A COMPLETE ARMOUR
Japan, Momoyama period, late 16th century

The armour consisting of a Saiga-type helmet (kabuto) with raised rivets, five-bladed hineno-style shikoro joined with kebiki-style laced slings, small fukigaeshi lacquered like the mabizashi visor, with the heraldic emblem (kamon) which appears several times on the rest of the armour, in the center of the front of the helmet a maedate in the shape of a sun, the lacquered iron menpō mask attached to the four blades of odoshi kozane of the yodarekake collar, the cuirass dō and the five blades gessan made of odoshi kozane iron plates with kebiki-style laced silk straps, the kote in metal mail with lacquered iron plates, the kosode shoulder straps with six iron blades tied in silk, the protection for the thighs haidate also in a metal mail with woven iron plates, the tsuneate shin guards with large iron plates linked by a metal mail, two containment boxes.

Provenance: Fabrizio Savi collection, acquired in 2000 from Nihonto, Fred Weissberg.
According to what Fred Weissberg reported in the expertise, this precious armour was offered as a gift by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) to the great lord (daimyō) Gamō Ujisato (1557-1595) for supporting Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) in military operations in Tōhoku, northern region of the great island of Hōnshū.