Page 268 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

ïfifi J69

mor, the arms are protected by a five- seven, but the debt to the earlier armor is tall wakidate on the helmet, are duly
tiered pair of small sode (upper-arm guards) obvious. Even at this early stage in the his- employed.
and kote (armored sleeves) of chain mail tory of the daimyo rulership of the li The girth of cat. 167, largest among
with iron gloves. Displayed prominently in family in Hikone, the distinguishing char- the li sets, reflects the physical size of its
relief on the gloves is the Japanese charac- acteristics of their family style of armor owner, li Naosuke (1815-1860), the thir-
ter z, first of the two characters that form were established. This style would con- teenth daimyo of Hikone and an imposing
the name li. The distinctive red-lacquered tinue to be used throughout the Edo pe- political figure during the turbulent era
iron helmet became a model followed es- riod. leading up to the Meiji Restoration of
pecially closely in the later li armor; it is By the time of the brief sixty-day 1868. Recognizing the futility of efforts to
fitted with a shallow, five-tiered iron shi- reign of the ninth-generation daimyo, li maintain Japan's self-imposed isolation,
koro (neck protector) and the wakidate, the Naoyoshi (1727-1754), when peace had Naosuke played a pivotal role in bringing
pair of long gold-leafed wood decorative blessed Japan for more than a century, the about change from 1858 to 1860, when he
elements attached to the sides. White yak tendency toward the decorative elabora- served as tairô, literally "great elder," for
hair cascades from the top of the helmet. tion of armor unrelated to practical need the weakened Tokugawa shogunate. Seek-
Although slight modifications are ap- became increasingly noticeable. For exam- ing to direct his country into the interna-
parent, the armor of the second-gener- ple, the cuirass of cat. 166 comprises a tional arena, he>-engineered the signing of
ation daimyo of Hikone, li Naotaka (1590- busy combination of variously textured a trade agreement with the United States,
1659), as represented by cat. 165, follows tiers, bound with white, light green, and antagonizing conservative Japanese and
closely that of his father, Naomasa. red silk lacings. Nevertheless, the distinc- thereby provoking his assassination in 1860
Among other minor changes, the cuirass is tive, well-established features of li armor, at the Sakurada Gate in front of Edo Cas-
bound with leather cords in a more com- such as the coat of red lacquer and the tle.
plex and decorative manner and the num- The two remaining sets of red-
ber of tiers in the small sode is increased to lacquered li armor were made for children

255