High ranking samurai armour and accessories

[jon]

Hello,

I go to a Larp and my Character is a Guild Master of a group.
His name is Karasu (カラス) (Crow, raven, corvus etc)
I am making full black Yoroi for him. (Probably with some crow or raven feathers attached to it also)
I also have a Hakama and Gi to go along with the armour.

And I am curious of things I could make along with the armour to make him look more extravagant (or Higher ranking per say)

Things like jinbaori, Kegutsu, and a war fan, but what else would be good to make along with these, so he doesn't look like a petty samurai?

Thank you,

Jon

[solveig]

Well, I suppose that you could incorporate brocade into your outfit. You should also look into having some sort of decoration at the front of your helmet between and above the eyes. You should loose the crow feathers. They just make you look silly in a Japanese context.

[jon]

Why is that? (about the crow feathers?)
Is there some kind of strange japanese history of crows?

[Saionji Shonagon]

Solveig-hime, Jon-dono said this is for a LARP, so a-historical liberties presumably may be taken.

That having been said, there is a legend about a three legged crow named Yatagarasu that is most auspicious. Why not use feathers as part of your maedate (helmet crest)? www.printsofjapan.com/Images3/Hideyoshi_maedate7.jpg is a bit mad, but might give you ideas.

[jon]

Its a LARP, so if anything about the Corvus genus is bad in Japanese culture it wont matter. Nothing about the armour will truly be wrong there.
I was thinking the feathers would be cool on the helmet or as a Gyôyô piece, and having Raven themes to the armour.

[jon]

Im thinking A Karasu Tengu Theme to the armour.

[Saionji Shonagon]

As you say, it's a LARP, so have fun with it. Obviously with a corvid theme you're going to be doing a lot of black, but a hint of gold here and there will give it the opulence of high rank you desire. Perhaps a flash of black and gold brocade for your hakama and hitatare, or a little gold edging on something.

[jon]

Does anyone know how to make a Karasu tengu mempo?
The ones with the beaks.

[roninpenguin]

Mostly from what I've seen they are pretty standard Mempo only with a Tengu nose instead of a standard one. The noses seam like they could be as easy as a couple of curved triangular pieces welded together at the top. I'm actually starting on a Mempo after I finish making the Christmas Gifts for the year and will probably post a similar "How To" to the Do that I posted here.

[jon]

Okay cool! Thank you.
Ill probably make the nose in my metal shop instead of making it out of plastic like I was originally planing.

[roninpenguin]

If you are doing this for your LARP, I'm not sure how durable it needs to be, but you could pick up a casting kit and do it out of resin. The cool thing about doing it that way is that your could always re-cast it if you break one or what not.

[jon]

Yeah it just has to be durable enough to hold itself.
People aren't aloud to swing for the face, and not aloud to swing hard.
A friend of mine has been suggesting the resin kit for it too. So ill look into it, cost wise, and if I can actually get it here in town.

[worldantiques]

Armor with the features of a tengu (tengu tōsei gusoku) Late Edo period, 1854. Iron, lacquer, vegetable fiber, bear fur, leather, feathers, and fabric. The Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas.

[jon]

Woah, That's an amazing quality photo. Thank you!

[Yamanouchi Eidou]

You know, as long as there's LARP action happening here, you could do up your jinbaori to look slightly shugenja-esque. You could throw some pom-poms on there and (I have no idea how you would get this) a conch shell. You could also use the tokin (phylactery) look on the maedate with radiating crow feathers. If you had a surplus of Crow feathers you could cover the whole helmet in them similar to the way some helmets have long hair on them. I would also think that one of the best ways to look high ranking is to have big fat kote plates on the shoulders, but that might not work super well with a jinbaori. However, throwing some more feathers to dangle from the kote would be pretty cool too. I also second the advice about a cool brocade and you should most definitely work a black and gold theme in.

Actually, the biggest thing you can do to look high ranking vs. rank and file that I can think of is this really impractical cape thingy that fills with air and billows behind you when you run.

pictures to follow.