Lot Essay
Such restoration armors were a composite of styles, the helmet shape, o-sode, sendan no ita and kyubi no ita in early o-yoroi style, the cuirass, kusazuri, and haidate of later form. Many armors such as this example and lot number 68 were inspired by the archaizing movement initiated by the eighth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshimune, and copies were made of early armors such as those recorded in the Shuko jisshu (Ten types of antiquities), a catalogue of old treasures compiled by Matsudaira Sadanobu around 1800. Imposing but of relatively light construction, they were made for the daimyo and their chief retainers to wear on formal journeys to Edo and other domains.