1901.46.1.14

Collection type

Object

Description

Outer shoe [.14], part of complete suit of Japanese armour. [El.B 4/4/2007]

Long description

The shoe is made of fur with the hair on the outside. A copper alloy ridge runs down the length of the foot, incised with floral patterns. The sole has a copper alloy edge all round. There is also a copper alloy rim around the ankle, incised with floral patterns. Above the rim around the ankle is a strip of sacking or hessian-like material, covered with yellow silk on the outside. The whole is tied around the ankle with purple silk cord. [El.B 4/4/2007]

Geographical reference

Japan

Asia > Eastern Asia > Japan

Cultural groups

Japanese

Person

Field collector Henry Martin Gibbs

PRM source Henry Martin Gibbs

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1901

Date collected

By 1901

Acquisition information

Donated: 1901

Materials and processes

Material Copper Alloy Metal, Material Animal Fur Skin, Material Textile, Material Silk Textile Animal, Process Incised, Process Stitched

Dimensions

Length: max 290 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1901.46.1.14

Research and responses

The following notes are drawn from research compiled by Andy Mills as part of the DCF Cutting Edge project in 2006-2007. This is a very full suit of highly ornate, and archaistic, armour from the Tokugawa Period. It is either a Presentation Armour for diplomatic gifting between high-ranking individuals, or the Parade Armour of a daimyo, one of his close relatives, or a high-ranking samurai retainer.

The bearskin boots (Kuma-no Kawa-no Tsuranuki) are mounted with ornamented brass splints to prevent cuts to the foot. The material of a bushi’s footwear was rigidly controlled and hierarchised, and bearskin was the highest-ranked material in that hierarchy. Such boots, therefore (alongside other elite features, like the war-fan) suggest that this was the armour of a general or daimyo (see The Armour Book in Honcho-Gunkiko , by H. Arai, published 1964.). [SM 08/05/2008]

From the diary (in a private collection) of Arthur Heathcote, who accompanied Henry Martin Gibbs to Peru in 1873: Just before we left Lima Gibbs had offered to him for sale a most curious suit of armour, which on finding that the owner was a gentleman in every way reliable who had been for many years in Japan he bought. It is said to be very rare & certainly most curious, I should much like you to see it & perhaps if you go to Tyntesfield after we get back, you may. The Chinese & Japanese are very numerous in Lima & one can get very pretty things in their shops - but (like everything else in Lima) they are very expensive.

Associated publications

Illustrated in colour on page 41 of Pitt Rivers Museum: An Introduction, by Julia Cousins (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 2004). Caption (same page) reads: 'Complete suit of decorative Samurai armour; made in Japan in the late nineteenth century.' [JC 8 10 2004]

Search terms: Armour Weapon, Clothing Footgear, Armour, Shoe