Samurai Shoulder Guard

One of a pair of armored samurai shoulder guards (sode). Six lame shoulder guards that attach to the armored shoulder straps (watagami) of a cuirass. The top of the shoulder guard has two toggles that would fit through loops on the watagami. The top plate of has an outcurving rim and the surface below the rim has lacquer built up imitating armored scales. Each lame is coated with black lacquer formed into "false scales" (kiritsuke kozane) to give the appearance of individual scales. Lames are connected to one another with dark blue silk lacing in the kebiki-odoshi style. The reverse/interior has a panel of white cloth covering the top five lames.