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drl

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Posts posted by drl

  1. On 7/26/2022 at 11:10 AM, IBot said:

    I agree with Piers, the shachi looks really good. Although I have no proof, I came to the conclusion that the circular gilded rings / disc maedate that are so common and turn up on so many armours (but without the kuwagata as on yours) were the default maedate, added by the maker or the armour dealer, simply to fill the gap so to speak. The ultimate wearer chosing a more distictive maedate of their own. If this idea is true, your addition of a shachi is exactly what a samurai would have done when he first acquired the armour. The fact that so many armours still have these simple maedate is probably related to the tendancy to remove all traces of kamon, including breaking off the fukigayeshi, that happened when armours were sold to curio dealers in the Meiji era. Removing a distinctive maedate would reduce the possibility of identifying the seller of an armour when so many had to sell their treasures to buy food during the Meiji period.

    Ian Bottomley

    Ian, what a wonderful insight and a compelling theory—thank you for sharing.  I especially agree with the likelihood that sellers of armor during the Meiji period or beyond would likely have wanted to remove identifying maedate.  

     

    The shachi now feels just right, and I can't imagine Hiro (yes, I named him) without it now.

    • Thanks 1
  2. I took better endoscope photos of the hachi mei (shown below).  It definitely reads "Yoshihisa saku" (made by Yoshihisa).

     

    According to the Shin Kacchushi Meikan, the Myochin Yoshihisas who signed in this simple way (Yoshihisa saku) include:

    Myochin Yoshihisa (1532-1555 or 1528-1532, depending on the source)

    Myochin Yoshihisa, Fukui, early Edo period, died 1675

     

    Of course, in the end it is just engravings on a gilded iron stripe, and there is some uncertainty about the Myochin lineage and evidence of self-spun genealogy among the Myochin line.  

     

    The fact that the seller apparently did not know (and did not advertise) that the inside of the hachi was signed given the intact ukebari makes this discovery particularly fun.

     

    Thanks to everyone who helped piece together the above information.

     

    IMG_4372.thumb.jpg.b78659d956fa64af21913c288216f780.jpg

    IMG_4377.thumb.jpg.a7cdaac62ec11df3eeacb2cd53feab85.jpg

    • Like 4
  3. 12 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

    A2C8F560-1D8D-44D2-A390-B407301B09AF.thumb.jpeg.7bfe2e371eb6bc4d633e7884c6dac9db.jpeg

     

    This is p.294 of the J version.

     

    09EB173D-FC6C-4326-AFC8-FEF7837401C7.thumb.jpeg.bce48f42554ca60da6946427f8453e8b.jpeg

     

    Thank you so much, Piers! 🙏 This will be helpful given that the copy I ordered from Japan will take a while to get here and no expedited shipping was offered.

    • Thanks 1
  4. Thanks, everyone for your helpful and educational comments. Uwe or anyone who has Shin Kacchushi Meikan: would it be possible to please share with me the photos of the kabuto and mei on pages 294 and 295?  I was not able to locate a copy available for sale.  Many thanks for your help.

  5. 9 minutes ago, Bugyotsuji said:

    Well, I would have to say that is one possibility, David.

     

    I would recommend getting the Shin Kacchushi Meikan by Sasama Yoshihiko. I believe there is an English version available; at least my Japanese version has a section on your particular smith Yoshihisa. (There were at least 15 Yoshihisa with these two 吉久 Kanji.)

    Thank you—I will do that if an English one is available.

  6. 6 minutes ago, Bugyotsuji said:

    Yes, upside down, but in the distance it does look like 吉久 and 作 (made by), but I do not see 正.

    Is that character (which Google tells me means “positive” simply part of the appraiser’s level of confidence, but wouldn’t be part of the mei? I assumed the mei would read “made by Yoshihisa” but the appraiser added the “positive” character as a customary reflection of confidence. Then again, I have no Japanese language knowledge whatsoever so I could be way off here :)

  7. Here is the original endoscope photo that I almost disregarded in case anyone who can actually ready Japanese can decide the other “scratches”!  
     

    The lighter golden stripe is not false color, but the actual image. It corresponds the underside of the front center plate of the kabuto. I’m not sure why it is so much lighter than the underside of the surrounding plates—I suspect the metal used on the front center plate decoration (which looks almost like heat-blued gun metal) created a different oxidation potential for this area of iron, which caused it to patina differently over the centuries.
     

    AA9E7463-1D3D-449E-B854-ABACB0873201.thumb.jpeg.080cecb231cc5d820b01979104314ce8.jpeg

  8. Since the kabuto lining is intact, I used an endoscope to take photos of the inside of the center segment of the hachi. I didn’t think much of the photos when I first reviewed them, thinking all I saw was scratches but no mei. But today I took a closer look and it seems like one of the photos, when rotated 180 degrees and enlarged, has “scratches” that match the mei on the kabuto appraisal (Yoshihisa)! See the attached. I feel like some kind of nerd Indiana Jones! 😂

    FFB4B8EA-48DA-405A-9B6A-58F116935F3A.thumb.jpeg.ee1559593bd7ba35c99c250af4d78a70.jpeg
     

    431C617E-C845-48D8-B347-FA98B0A51FB1.jpeg.2f1e4e4518b041f55c75b3e71fb95614.jpeg

     

    What are the characters below Yoshihisa?  Thank you, Uwe, for inspiring me to take a closer look at the endoscope photos. And thank you, Jon M., for guiding me on where to look for a mei.

    • Thanks 1
  9. 1 minute ago, uwe said:

    Congratulations, a very nice armor David!


    The appraiser (seemingly “宗介”) has picked out the oldest smith’s recorded with that names, “吉久“ and “信家”. 
    That said, a Myōchin has papered the work of two Myōchin craftsman, you know ;-)

    These origami, as the whole Myōchin genealogy, is to be taken with a grain of salt. What I’m trying to say is, the attribution is rather questionable!


    Thank you, Uwe. I agree and have read several similar caveats from others (Abelson, Kozan, etc). I did see works in Kozan very similar to the hachi and menpo that Kozan’s book attributed to Myochin (in some cases with the same first name) but I only view the appraisal as evidence that the armor was created before 1703, the date of the appraisal, and that the Kabuto and menpo were likely made in the Myochin school.

    • Like 1
  10. Papers and labeled silk bags for each part (the bags are very thin and many were falling apart).

     

    The appraisals say the kabuto was made by Myochin Yoshihisa, and the menpo was made by Myochin Nobuiye.  The appraisals are dated 1704, and those two Myochin smiths according to Kozan worked 1504-1554 (Nobuiye) and 1532-1554 (Yoshihisa).

     

     

    image.thumb.jpeg.8d4bbc17a86d1e5b0e7bf96b725aab30.jpeg

     

    image.thumb.jpeg.260ba6312fcdcec848806d82731e4889.jpeg

     

    • Like 4
  11. After many months of study, assisted in large part by members of this forum, I completed the acquisition of this yoroi set.  Many thanks to the wonderful John Masutatsu for advice refining the armor arrangement for display.

     

    Suggestions and comments are welcome.  I'll post papers of the mento and kabuto below.

     

    IMG_3934sm.thumb.jpg.33d143f3dd4326fa4d3f700ec18c5484.jpg

    IMG_3916sm.thumb.jpg.2133d2ab798c2308d71ade0a98a81836.jpg

    IMG_3933sm.thumb.jpg.b6766f9b1c2eed2d57c53e7e29cf2f23.jpg

    IMG_3931sm.thumb.jpg.890537e685ef55cd34f221e448475971.jpg

    IMG_3914sm.thumb.jpg.27638cdcf4233be8b7bfca8f739557e7.jpg

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 3
  12. On 5/7/2022 at 9:56 PM, Marc T said:

    Hello David,

    My personal opinion here, but if the maedate is original to this Kabuto, I would recommend to keep the original design. As Piers mentioned,maedate are expendable items, can be broken, lost, collected etc.

    But if original to the helmet, they tells a lot about the Kabuto, or the original owner, it’s crest or it’s clan,etc.

    Everything on a armor is designed for a purpose, and not just to look good. Maedate too have a meaning.

    Actually, armor with their original maedate are not easy to find , and quite rare.

     

    if you really feel the need to put an extraordinary creature maedate on your helmet, you should keep the original one and store it with the helmet mentioning that it was original to the helmet. Later owners will be able to remove the creature to give it back it’s original aspect.

    Again, just my opinion. Hope it helps

    Have a great day

    I fully agree about storing the original even if I find an exceptional creature maedate to study and display on occasion, and I am already documenting everything. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

    Best,

    David

  13. 21 minutes ago, Gakusee said:

    Hi, David, I might be mistaken, but did this armour come from Aoi Art? If so, have you asked Tsuruta san? He normally can procure all sorts of replacements…..

    You have an amazing visual memory. Yes, and I did already ask Tsuruta-san. They did not have any such maedate but kindly offered to keep an eye open for one.

  14. I'm grateful to this whole forum for serving as a source of katchu education for so many people, including myself.

     

    I've become fascinated with maedate—especially the ones of intricately carved creatures (dragons, shishi lions, octopi, imps, etc.). Can someone please recommend dealers that sell high-quality maedate of this type?

     

    Or if you have some outstanding maedate for sale, please let me know.

     

    Thank you in advance.

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