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Displaying Partial Armor


md02geist

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Hello all,

 

Anyone found a good way to display partial armor? I received pieces of an Edo period dou from a member of my crew as a christmas present. It is about half the back and half of the front, and a few kusuzari. It isn't in the greatest of shape but isn't complete garbage either, it's enough that i'd like to display it with my other things.

 

Thanks!

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Hi Rob.,

 

With due respect to NMB and Brian.

 

Your request is very specific, so could I suggest that you please check out the Armour Forum, many of the members here are members there.

 

It's a fantastic resource with thousands of illustrations and articles by luminaries in the field.

 

http://nihonto-yoroi.com/

 

To view the Forum, you will have to join, which is both free and simple.

 

(I did it, and I am not the brightest button in the box....) :)

 

Then just post images of your armour and you will be inundated by helpful and friendly advice from acknowledged masters in the field.

 

Pip Pip Cheerio

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Here are some pictures. I know these are not in the greatest of condition, but they were a gift and given with a very generous heart. So if anyone has any negative comments about the quality or condition, do us all a favor and keep it to yourself.

post-1387-0-10296500-1515022646_thumb.jpeg

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Rob,  Your enthusiasm reminds me of the day as a kid when I was allowed to keep similar pieces from an armour the previous owner had thrown into the garden rubbish heap about a year earlier. What you have is what is known as the nakagawa (the parts of the body armour that encircle the abdomen) of a hishinui dou - a body armour having the plates joined by cross-knots. Originally they would have been connected by a hinge under the left arm. You should find a series of holes up the edge of each section where the hinge was laced on. You could connect the two halves with thread using these holes and display it as just the nakagawa - remembering that the two overlap under the right arm with the back over the front section.

Ian Bottomley

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You could use it for study, and learn all the techniques and names for the connected parts, and then list them with arrows to help your guests and your own memory, and display it all in a glass-fronted frame. The back of the Do could be the other way round so that you can show too how the inner surface looks. (Just throwing out ideas!) :)

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When I was in my early twenties (now 53) there was no internet. Finding armour was nearly impossible, especially if you had little money.
I managed to pick up the back of a Do with its gessen. I used that piece to study armour for years. And now I make it for a living.

 

As to display. I would join the front and back together and then make a wire display stand to support it internally as a table top item.

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Thank you all for the wonderful ideas. My collection is humble but I like it..a tsuba, a katana, a yari, some other odds and ends. I've had a few nice ones in my possession and studied them then moved them along.

 

I was very happy to receive this as a gift from one of my crew (I am an officer at a firehouse). It meant a lot to me that one of my guys not only knows me well enough to know my interests, but would go out of his way to locate something for me like this *and* spend the money on it on a firefighter's salary no less (I'm sure it was more expensive than your typical stocking stuffer presents exchanged at work).

 

So it means a lot to me sentimentally!

 

Thank you all again for the great ideas. I will play around with some ideas in my head and see what I can do about putting this in display.  I have two young kids, one of whom is extremely curious about *everything* and I worry one day he will grab an antique he shouldn't. So I tend to keep them all very high up lol.

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