1941.4.53.7

Collection type

Object

Description

Greaves (shin armour), of textile and leather, with embroidered design. [BH [OPS move] 16/8/2017]

Long description

Greave [suneate] part of Samurai armour set. It has seven vertical metal plates with chain mail in between, attached to a green padded cloth. With two cloth straps for fastening. It is decorated with yellow hexagonal embroidered patterns. A section of leather in one corner. For the associated objects please refer to [1941.4.53 1.-.9]. [BH [OPS move] 16/8/2017]

Geographical reference

Japan

Asia > Eastern Asia > Japan

Cultural groups

Japanese

Person

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Hester Bourne

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1941

Date collected

By 1941

Acquisition information

Donated: 1941

Materials and processes

Material Iron Metal, Material Lacquer Varnish, Material Wool Textile Animal, Material Pigment, Material Animal Leather Skin, Material Animal Leather Skin, Process Lacquered Varnished, Process Woven, Process Dyed, Process Stitched, Process Embroidered

Dimensions

Length: max 293 mm, Depth: max 5 mm, Width: max 355 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1941.4.53.7

Research and responses

I have assumed that the donor was Hester Bourne who lived at Fyfield Manor and whose husband was MP for Oxford. I have not yet found a deeper link to Japan [AP 08/04/2014]

Japanese iron armours were initially of lamellar construction, but armour became increasingly plate-oriented over time. The Sengoku Jidai (‘Age of Battles’, 1550-1600) was a period of intense and nationwide conflict in Japan, and this promoted a rapid acceleration of armoury innovations in this time. All of the armours on display in Case U6A are of the tosei-gusoku (‘modern armour’, post-1500) type, with a fully fitted cuirass, smaller shoulder guards and a lighter form than the box-like hanging lamellar plates of o-yoroi (‘great armours’), which characterised the preceding centuries. Following Tokugawa Ieyasu’s 1615 reunification of the country under the Shogunate, Japan enjoyed over a century of unprecedented peace (the Edo or Tokugawa period). During this time, daimyo and the samurai class as a whole underwent a significant change from practical to symbolic warriorhood – becoming administrators and diplomats rather than warlords. This – and particularly the Sankin Kotai obligation for daimyo to attend the court at Edo, with the extensive annual parading to and fro – promoted major changes in armour, which became richer and more ornate than it had ever been. Various components of the armours also became associated with religious and mythical figures during the early Edo period – overlaying them with layers of symbolic reference. Between 1709-22, the master armourer Arai Hakuseki wrote The Armour Book in Honcho-Gunkiko (1964) – in which he deplored the decline of the ancient o-yoroi (‘great armours’). He also argued that the sight of a general (Taisho) in imposing and grand antique-style armour was of tactical morale-boosting value to an army. This book caused an archaistic shift in armour-making, throughout the 18th century. In 1799, Sakikibara Kozan wrote an armoury manual criticising Japanese armour as showy and impractical, which caused a return to the more functional armour styles of the Sengoku Jidai. After 1868, and the overthrow of the Shogunate during the Boshin War, the Imperial party suppressed the cultural status of the samurai class. It became a legal offence to wear the paired katana and wakizashi swords (the de facto insignia of samurai status), and armour suffered similarly. Japan was undergoing radical social, economic and technological change during this period, under the influence of external Western powers, and the Japanese army was progressively Westernised on the most modern German model of the day. Relevant Reading: Norman, F.J. (1905) The Fighting Man of Japan: The Training & Exercises of the Samurai. London: Archibald Constable & Co. Swann, P.C. (1958) An Introduction to the Arts of Japan. Oxford: Bruno Cassirer. Ryukasu, T., de Bary, W.T. & Keene, D. (1962) Sources of Japanese Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press. Arai, H. (1964 (1709-22) The Armour Book in Honcho-Gunkiko. London: The Holland Press. Robinson, H.R. (1965) A Short History of Japanese Armour. London: HMSO. Moad, M.I. (1982) An Exhibition of Japanese Armour from the L.J. Anderson Collection. Rochester-upon-Medway: City Council Guildhall Museum. Bottomley, I. & Hopson, A.P. (nd) The Samurai Armour at Snowshill Manor. London: The National Trust. Carey, J. (1995) Samurai Undressed. Torquay: The Devonshire Press. Research Conducted for DCF Cutting Edge Project 2006/2007 [AM]

Search terms: Armour Weapon, Armour