Samurai Cuirass

A horizontal plate, two-section, or clam-shell, style samurai cuirass (yokohagi-okegawa ni-mai-do). The front of the cuirass is constructed of eight horizontal lames while the back is made up of nine. Each lame is made of a single iron plate (ita-mono) then all lames are wrapped with a single sheet of leather and painted brown. The lower five lames wrap around the entire torso while the upper lames are separated because of the arm openings. A metal ring is attached to the right side of the second front lame with chrysanthemum base washers. The upper lames are attached to solid metal plates around the neck and arm openings which are used to attach other fixtures securely to the cuirass. Each of these plates has a decorative rim (fukurin), which is painted gold.

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 toggles made of horn which would secure the shoulder straps. The shoulder straps have thick, tan cords designed to hold the many movable parts together. On the front of the cuirass, the upper front plate attaches to the top lame with tan lacing in the kebiki-odoshi style. The first lame then connects to the second with green lacing. On the back of the cuirass, the upper back plates attaches to the first lame with tan cross laces. Though concealed beneath the leather, the rest of the lames are likely riveted together. A 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. The wooden rod would extend down to the lower back where a small cup (machi-uke) would receive it. However, that component is missing in this instance.

A brigandine armored collar (tate-eri or eri-mawashi) with an integrated shoulder pad (eri-dai) remains attached beneath the shoulder straps. The lining of the underside is in poor condition with some of the padding lying exposed. The exterior is of hexagonal iron plates (kikko) beneath a top layer of tan leather. Green lacing is then sewn through each individual plate. Orange thread is sewn around each plate to create a honeycomb pattern. The edge is of blue leather with a white flower design. Seven, four lame, pendant-like tassets (gessan) hang from the bottom of the cuirass, three from the front and four from the back. Lames get progressively wider as they advance down the gessan. Each lame is made of a single iron plate coated with black lacquer and connects to the next lame with tan silk lacing in the sugake-odoshi style. The lames are also connected by a vertical line of orange silk thread up and down the sides. The bottom lame is covered with gold leaf over a rippled texture (tataki nuri) finish. A pocket (hanagami-bukuro) attached to the back of one tasset is made of brown cloth with alternating panels of geometric patterns and gentian flowers, possibly indicative of a family crest (mon).