HOW TO ESTIMATE DATE ON A MEMPO?

[NihontoEurope]

Hello,

 

Are there any resources on the internet that could be helpful to estimate when a Mempo was produced?

 

 

/Martin

[Luc T]

Martin, the only source I know is a book: katchu men, from Kazuo Iida.

for sale on Amazon I think.

But what you ask, is not an easy job, dating menpo...

[NihontoEurope]

Thank you,

 

Yes, I thought so. I was hoping one could place a Menpo somewhere in time based on different features or lack of features.

 

Well well...more books

 

/Martin

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Martin,

I know nothing about armor but wouldn't placing pictures here be a good way to get some well educated opinions?

Grey

[NihontoEurope]

Grey,

 

Action taken.

 

I took a photo just now and this is the best I can do at the moment. It is unfortunately mounted and behind glass.

 

[attachment=0]IMG_6600.jpg[/attachment]

 

/Martin

[Shogun8]

Hi Martin,

 

As Luc says, dating menpo is very difficult - and that's coming from someone with loads of experience.

 

With reference to your menpo, it's hard to say from that one picture. I can give you a couple of guidelines, however remember there are always exceptions to any rule with Japanese armour. Older menpo (i.e. pre-Edo) usually have larger orifices, including larger mouths and ase-nagashi-no-ana (sweat hole under the chin). Also, older masks tend to be deeper. When it comes to Etchu-bo or yasuri men (those with parallel etched lines) from the Iwai/Yozaemon school, earlier examples have the nosepiece riveted on while later examples have a removable nosepiece.

 

John

[NihontoEurope]

John,

 

Thank you.

 

If there is no nose protection and only armour at the sides and chin. I have seen some Mempo like that. Are the much older?

Typically like this:

[attachment=0]mempo11.JPG[/attachment]

 

/Martin

[Justin Grant]

Martin,

 

This is a Hanpo or 1/2 Mask. They too cover a wide range of time. There are little "tells" that can help direct you, but unless you have years and years of experience at looking at known dated items, it is simply a guess unless signed. I don't have the experience to do this myself.

 

I have several Menpo and Hanpo and the dates are all over the place.

 

I was told one good indicator is the color of urushi on the inside (red or balck), the hana (nose) rivits vs. prongs, the asa-nagashi-no-ana as indicated above.

 

Here is what I think is a mid/late Edo menpo (notice removable nose)

[Justin Grant]

Also, for comparison, here is a Hanpo from what I believe is the early/mid Edo that belongs to a matching set of armor I purchased from Toraba (these are Trevor's images)

[NihontoEurope]

Thank you Justin!

 

/Martin