COMPLETE JAPANESE ARMOUR (GUSOKU)
- NATIONAL TREASURE N° 604 (DESIGNATED IMPORTANT CULTURAL PROPERTY)
- Japan
- mid-Edo period
- Black-lacquered hon-kozane (“true small-scale” lamellar) construction, laced in silk with a paulownia-leaf motif. The armour comprises a ni-mai-dō (two-piece cuirass) with matching kabuto (helmet), menpō (mask), and guards.
- Inscription on the mempō: “Neo Masanobu, resident of Nanbu.”
- Provenance:
• Private collection, South Africa.
- Publication:
• Arms and Armor: Illustrated Catalogue of Important Cultural Materials, Vol. 5. Tokyo: Japan Armor and Arms Research Preservation Society, 2014, pp. 158–159, ill.
• Nara Prefectural Museum of Art. Special Exhibition: Nara Armor Makers Exhibition—The Mainstream of Armor · The Beauty of Tradition, 1986, n°37 p.33. (exhibition catalogue).
- Exhibition:
• Nara Prefectural Museum of Art. Special Exhibition: Nara Armor Makers Exhibition—The Mainstream of Armor · The Beauty of Tradition, 29 April–31 May 1986. Nara: Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, 1986.
- Documentation:
• Certificate of authenticity issued by Incorporated Association, Japan Armor and Arms Research Preservation Society, delivered October 30, 2011.
Photo credit : Studio Asselberghs – Frédéric Dehaen
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