Samurai Cuirass

A russet iron, five-section, step changing style samurai cuirass (tetsu sabiji go-mai dangae-do) belonging to a suit of fighting armor. The five sections of armor are hinged together and secured by a silk cord closure on the left side where the cuirass opens. This hinged design allows the wearer to easily put on or remove the cuirass. The cuirass is constructed of multiple styles of armor making it a mixed, or step changing style (dangae-do). The upper and lower plates are made of horizontal lames formed into "false scales" (kiritsuke kozane) to give the appearance of individual scales. A larger, curved, plate lies between the upper and lower lames. Each plate is treated to create a russet iron patina. Lames are connected to one another with tan, tweed, orange, light blue, and dark blue silk cords all in the kebiki-odoshi style with cross knots and horizontal lacing mixed throughout. Two metal rings are attached with chrysanthemum base washers to the second lame from the top. The upper lames are attached to metal plates covered with stenciled leather, which are used to attach other fixtures securely to the cuirass. Each of these plates has a decorative, gold rim (fukurin).

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 upper-most front plate (muna-ita) supports metal toggles which secure the shoulder straps. Two auxiliary pieces of armor (kyubi-no-ita) hang from the front of the shoulder straps to protect the cords connecting the shoulder straps to the front of the cuirass. These two pieces of armor are decorated with stenciled leather and a gold rim. A large, orange, decorative bow (agemaki) hangs from a large ring with a chrysanthemum base washer over a decorative plate. A brigandine armored collar (tate-eri or eri-mawashi) with an integrated shoulder pad (eri-dai) remains attached beneath the shoulder straps. The underside is of blue silk with gold brocade in a complex geometric and flower pattern. The exterior is of hexagonal iron plates (kikko) beneath a top layer of blue cloth. Orange lacing is then sewn through each individual plate. Green thread is sewn around each plate to create a honeycomb pattern. The panels of kikko are surrounded by a trim (fusegumi) of decorative white, black and green thread sewn in a herringbone pattern. The edge is of blue cloth.

Five lame, pendant-like tassets (gessan) hang from the bottom of the cuirass. Lames get progressively wider as they advance down the gessan. Each iron lame is made up of many small, "true scales" (hon kozane) meticulously bound together to form a solid lame, then coated with black lacquer. The top three lames connect to one another with light blue silk lacing and the bottom two lames connect with dark blue lacing. Lames are laced to one another in the kebiki-odoshi style. The bottom lame also showcases a row of tweed lacing above the bottom row of orange lacing in a cross knot pattern. The tweed lacing continues around the entirety of each gessan, save for the top edge.

Signed, 明珍紀宗親, Myochin Munechika (late Edo period) on the exterior left side, below the arm opening.