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Suit of haramaki-type armor, 1800s
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Iron, leather, lacquer, silk, and gilded metal
Eisei-Bunko Museum, 4111
© Eisei Bunko, Japan.

This armor in an ancient style was worn by Hosokawa Narimori, the twelfth-generation lord of the domain, who also saw to the reproduction of armor worn by Hosokawa Yoriari, the family’s founder, who lived in the 1400s (cat. no. 20). Except for a few incongruities, this armor is fairly true to the style of the late Muromachi period (1392–1573)—nearly three hundred years prior to its manufacture. The helmet’s U-shaped crest, with a lion in gilded bronze, was copied from ancient armor in a temple in Kyoto.

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