SCA Zunari Kabuto and Dou

[Shintaro Yamamoto Ujiyori]

Greetings,
Over the next couple of months I will have time to make some Zunari Kabutos for the SCA fighter. An example of the helm is shown below.



These are constructed out of 14 ga steel with hidden riveting in the skull. The shikoro can be made out of 16 ga. steel or 1/8" plastic (as shown in the picture). The bargrill is made of 1/4" mild steel round stock and meets SCA requirements. These can be powder coated to your specific color. Lacing can be of your choosing also. The only thing I do not include is a chin strap, I find this to be a rather personal decision (placement wise) so I leave that up to the buyers.

I can also make dou's, like the one shown below.



The dou is made in a 2 piece (clamshell) design and tie on both sides. These are made of 1/8" ABS black plastic and laced with 3/8" wide lacing. The lacing can be of any color you wish. Also included with the dou are the kusazuri (7 total) and the sode. If you wish these not to be included in your order please let us know.

Please contact me if you are interested in placing an order. My email address is [e-mail] and I will try to get back to you within the day.

[Please Delete]

Nice work, it looks like you put a lot of thought into this.
If I could make a few suggestions:

The red 'outline' lacing (mimi-ito and uname) would probably be better done in a white--preferrably a patterned lacing of some sort--or in the same color as the rest of the dou. Hockey lacing actually works really good for this part. I'd also recommend the red lacing at the bottom of the lames be a little bit closer together, if you can get it, and more evenly spaced.

The color issues are sort of odd. The armours I've seen have one of the following characteristics:
1) All of the lacing is the same colour as the dou.
2) The 'hishinui' lacing (the 'x' at the bottom of the lame) is the same colour as the dou lacing, but the mimi-ito and uname (the 'outline' lacing) is different.
3) The 'mimi-ito' and 'uname' are the same as the 'dou' lacing, but the hishinui is different.
4) All three sets of lacing are different colors.

The uname and mimi-ito should always be the same colour, and either those or the hishinui may be the same as the lacing on the dou, but they should never be the same lacing if they are different from the dou. Does that make sense?

BTW, for terms, check out Hiraizumi's page: www.sengokudaimyo.com/katchu/katchu.html

I would also recommend a running braid on the helmet, rather than two rows of hishinui.

You might want to try to get a more trapezoid shape to the kusazuri, if you can, but I think that the lacing is the main thing that makes me do a double-take on it--as was mentioned in another thread, getting the right shape for the kusazuri seems to be a bit of an art.

Are you going to offer it with different lacing options? E.g. Will people be able to buy it laced blue, like the helmet is? Or is it just the one color option?

-Ii

[Odawara]

I like the suit and the helm is very nice. I get the finances in order, and i might be in the market for a new suit