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Craig Peters




PostPosted: Fri 29 Jan, 2016 9:40 pm    Post subject: Samurai Dog Armour         Reply with quote

I came across this looking up pictures of samurai helmets. It purports to be the only authentic suit of armour made for dogs. Is this legitimate, or a modern day fraud?

"This suit of dog armor -- identified by antique Japanese armor dealer Toraba as the only known and certified authentic example of its kind -- is believed to have been created for the pet of a wealthy, high-ranking and presumably eccentric samurai or daimyo (feudal lord) in the mid to late Edo period (mid-18th to mid-19th century). Although the carved wooden helmet and coat of black-lacquered scale mail would have provided effective protection against enemy attack, evidence suggests the canine never wore the armor into battle. More likely, the suit served as a decorative costume for parades and other formal ceremonial occasions. The samurai dog armor now belongs to an unnamed UK museum."



More pictures can be seen here:
http://www.nihonken.org/forum/index.php?p=/di...g-armor/p1
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Shahril Dzulkifli




Location: Malaysia
Joined: 13 Dec 2007
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Posts: 1,265

PostPosted: Sat 30 Jan, 2016 3:10 am    Post subject: Samurai Dog Armour         Reply with quote


It's hard to believe whether the samurai dog armour is legitimate or fraud.
I never heard of the samurai in feudal Japan putting on armour to their pet dogs (If they own one).

“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength”

- Marcus Aurelius
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Mark Griffin




Location: The Welsh Marches, in the hills above Newtown, Powys.
Joined: 28 Dec 2006

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PostPosted: Sat 30 Jan, 2016 3:27 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

a couple of the refs I've seen says it was used for hunting purposes. Obviously there are european parralesl with this.

However caveat emptor, I've also seen some of the designs done for the '47 Ronin' film touted as originals which they most certainly are not, they were invented for the film by a chum of mine.

Currently working on projects ranging from Elizabethan pageants to a WW1 Tank, Victorian fairgrounds 1066 events and more. Oh and we joust loads!.. We run over 250 events for English Heritage each year plus many others for Historic Royal Palaces, Historic Scotland, the National Trust and more. If you live in the UK and are interested in working for us just drop us a line with a cv.
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J. Nicolaysen




Location: Wyoming
Joined: 03 Feb 2014
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PostPosted: Sat 30 Jan, 2016 3:31 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I remember this from Toraba.com some years ago. He had a nice discussion about it. Certainly a unique one of a kind piece.

Unfortunately the website is lost. Katchu is a strange and rareified collecting group...Certainly that group doesn't make it easy for new blood Worried
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Michael Wiethop




Location: St. Louis
Joined: 27 May 2012

Posts: 63

PostPosted: Sun 31 Jan, 2016 3:15 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Until it was eventually banned, the samurai had a horrifying sport called inuoumono in which they released dogs into a circular enclosure and shot them from horseback with arrows for target practice. Sometimes the arrows were blunt. Perhaps this dog's owner wanted his dog to be safe while he shot it?

Or perhaps this dog's owner was rich and just wanted to show off. But this is all just speculation.
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Lafayette C Curtis




Location: Indonesia
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PostPosted: Sat 27 Feb, 2016 10:07 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I don't think this thing has anything to do with inouomono. The scoring was based on the location of hits and this kind of armour would probably have just bounced off the blunt arrows used in the competition, making it unnecessarily hard to see and award scores for hits.
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Bob Haynes




Location: Mount Perry, Ohio
Joined: 06 Apr 2008
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PostPosted: Sat 27 Feb, 2016 12:53 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Michael Wiethop wrote:
Until it was eventually banned, the samurai had a horrifying sport called inuoumono in which they released dogs into a circular enclosure and shot them from horseback with arrows for target practice. Sometimes the arrows were blunt. Perhaps this dog's owner wanted his dog to be safe while he shot it?

Or perhaps this dog's owner was rich and just wanted to show off. But this is all just speculation.


Lafayette C Curtis wrote:
I don't think this thing has anything to do with inouomono. The scoring was based on the location of hits and this kind of armour would probably have just bounced off the blunt arrows used in the competition, making it unnecessarily hard to see and award scores for hits.


If they really did this with dogs, I think I just lost some respect for the samurai. I understand it was a different time and place, but damn!
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