Samurai saddle

petethe canadian · June 24

I got this old samurai saddle at an antiques jamboree in Tokyo, I have both pieces and there is a monkey motif on both parts, I have read that monkeys were protectors of samurai horses so seeing them on a saddle makes sense. I am not sure how old the saddle is, could be Edo or Meiji, the monkeys have the Maeda mon on their chests so quite possible it was made for that clan I just don't know when. It is well made and does not appear to be a tourist reproduction, it looks authentic and the sellers said it was.

John C · June 24

9 minutes ago, petethe canadian said:

could be Edo or Meiji,

Pete:

I realize this is just nickpicking, however it may help in your research. I know nothing of saddles, however it could either be Edo period if it were for samurai or Meiji if were not. The Meiji restoration disbanded the samurai class in 1868. So the saddle could be made in the Meiji period, however it would not technically be made for a samurai.

If it is indeed legitimate (made for a samurai), then it would probably date from the Edo period.

John C.

petethe canadian · June 24

yes

Scogg · June 24

Can we see the whole saddle, or just that part? Is that the back support?

Would love to see the whole thing...
-Sam

petethe canadian · June 24

petethe canadian · June 24

Edited June 24 by petethe canadian

petethe canadian · June 24

Bugyotsuji · June 24

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hs=eITV&sca_esv=e5b3c94426f10df7&hl=en-gb&q=鞍武具+骨董+鞍+江戸&uds=AJ5uw1_a2D0D09lxm8gpKKOTUn4rcgPmLRKzg4TWlqFm7k5JhzpahfW9rOkRqXXsE1CL_61Rl2hYdOpYLw3o5DpWx-gOtzmFxnlaQolSl6UDsEzzdPUNlGffd3BKhUpSJhhZXlrNVv5he1WEvWU3x_RZlaO7vMxauuOnqFayc9R0XjaKzWhXvB2PGwzrjph0GOX67EilS9MO&udm=2&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjj4pam9aCVAxXEe_UHHYuwCBsQxKsJKAR6BAgPEAE&ictx=0&biw=390&bih=699&dpr=3

Look up words like Edo, Bugu, Kura, Kotto, etc., to see some other examples for comparison.

Ian B3HR2UH · June 24

It looks unlike any " samurai " saddle that I have seen . They should look like those in Piers's link or the following

Bugyotsuji · June 24

Not sure what this is, but here’s a somewhat similar complete one

I found at auction

Decorative cow saddle…(?)

Toryu2020 · June 24

Pack horse saddle.

petethe canadian · June 25

This is an image I saved from the web because it looks a lot like my saddle. When I got it the saddle was held together something like this photo. I have both ends, the maewa and the shizuwa. I took it apart when we sent 110 boxes from Japan to Canada in a container. I could put it back together to look like the one in this photo, wouldn't be hard but it is easier to store in two pieces.

Edited June 25 by petethe canadian

petethe canadian · June 25

Under the maewa brass metal I saw some washi paper sticking out and when I looked closely I saw these 5 shims wrapped in old washi paper, I read it was not unusual for makers to do this to stop the rattling of the metal. Plausible. The sellers said it was a samurai saddle, their country so I figured they would know, even if it isn't it's still a very cool piece in our collection. The washi paper looks old, apparently in the Edo period washi was very expensive and was recycled before recycling was cool, the washi here contains a lot of particles, could be from the recycling process or it was made that way, we brought washi back with us and some pieces are white while others have bits of different things like leaves etc. The monkey motif was not added, it was cut out from a solid piece of brass then some mother of pearl was added behind it. I would wager saddles evolved over the generations, if mine doesn't look like every other saddle out there, that could be one reason and they were not all made in the same place, perhaps different regions had different designs not uncommon in Japan at all. Some saddles were made for battle some were made for exhibitions like parades, I am not saying my saddle has seen battles, I wasn't there so I don't know. One thing is certain, I was not going to leave it behind.