Page 110 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

cat. 54
Saddle and stirrups with
cosmetic brush design,
eighteenth century,
saddle of lacquer over wood
with makie,
stirrups of iron and lacquer
over wood with makie,
height of saddle 38 (15),
Tokyo National Museum

IO 9

ARMOR The form of Japanese armor was well established in the middle of the Heian period (794-1185). Thus
the sword, the bow, the naginata (a glaive with a curved blade broader than that of a sword), and other

eleventh-century armor would not have looked out of place in a nineteenth-century daimyo's proces-
sion. Changes were introduced over the ages in accordance with changes in fashions of warfare, but the
basic design of the armor remained the same.
Armor of the early periods was greatly prized. A daimyo might choose to wear a piece of armor
made in the Heian- or Kamakura-period style and even have an early helmet bowl built into the copy.
The early armors, known as ôyoroi (great harnesses), were designed to withstand arrows and glancing
sword cuts and at the same time allow maximum freedom of movement for the wearer to bring his
own weapons into play. The principle of the oyoroi was flexibility. Apart from the helmet, the main com-
ponents are made up of numerous slender lacquered iron plates, each just a few inches long but linked
together by braid in horizontal rows. The boxlike cuirass is formed of four walls, each composed of one
or more layers of sections of such linked rows and joined by cords at the four corners. The whole was
secured on the right side of the body, with a further piece, the waidate, covering the join. A solid iron
sheet, the breast plate (munaita), protected the upper part of the chest. The cuirass was covered with
a leather piece, often dyed and embossed, which allowed the bowstring to pass unimpeded across the
body. The whole was hung over the shoulder by substantial straps.
A skirt (kusazuri) of linked rows of plates was suspended in four sections from the front, back,
and sides. Two large rectangular shoulder guards (ósode) of the same flexible construction hung from
the shoulders; tied loosely to the arms and across the back, they acted as moving shields when the
arms were raised. A close-fitting sleeve (feote) was worn on the left arm only in the early period, since
the right arm had to be free for aiming arrows and the left was exposed when carrying the bow. The
sleeve — made of silk and covered with chain mail as well as longitudinal iron plates on the upper
and lower arm and on the back of the hand — extended from the shoulder to the fingertips. Two