Jump to content

Kaga Dou


Chishiki

Recommended Posts

According to the research carried out by Orikasa Sensei amongst the Maeda papers in Kanezawa, only Haruta and independent armourers were employed in the Han until 1801 when the Myochin Muneyoshi was taken on. This dou seems to be by a Myochin Munetoshi whose real name was Sukekuro. He was granted a stipend for 3 people in 1826 and died in 1837. Interestingly this is one of the few Kaga armours that does not have the upper edges of the plates shaped.

Ian Bottomley

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This Kaga go mai dou is interesting in having Dutch leather fastened to the front plate. It seems that Maeda Tsunanori, the fifth daimyo, following a visit to Kyoto, was so impressed by the refinement of the capital that he encouraged potters, lacquerers and metalworkers to come to Kanazawa and work for the Han. In 1637 he installed agents organised by a certain Hanawa Ichirobe, in Hirado and Nagasaki to purchase materials such as leather, woollen cloth, velvet, ivory and so forth from the Dutch and English. These materials were incorporated by the Haruta armourers then working in Kanazawa into their productions, hence the dou illustrated. You can imagine my surprise when walking around the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to see a wall covered in the same moulded, gilded and painted leather as my dou. I managed to meet the relevant curator who took me up into the attic and there in a storeroom he pulled out a sheet of the exact same leather, which the Dutch used for covering furniture, boxes and stretched on frames as a substitute for wood panelling on walls. Not only that but he also has the original the carved wooden mould that the leather on my armour had been made in. What a coincidence.

Ian Bottomley

post-366-0-04214100-1571997338_thumb.jpg

post-366-0-80599400-1571997417_thumb.jpg

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...
  • 2 months later...
This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...