A FINE AND RARE TAMTAMI GUSOKU (FOLDING ARMOR) WITH A TENGU MENPO

The menpo by Tomohachi
Edo period (1615-1868), 17th/18th century

The menpo by Tomohachi
Edo period (1615-1868), 17th/18th century
The complete matching suit comprising a hood-like helmet, a do with six sections of kusazuri, kote, haidate, and suneate, all of russet-iron plates sewn to indigo-dyed hemp, the plates joined with Nanban gusari (four-way interlinked chain mail), the edges reinforced with stenciled-leather piping along the borders, each plate applied with a floral and geometric family crest of various design in iron, the hardware carved with scrolling vines, the munaita applied with two shakudo heraldic crests, one of mi (three) enclosed in a circle, and the other of Genji guruma, the tengu menpo with a prominent beak lacquered red and black in Negoro style, with silvered-copper fangs, signed on the chin Tomohachi saku, the helmet fitted with a plume of yak hair, the rear of the cuirass mounted with an elaborate sashimono of nine arrows, the shafts bamboo and the fletchings silvered tin
With a wood armor storage box, no armor stand
With Kisho Tokubetsu Hozon (Rare and Especially Worthy of Preservation) certificate no. 12042125 issued by the Kokusai Nihon Kachu Bugu Shinko Kyokai (International Society for the Promotion of Japanese Armor)