Samurai Arm Guard

Left sleeve of a pair of gold-lacquered, iron, oda (also called kaga) style samurai arm guards (tetsu kinpaku urushi nuri oda-gote). The Oda or Kaga style is distinguished by the presence of gourd-like metal plates (hyotan-gane). The exterior fabric is of green silk with metallic gold thread woven throughout in a flower and ivy pattern. The interior fabric is a coarse blue material. The fabrics are joined at an edge made of patterned blue cloth. Nearly all of the exposed exterior is covered with mail (kusari) made of small, circular links. The gold-lacquered cap plate (kanmuri-no-ita) at the shoulder is split into three sections. The central section is embossed with two flowers. Two dark brown toggles made of horn pierce the plate, attached with blue silk cord.

The upper arm has six flanking, ridged, rectangular splints or "rafts" (ikada) around a central gourd-like plate and a rectangular plate above that, all coated with gold lacquer. Similarly, the lower arm has four ikada coated with gold lacquer around a single large gourd-like plate. Each of the gourd-like plates are embossed with two flowers. The hand guard (tekko) is made of four gold-lacquered plates embossed with flowers. The elbow plate (hijigane) is in the shape of a chrysanthemum with an outer ring of petals broken out into three sections. The sleeve is tightened and tied with blue silk cords and secured with toggles.