A FINE JAPANESE SUIT OF ARMOUR

A FINE JAPANESE SUIT OF ARMOUR
EDO PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY

Russet iron suji-batchi kabuto of 120 plates, with shikoro of five tiers – the lower divided in three, small fukigaeshi, russet iron mabisashi; maedate of black lacquer in the form of an oni with red- lined gilt eyes, gilt eyebrows and ears, and tall converging horns; russet iron ressei-men with embossed lines around the mouth and above the prominent cheek bones, small beard above the projecting chin, removeable hana with bristling moustache; the tachi-do of iron plates with blue and gold odoshi, gold lacquered hollyhock kamon, kusazuri each of five tiers suspended on blue odoshi; the sode of kiritsuke-kozane, the kote of square-linked mail re-enforced with russet iron bars at the forearms and iron flowerheads at the point of the elbows and with discrete square plates to the upper arms, iron tekkō with embossed knuckles; haidate of lacquered vertical plates bound in five rows with blue odoshi; suneate of vertical iron plates united by mail and supported by quilted fabric.