 小河原. One of my dictionaries has the second also translated as Ogasawara, though. I was probably too superficial…

DanielM asked about a translation of the omote side in the first place (last Monday), I couldn’t make any sense of the first column as well and hoped someone chimes in. So it seems not so easy… For the name, I had suggested “Ogasawara”, but all three readings are possible!

There are still something on top… “石原義定作”??

There is a Masahide of the Nomura school, late Edo…

Seems to be an “attribution”?!

“正秀” (Masahide)?… first glance and only a gut feeling….

To get the ball rolling… Left column might be: “小河原維徳應需造之” (Ogasawara Masanori* ouju kore o tsukuru). Not sure about the reading of the name and the phrase “ouju”, but it means that this guy made it on demand, I guess. (* several readings possible) Let’s hear what others thinking! Addendum for the right column: ”比総蘓毎里長” as a suggestion…

Angus, it seems that the yoroi bitsu (storage box) suggests a date and that an Iwai craftsman was involved... In case of the date the first two kanji are strangely written. If pushed I would go for: “安政七申年三吉祥” (third month seventh year Ansei = 1860) Left side is hard to read for me, but could be: ”岩井ロ助” (Iwai ? suke) Maybe I’m totally off so no warranty for both guesses! However, I don’t know if it’s helpful at all, because we can’t be sure that the bitsu belongs to the armor…

Not necessarily, Russ!

Well back to the armor! I think we are talking about a "Tetsu sabiji nimai-dô gusoku" (russet iron two part-cuirass armor - simplifiyed naming!) with nunome-zogan adornment, might dating back to the latter half of the Edo period. The helmet is a so called "Hoshi-kabuto" (or Koboshi-kabuto)* of rather good quality. Unfortunately the provided pictures don't tell much about the whole. What I can say is that kote (sleeves) and suneate (shin guards) comming from a matching set, but it seems the haidate (apron) is missing. This is also true for the dô (cuirass) and the kabuto (helmet)*. In case of the Jingasa (bajo-jingasa = riding hat) and the ogi (fan), however, we can't be sure... Note, the dô is insofar interesting, that it was made to look like a rokumai-dô (six part cuirass)! A word about the mon (coat of arms) that makes the helmet and the cuirass "matching". The example below is very close and probably related at least to 3 families, namely: 島村氏, 河村氏 and 茅野氏. The names have several readings so I won't go deeper for the time being... * The helmet might be older. It would be nice to have some more pictures (front-, side-, back- and top-view) as also some shots from inside, if the liner (ukebari) allows it?!

Hi John, heard nothing from him since about a year or so...

Welcome Angus! Starting with the obvious: Sword is signed "固山備前介宗次作之" (Koyama Bizen no Suke Munetsugu kore o saku) Dated "弘化三年正 月日" = 1846 Tsuba is signed "越前住 記内作" (Echizen Jû Kinai saku). Several artists early to late Edo-period... Rather nice koshirae (mounting)! Mask (menpô) is signed "吉久" (Yoshihisa). Most likely a mid/late Myôchin school artist... I will come back later about the armor itself!

Thats what I was refering to, Kantaro!

No worries, Bruce. Sometimes it’s frustrating to me as well. But we are lucky to have very knowledgeable guys around 🙂

正楽 used this kind of “Masa/Shou” character!

Indeed, Bruce “和泉守兼定” (Izumi no Kami Kanesada)!

銘 “兼氏作” (mei - Kaneuji saku)

Then it should be “由清” as Piers suggested. Haven’t checked the writing above so I focused mistakenly on a tester…

Another reading is “Shirakiyo”, but I would stay with “Hakusei”…

From page 275 onwards, Bruce