A Blue-Laced Yokohagi Tosei Gusoku Suit of Armor

EDO PERIOD (18TH CENTURY)

Details

A Blue-Laced Yokohagi Tosei Gusoku Suit of Armor
Edo period (18th century)
Decorated in brown lacquer and laced in blue and comprising a thirty-two plate russet-iron suji-bachi with a four-stage chrysanthemum teen kanamono and shakudo shinodare, the peak and turnbacks fitted with shakudo nanako-ji fukurin carved with vines, five-stage neck guard, the forecrest a gold-lacquer shogi game piece with the character kyosha, with a removable top and hollow interior laquered black; iron two-piece face mask with a hinged nose plate lacquered russet-brown and fitted with a boar's hair moustache and chin tuft, with a five-lame throat guard; the two-plate yokohagi okegawa do decorated with shakudo hardware carved with family crests against scrolling vines in sukashi-bori and mounted with seven sections of five-lame tassets lacquered russet-brown; chu-sode; shino-gote; shino haidate; shin-suneate; one wood storage box; no armor stand

Lot Essay

The forecrest on this armour is a game piece from shogi, a board game of strategy native to Japan. The kyosha piece, (literally "incense chariot") is sometimes refered to as the "lance". During a game kyosha is allowed to move forward an umlimited number of spaces on the board. It is not, however, allowed to move backward. For this reason, kyosha was thought to embody the ideal warrior spirit of unrelenting advance with no retreat. This forecrest is made in the form of a box that may have been used to hold charms or invocations to deities.

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