- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Sleeve or gauntlet, part of a complete suit of Japanese armour. [El.B 10/4/2007]
- Long description
- The sleeve is of blue silk brocade with gold patterns. The upper part is covered with rectangular metal plates linked with chain links, then comes an area covered with squared formed by chain mail, then an area covered with long metal plates, and there is chain mail round the wrist. The back of the hand is covered with metal plates. The hand part is lined with stencilled leather. The sleeve is laced along its length with black silk cord and is also bound around the wrist with black silk cord. [El.B 10/4/2007]
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- Japanese
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1920
- Date collected
- By 1920
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1920
- Materials and processes
- Material Metal, Material Lacquer Varnish, Material Metal Wire, Material Textile, Material Yarn Metallic, Material Silk Yarn Animal, Process Stitched, Process Lacquered Varnished, Process Stencilled
- Dimensions
- Length: max 630 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1920.16.13.6
- Research and responses
Note that some of the Japanese items are marked as being obtained by J. Cole Hartland and donated via his brother Edwin Sidney. It seems hard to believe that the other items from Japan were not also obtained by J. Cole Hartland. Note that there is no evidence to date that Edwin Sidney Hartland ever visited Japan [AP 16/2/2009]
The following notes are drawn from research compiled by Andy Mills as part of the DCF Cutting Edge project in 2006-2007. 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. [SM 08/05/2008]
Search terms: Armour Weapon, Sleeve, Armour, Gauntlet Armour