In a few pictures of Japanese armor I’ve seen that a few of them have large metal rings that hang off one side of the belt or the other. There’s usually not more then one or two of them so I don’t think they’re actually designed to protect them. Anyone have any idea what those rings are for or am I just seeing things?
Marc
Those are the rings they used to hang their tachis - long, curved cavalry swords - from.
-Ben
Well, I can say right off that I have NEVER heard of a tachi, let alone as a long curved cavalry sword used by the Japanese. IIRC, the yari was often used by cavalry. I know they used swords, which may be your tachi, but I don’t know the name. With that in mind, I have no idea what the rings are for :).
Here’s a picture of one, from the Kyoto Museum of History
http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/meihin/kinko/mh116e.htm
The tachi was the earlier Japanese longsword, worn with the edge facing down, but in later periods, it was surpassed in popularity by the katana, a slightly smaller sword worn with the edge facing up, as armor got lighter.
Here: http://www.gungfu.com/htm_swords/swords_samurai_tachi.htm
In general, the tachi is characterized by a longer handle and blade than the katana, and by the two loops on the saya (scabbard) that allow it to be hung horizontally from the lower back. The idea being you can reach back and draw it while still on horseback.
-Ben
Another guess: its for banner poles? Samurai used to often carry their banners by means of a pole attached to their armour.
I’m not so sure on the sword mounting explanation. Seems to me, as a lay person, that it would be restrictive on deployment of the sword.
I’ve had the opportunity to inspect a pieces of samurai armour, and confess I don’t recall seeing these rings.
Thanks for the info guys. What do you mean by the edge facing down/up?
And you know, I’ve never seen those rings either.
**
Nah, these rings are on the left side or right side. The banners were attached somewhere on the back I think.
**
If you’re mounted it might help to have the sword at a certain angel to facilitate drawing.
I haven’t seen them on all pieces of armor just on some. That’s why it has led me to believe that it isn’t actually a piece designed to protect you but instead may be a bauble or some sort.
Marc
Maybe it is to hold a yari in a charge. You know, so it wasn’t bouncing about and the lancer could put more concentration into riding. They could steady it that way, and it would be at a height that one could do that.
As for the up and doen facing, it referes to the manner in which the sword was carried on the hip, with the edge of the blade facing up or down.I have been up close and personal with a few sets of Japanese armor, having tried on one museum peice. I haven’t seen the rings you’re talking about either.
The rings can’t be sword mounts. The katana was attatched to the obi (sash) by a saego (cord).
For a short exposition on tachi: http://www.coling.uni-freiburg.de/~neuhaus/iaido/manual/node3.html#SECTION00020010000000000000
The swords here are cheap replicas, and aren’t really good examples. (sorry)
And no it wasn’t for holding a yari. Yari weren’t employed as lances.
As for facing up or down, that referes to the manner in which thgey were worn - the edge facing down for the tachi and up for the katana.
I have a really good diagram of all sorts of armor in a classical Japanese dictionary on my shelf somewhere, I’ll look into this.
OK, I checked out the diagrams and I can only guess at the ring, unless I have more info or see a picture.
My best guess is that it is a “tsurumaki.” It is hard to tell just what the function of this device is, because all the descriptions are in dense classical Japanese (which is not my forte). As best I can tell, a tsurumaki is used by archers, it is used in some sort of way when stretching the bowstring. Alas I wasn’t able to search for any online examples because Tsurumaki is a rather common name in Japanese. I’ll hunt for further information, but a picture of the rings would really help.
Not addressing the OP’s question, but this thread reminds me of the display of samurai armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC which several of us went to during last January’s dopefest.
The Japanese are noted for the artistry of their armor and the museum had several fine examples. Most of the armor featured motifs like flames, dragons, demons, wolfs, lions, etc. But there was one helmet that was distinctive; this helmet was modeled to look like a crouching rabbit. Not even a snarling homicidal psycho jungle rabbit; this was an ordinary rabbit that was just sort of perched on top of this samurai’s head.
We had several theories that might account for this unusual choice in martial icons. Perhaps this particular samurai wore his tachi to the left, if you catch my drift. Maybe he was appreciated the value of a gold piece and was able to buy this helmet half off. It could be his dad was concerned that his son wasn’t tough enough and this helmet was the equivalent of being a samurai named Sue. Or perhaps the wearer figured that as the battlelines clashed, his opponent would pause for a second in confusion, begin to ask “what the hell is that on your head?” and leave himself open for an underhanded disembowelment.
I guess we’ll never know. But we do know this; looking down, we could see that this warrior chose some unusual footgear as well. They were low cut and covered with fur; you can argue semantics but they looked like fuzzy slippers to me. And while the fading over the centuries may have made it difficult to guess their original hue, I’d say pink was a definite possibility.
According to my dictionary, a tsurumaki is a sort of holder for keeping spare bowstrings. However, it also says they are usually made of wickerwork, not metal.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by scr4 *
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The illustration in the Obunsha kogojiten shows it as a wide, flat ring, definitely solid. But I suspect that this is not the item in question. We need an illustration. I’m pretty good at hunting down the meaning of obscure clothing items but unless I specifically know what it is, I can only offer a WAG.