I had to post my new 16th Century Japanese Armor. I am still waiting on bamboo to make the poles for the banner that attaches to the back, but it is complete otherwise. No, I did not make this one, I bought the whole set from Japan. Here are pics for all who have been asking. Even if you haven't, hope you can enjoy them. It will make its debut at Texas Renaissance Festival this year.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s117/cboat97/JapaneseArmor/009.jpg)
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s117/cboat97/JapaneseArmor/010.jpg)
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s117/cboat97/JapaneseArmor/026.jpg)
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s117/cboat97/JapaneseArmor/013.jpg)
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s117/cboat97/JapaneseArmor/017.jpg)
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s117/cboat97/JapaneseArmor/019.jpg)
Very nice. I particularly liked the mempo and the do, interesting colors. :)
Dude, do you ever stop?! You should come out to NY for Chivalric Weekend next year just to hang with your gear, you'd love it!
I think this is my last full set of armor to make a total of 6. I will probably just keep adding new pieces and buying helms, etc. to collect, but this is probably my last full matching set. I would love a full custom Italo-Milanese set, but will prob have to wait a while for that.
It is on to buying unarmored renaissance personas now to wear to fair. I am having a noble set of garb made as we speak for the Texas Rennaissance Fair this year to wear most weekends so that I have something 16th Century Elizabethan or Tudor.... so the tights and pumpkin pants look.
I have been eyeing your Breast and Backplate with Faulds and Tassets for a while now tho, to collect as a piece later this year. I also want to add elbow and knee cops to my medieval knight set-up sooner than later from you. So, I guess this is a long way of saying, no more full armor sets, but no, I will probably never stop. I am sure you have the same uncurable illness that I do as well Allan! ;D
Your timing with this post is awesome! I have a friend here who wants to put together a persona like this. A marvelous job you do with each and every set!
Does he want to make a set or buy a custom one? I spent a couple years learning and narrowing down what I wanted to get for this set, and I really only found one place that did fairly authentic higher end sets.
http://www.samurai-store.com
My set was the L019 with changes being made for my personal tastes. I really wanted the GA1 series of armor, but there was no way I could justify the price of those sets. The O-Sote and look of those sets is more from the 1200's from everything I have read so I went with my set pushing it into the 1500's.
They have sets ranging from $2,000 for lower end, less ornate sets all the way up to greater than $20,000 for a set. He should check them out. I would go with one of their lower end sets over the stuff offered by Hanwei any day of the week. Don't get me wrong, Hanwei makes fabulous Eastern weaponry (The Yari is a Hanwei BTW), but their armor is lacking in quality from everything I have seen and heard. Hope that helps some and thanks for the remark.
PS: I found some interesting information researching this armor that I would have never known otherwise. There are documented accounts of Samurai in Europe during the late 1500's and early 1600's. One even had a portrait made by a painter in Rome during his travels and was taken by the Spaniards to Mexico, visiting several cities there on his journey back to Japan. Apparently, a few Japanese families had been converted to Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church brought a few to Europe to show the beauty of their culture and rally support/money to send more missionaries to Japan. Granted, they were probably never in armor and only in their finest dress, but they were in Europe none-the-less.
Chris .. the armor is great.