Samurai Back Cuirass

Back section of an iron and rawhide, two-section, or clam shell, samurai cuirass (yokohagi-okegawa ni-mai-do). This back section of the cuirass is constructed of nine horizontal, iron plates with a russet iron (tetsu sabiji) finish. The upper four plates are riveted together. The lower five plates are connected to one another with dark blue silk cords laced together in the sugake-odoshi style. The upper-most front plate (muna-ita) supports toggles made of metal which would secure the shoulder straps which are attached to the back section of the cuirass. A hinge on the left side of the cuirass allows it to open and close and a blue tie from the front half secures it when worn.

The upper-most back plate (boko-no-ita) supports the shoulder straps (watagami) which reach over the shoulders to the front of the cuirass. The back plate also raises up around the neck forming a protective metal collar. A broad, stylized bracket (gattari) is attached to the back plate and serves to support a wooden rod which would hold a battle standard on the wearer's back. On the lowest plate, a small, cup-like, standard holder (machi-uke) sticks out between the lacing. Brigandine armored pads (kobire or kohire) remain attached to the outside of the shoulder straps. A blue neck pad is attached below the collar. The kobire are of hexagonal iron plates (kikko) beneath a top layer of stenciled leather. Blue lacing is then sewn through each individual plate. Orange thread is sewn around each plate to create a honeycomb pattern. A collar may have been attached at one time but is no longer present.

Three, five lame, pendant-like tassets (gessan), hang from the bottom of this section of the cuirass (six total tassets when the cuirass is assembled). The lames get progressively wider as they advance down the gessan. Each rawhide (nerigawa) lame is coated with black lacquer formed over a strip of wide, humped, "false scales" (kiritsuke koishi gashira iyozane) to give the appearance of individual scales. The lames are connected to one another with dark blue lacing in the sugake-odoshi style.