HON KOZANE NIMAI DO GUSOKU
- EX. NATIONAL TREASURE N° 604
- (Designated Important Cultural Property)
- Japan
- Mid-Edo period (1680 – 1700)
- 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.
- Menpō signed Neo Masanobu (根尾正信)
- Bearing the Crest of the Mizuno Clan (水野氏)
- 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).
• Iida, Kazuo. Katchū men: Mononofu no kasō [Armour Masks: Samurai Disguise]. Tokyo: Tōken Shunjū Shinbunsha, 1991.
- 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 (Nihon Katchu Bugu Kenkyu Hozon Kai – NKBKHK) delivered October 30, 2011.
Photo credit : Studio Asselberghs – Frédéric Dehaen
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