On my most recent trip to New York I spent the better part of two days at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the greater part of my first day being spent in its Arms and Armour department. The museum boasts a Japanese collection that is considered to be the most complete outside of Japan.¹ The following series on concentrates primarily on the Edo period – this wasn’t intentional, it just seemed to happen that way.
Shooting the following photos proved to be an interesting task. I’m an amateur in all aspects of the process. My post production play tends to be a sort of let’s see what happens when I do this in Photoshop type of process mixed with a hey, I wonder if there’s a YouTube tutorial that teaches this…..lately I’ve been asking my graphic designer roommate for some input (thank-you). The following is the result of applying all of the above. Each piece of samurai armour in the Met Museum’s exhibit is behind glass; this made shooting without a reflection challenging. It also resulted in photos that felt sterile. In post production I did my best to create an emotional texture. I kept seeing the work primarily as a collection of portraits. I hope you feel it.
View the second installment of this series, on samurai masks.
The Met Museum’s Address:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10028-0198
Phone: 212-535-7710
Samurai Armour
Armour (Yoroi)
Lacquered iron and leather, silk, stenciled leather
Edo period, 18th century
During the eighteenth century, there was a revival of interest in medieval Japanese culture. As the demand for historical styles of armour began to increase among the wealthy lords, contemporary armourers studied the older forms and techniques in order to duplicate them. This example imitates a yoroi of the twelfth to thirteenth century. It is characterised by a helmet with prominent rivet heads and a wide, flaring neck guard and by a cuirass with a separate panel on the right side, large square shoulder guards, and a deep four-sided skirt.
Armour (Haramaki)
Lacquered iron and leather, gilt copper, silk, hair
Edo period, late 18th – 19th century
Armour (Gusoku)
Lacquered iron, mail, silk, gilt copper
Myochin Munesuke, 1688 – 1735
Edo perid, early 18th century
The large iron plates, embossed with dragons and cherry blossoms, are signed by the armourer Myochin Munesuke.
Armour (Gusoku)
Lacquered iron, silk, gilt copper
Inscribed by Yukinoshita Sadaiye
Edo period, 17th century
The helmet is mounted with the crest of the Date family, dainuyo (lords) of Sendai.
Surcoat (Jinbaori)
Wool; silk brocade; metallic yarns; wool and wool velvet appliques, embroidered with silk and metallic yarns; glass
Edo period, late 18th – 19th century
Armour (Tatami Gusoku)
Lacquered iron, mail, silk, gilt copper
Edo period, 17th – 18th century
Armour of the ‘folding’ (tatami) type could be contained in a small box and easily transported by one man. For this reason, it usually was intended for low-ranking infantrymen. However, the gold lacquer decoration and silk brocade lining of this example are unusual for armours of this type and suggest that it was used by a samurai serving the Date family of Sendai, from whose armoury it comes.
Armour for a Mounted Samurai
Lacquered iron, silk, gilt copper
Edo period, 18th – 19th century
This armour was intended fora high-ranking officer int he service of the Mori family, daimyo (lords) of Chosu, whose badge is incorporated into the armour’s gilt metal fittings. The figure wears a tachi (slung sword); its scabbard is covered with leopard skin, a fashion that looks back to the fourteenth century. The horse is mounted with a lacquered saddle and silver-inlaid stirrups, an iron bit signed by Myochin Sadahisa, and a rare set of ceremonial braids that covers the horse’s flanks.
Armour (Gusoku)
Lacquered iron, silk, gilt copper
Edo period, 16th and 18th centuries
This example comes from the armoury of Date Yoshimura (1703 – 1746), daimyo (lord) of Sendai. The helmet bowl, signed Saotome Iye[tada?], dates from the sixteenth century; the remainder of the armour was constructed in the eighteenth century. The breastplate is inscribed inside with the armourer’s name, Myochin Munesuke (1688 – 1735). The embossed ornament on the solid iron plates is characteristic of the Myochin school.
References
¹http://metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2002/arms-and-armor
All photos were taken at The Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New York, New York in December of 2014. Each excerpt found below all photos in this series is copyright of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have simply copied what was found beside each piece in the exhibit (and changed some of the spelling to reflect English/Canadian usage).
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