1901.46.1.21

Collection type

Object

Description

Shinguard [.21], part of complete suit of Japanese armour. [El.B 4/4/2007]

Long description

The shinguard is lined on the inside with turquoise silk brocade. On the outside are three lacquered plates connected by strips of chainmail. On the lower half of the inside leg is a leather patch, abumi-zuri-no-kawa, painted gold. At the top are three flaps of padded brigandine (kikko-tateage in general or Ju-o-gashira when there are three flaps), with blue textile on the outside embroidered with gold hexagons with green silk braid in the centres. The flaps are lined with red textile on the inside. The shinguard is tied round the leg with green silk braids. [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 Textile, Material Lacquer Varnish, Material Metal, Material Silk Yarn Animal, Material Yarn Metallic, Process Lacquered Varnished, Process Stitched, Process Painted

Dimensions

Length: max 300 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1901.46.1.21

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. [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, Armour