Leaving archery alone, and trying my hand at the nanbokucho sword info...
My understanding is that the koshirae you are looking for is generally something along the lines of Ito-maki koshirae. While I'm sure you still had kenuki tachi around, I'm not sure if they were being made for battle at this time--something inside of me wants to say that they were more focused on the itomaki.
Here's an interesting site on different tsuka-maki:
home.planet.nl/~sebregts/index.htmlAmong other things it has a visual glossary that gives some information about particular styles (e.g. if they started during the Edo, Muromachi, etc.)
And here's a good reference for the history of koshirae in general:
home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/koshirae/koshirae.htmThe oldest wraps I can remember seeing were, iirc, flat wraps (no twist), which makes sense.
The efu-tachi or hoso-tachi style continued to be popular through the Nanbokucho period, and you still see it in drawings of men at court. This often appears to be
same on the tsuka, with menuki actually acting as the head of the mekugi rivet, and a band of (I assume bronze) running in a large 'U' shape around the tsuka to keep it all in place. Most of these tachi have the hole through the kabuto-gane and a cord dangling from it.
The Mongol invasion scroll of the late 13th century shows colorful efu-tachi as well as what seems to be itomaki-tachi. Predominantly I see a dark (black?) ito over a dark brown (faded?) tsuka core. Tiger skin saya covers seem prevalent.
At Kasuga shrine there is a Kamakura era kazari-tachi. The tsuka is missing, but otherwise the furniture can be made out under the years of tarnish.
I'm not sure about kenuki tachi, but you do see 'kenuki' shaped tachi, where it has the shape of the hair tweezer on the tsuka, but not the hole (in some cases the mekugi is going through where the 'hole' should be).
Kasuga Taisha does have a nice 'Kinsou kaou chiashi hyougo gusari no tachi' from the Nanbokucho period. No
same that I can tell--looks like it is a thin gold lacquer over wood, but I can't fully decipher the text and it is getting late. Of interest--the ashi are chain, rather than leather, and rather elaborate in the way they are shaped, instead of just being standard lengths of chain.
There's also a koshigatana that is very plain, also from nanbokucho. The koshirae shows a lack of an implement in the side, and it is aikuchi, or near enough.
They don't show, but mention the following other Nanbokucho swords there:
'Kuro urushi yamagane-zukuri no tachi': Black lacquered tachi made with mountain-shaped hangers (I'm assuming 'yamagane' refers to 'yamagata kanamono').
'Kuro urushi kawazutsumi no tachi': Black lacquered tachi wrapped in leather.
'Kairagi-zuka kuro urushi no tachi': Black lacquered tachi with a 'plum flower hide' (kairagi) tsuka.
In the book of sword porn (so-called because of its centerfolds),
Nihonto Daizen:Encyclopedia of the Japanese Swords we see:
Kamakura: Ikakeji katabamihiramon hyogogusari tachi. It is 'hyogo gusari' so it hangs from chain ashi, with an austere saya painted or lacquered in gold. The tsuka is same with the 'U' shaped fukurin (rim).
Another: Kurourushi tachi (black lacquered tachi). A flat black sqyq, with a kawa-ito wrapped tsuka. Hard to tell, but it looks like the leather wrap may be lacquered over.
Several koshi- and uchigatana that are extravegant but not really indicative of the tachi styles (let alone what would be on nodachi--sorry, haven't found much there).
Wait... here's an odachi typical of nanbokucho style--- 135.7 cm. Above that is a picture of a warrior who had a 160 cm odachi, and then another--both in what appears to be ito-maki tachi style mounts with tiger-skin saya covers.
Here's a nanbokucho tachi that has dark koshirae, 'kawa-tsutsumi kawa-maki' (so the saya is wrapped in leather and then wrapped in leather 'ito' as per a typical 'ito-maki').
There are 'ito-maki' tsuka from at least the end of the Heian period although the wrap looks pretty flat.
119.9 cm tachi from the early Muromachi (Nanbokucho) period--koshirae was apparently ito-maki at one time, but now the only ito is on the tsuka. it is only wrapped in one direction (katate maki?) but there is space to see below, where it looks like the tsuka was covered with cloth rather than
same.
Another Nanbokucho ito-maki tachi with a leather cover over the tsuba (I believe to help kep water from getting in the saya, though I'm not sure--I've seen them quite a few times, actually).
Okay, time for me to go to bed. Let me know if you want further information on any one piece.
BTW, colors varied considerably. I don't think I saw a lot of blue that wasn't extremely dark, nor green. Red-orange and black were common, with orange and black ito. Lots of gold, silver, and bronze as well in the fittings. Plenty of leather ito as well as braided. Chain and leather ashi. When I had color photographs, the
same is almost always white. Menuki on the ito-maki tachi were about where you would expect today, usually. On the efu tachi and others you usually see one or two main menuki and many smaller tawarabyou along the 'underside' ('knuckle-side') of the tsuka.
Tsuba shapes varied from the more 3-D karatsuba shapes to the layered tsuba similar to what you see on gunto. A wide variety of shapes, mokko and circular both appearing to be rather popular.
Hope that helps. Sorry, I neglected to get nagasa on the tsuka--I can look at that again later, but nothing struck me as being much longer than a 'standard' katana tsuka, except the odachi, but there was still some play in the lengths, I'd say.
-Ii