So, we are bingewatching the zatoichi movies and I see the men wearing funny arm covers that are not sleeves, that come down over the hands and are held on by loops over the middle finger, what are they called and why were they worn?
They may be a form of Kote, or armored sleeve.
Possible, but they seem to be like the lower leg wraps, plain white cotton with ties. Some of the other men are wearing similar ones, but in the indigo fabric that matches their coats. Found a picture =)
Fixed picture (didn’t display for me, and the link didn’t work either!).
@aruvqan, do you know if they colorized the old black and white Zatoichi movies or did a remake? I just spent 20 minutes looking at youtube and seems like it is colorized?
My high school karate instructor was big on Zatoichi. He moved much like American Kenpo. I remember our whole karate club swelling the attendance at the local Japanese association movie night in Sacramento circa 1979 just to analyze Zatoichi moves (not his sword play but his body movements, multi strikes, checks, etc). It was pretty awesome for a white bread no crust teen. Contributed to my studying Asian languages and living in Asia (including Japan) for over 20 years.
Spelling varies, but these are called tekko or tekou. I know this because they’re a standard part of cosplaying wandering komusō monks.
It’s confusing because the same word could also be used for armoured gauntlets or a kind of knuckleduster.
The lower leg covers are called kyahan, BTW.
Actually, it should be tekkou, that is double K sound and long O sound. My dictionary defines it as just a covering for the back of the hand, with no clue as to purpose. There are armored ones used in battle, but I’m not clear what the purpose of a cloth one is.
Beat Takeshi starred in a 2003 remake but there are 1960’s versions that are colour - perhaps those are colourised?
The first 2 films are black and white, thereafter they are in color - I do believe they remade a couple, but I am not entirely certain of any except a western Rutger Hauer which I can’t remember the name of.
And wonderful =) I love finding interesting facts about stuff, the Dope is fantastic for it. I may never cosplay one, but I noticed the women also wore the leg wraps, so I figure they were to keep the lower legs clean from road dust. The ones on the arms perhaps to keep the wrists and hands warm? Or clean from road dirt?
I really enjoy the Zatoichi films, they seem to have been doing a bang up job of the clothing, and the settings - I love the structures [I have an 8 foot cedar tree segment, about 4 inches in diameter and reasonably artistic looking though straight aging in the barn, it was a find at someones place that wanted to trade firewood for hauling away cut down trees … throw me in that briar patch!] I will say that I find them more interesting and entertaining than almost any of the karate flicks with the exception of a few Jackie Chan films.
Blind Fury.
Dats da bunny =)
I did see it back in the late 90s when it was on HBO several hundred times [or so it seemed!]
Protecting the forearms when working outdoors. They can be padded for warmth, as well. There’s also an element of wrist support.
I wear knitted and fleece ones in winter when hiking, they’re the bomb.
You make it sound appealing for some things I do like gardening. I wonder if there anywhere outside of Japan one can buy such things (the real everyday practical kind, not cosplay stuff)…
I’ve had mine made by friends and bought the knitted ones at craft markets.
I’ve seen them on etsy, too. Mostly as part of ninja.martial art getups, but they look to be made of sturdy cotton fabric similar to canvas or bull denim.