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Saotome Iyetada Kabuto


Ed Hicks

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Dear Ed,

May I join Geraint, and Uwe in thanking you for sharing these wonderful items from your collection. I must say I consider it a privilege to have viewed these artifacts and hope you will continue to post more from your collection. Most impressive :clap: !

... Ron Watson

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All, I agree with all the previous commentators that this is an exceptionally fine helmet and like others I would have loved to have seen the complete armour. I'm afraid I disagree with the date however. I read the date as Genroku 16 or 1703, he second kanji of the nengo can only be 禄. There is no other nengo with that second character around that era except Bunroku, which is too early for the Saotome. The shape of the tehen kanamono is surely modelled on the turned-over apex of a European Spanish morion or a cabaset, despite the fact that the front and back plates lack a medial ridge. I suppose by the time the helmet was made, the originals had become something of a folk memory.

Ian Bottomley

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Thanks Ian for confirming the date. I thought I was wrong, because the first kanji was hard to read.

 

Ed, I think this is a typical piece to part with! But no worry, I will send you my shipping address :Drooling:

 

:beer:

 

Uwe

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Beautiful helmet, I also think the tehen is facing forward in the same manner as the Spanish helmets, but wanted to add it also looks to represent the stem of an eggplant, and is a very clever design utilizing the bowl of the helmet as the eggplant itself (even more so if the Japanese ever jokingly used a term similar to melon for a human head!) Attached a link and an image to illustrate:

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/55732114111117646/

 

Regards,

Lance

post-2802-14196873143539_thumb.jpg

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