Japanese Art: Armour

Some initiated folk out there might not see the art in 'Armour' of the samurai. In truth I did not in those early days - just a bit o' treasure hunting - well, is that not a large proportion of collecting?  We had been on a jaunt to see a Japanese sword polisher (who was resident in the UK for a few years - a nice guy and his wife, an opera singer, who entertained us wonderfully after a splendid 'Chinese meal' in the local village. (But we perhaps will go into sword polishing in another story). Anyway we arranged to meet a Scottish collector in Maggie Thatcher's home town where a dealer in oriental weapons resided. 

The place was a delight to new collectors.  A dealer living in a mansion - cannons in the garden and absolutely no knowledge of Japanese Arms and Armour at all, What more could a collector want!!  I had taken some trading pieces with me and as we entered his cellar/store room, I spotted a piece of decrepit Japanese armour and fell in love. 

Deal done I took the armour, mounted on a Hepworth pinstriped suite, and strapped it into the rear passenger seat of the car. We said farewell to our companions and wound our way home. When food was required we pulled into a service area and collected a hot meal, From the window we saw a coach load of children pull in, they walked passed the car and all stopped. The figure seated in the rear complete with his menpo (face mask) and Kabuto (helmet) drew their attention in a big way - great fun. 

It was a few months before I saw an old friend in Bedford, He had a good armour (seearmour one) and was a collector of some forty years. It was at this point that I realised that not only were these odd things impressive, but also a work of art - not just that, but the work of many artists. 

The basic work is that of a blacksmith, he forms the plates and assembles the most intricate of metal work. When a Kabuto has plate number ranging from four to one hundred and twenty, you begin to realise just what skill goes into the process of producing 'just a helmet. 

Along with this the Menpo (face mask) comes in various styles and shapes, mostly of iron but sometimes seen in leather (an excellent light and strong material).  The face mask goes from a full face cover (So-Men) to face and nose (Menpo) and finally just the cheeks and chin (Hambo). The surface runs from plain non embellished to gruesome and demonic (see 2 photographs above). 

The body of the armour is again in a wide variety of styles and decorations, soft metal fittings of copper, gilded metal and gold adorn these armour depending on the rank and wealth of the owner, so we are into work with quality that would strain the skills of many goldsmiths. 

As you can see in the full armour even more craftsmen were needed to complete a suite, the sleeves were usually of chain mail over silk brocade, the plates of the body, face and helmet were Lacquered, a technique at the time unique to the Japanese. Gilded Mon (Family crests) were applied to the armour, these although not meaning that the wearer was a lord, meant that he was either a samurai of a Diamyo (Lord) or in some cases the Daimyo himself. All of this was then laced together with fine silk cord called 'Ito'.  Again this was an intricate skill and I suppose could be considered a craft of the first order. 

So to recap, when this body protection was made, it was good flexible kit, but to produce it a number of highly skilled artists and craftsmen were required. Behind them were the myriad of other specialists, those who made the lacquer, spun the silk, dyed the silk and Ito, Lacquer artists finished the work with wonderful images of dragons and religious images, but yet another group applied the many foundation layers of chopped hemp and base lacquer. 

As an aside here, Lacquer was and is such a good protective against weather. I once acquired a face mask that had been dug up from a drainage ditch in Somerset. This ditch was outside a theatre and had been filled in 1950, the mask came to me in 1990, it was then well over two hundred years of age. When the dirt was washed away the lacquer was in almost mint condition! 

The final photo is a bit more somber, this is a rare piece of Japanese armour from the second world war. I am reliably informed that this would not have been as glorious an affair as the predecessor, the armour shown would have been that of a sniper. Short lived career and one we will not dwell upon, but it is interesting that the Japanese were (as far as I know) the only army to carry and use a sword into battle in ww2 as well as wearing simulated Samurai armour. 

  

Greyman