Samurai Front Cuirass

Front section of an iron and rawhide, two-section, or clam shell, samurai cuirass (yokohagi-okegawa ni-mai-do). This front 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 small pocket (hanagami-bukuro) is attached to the right-side breast, edged with blue and white leather. A hinge on the left side of the cuirass allows it to open and close and a blue tie on the right side secures it when worn.

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.