What kind of Do is this ??

[kenshiro]

Steve sent me and email this weekend with this pic... He apparently has changed his mind about the armour and wants the Do from Blade 2....

I am asking because I am not positive what kind it is.. I told him it was a Hotoke Do with plates laced on... But, he ask that I check here as well so... What do you think ??



He has some other pics he is going to send me so, chances are I will asking more questions... Sorry !!

[AJBryant]

It's a badly made ni-mai (clamshell) kebiki-odoshi tachi do.

Gotta tell ya, Kenshiro -- there's NOTHING of hotoke do in that. Hotoke do are solid, smooth surfaces.

Again... please look at real armours for use as a base rather than fake ones.

Effingham

[kenshiro]

ajbryant said:

It's a badly made ni-mai (clamshell) kebiki-odoshi tachi do.

Gotta tell ya, Kenshiro -- there's NOTHING of hotoke do in that. Hotoke do are solid, smooth surfaces.

Again... please look at real armours for use as a base rather than fake ones.

Effingham

Hey man I am just asking a question !! LOL

I personally would want to have my armour like this but hey Steve's armour is well ... Steve's armour.....

More pic to come I am sure !!

[AJBryant]

Then tell Steve to look at real armour.


Effingham

[kenshiro]

Steve thinks real armour is the armour from "Last Samurai " .... He just wants it to be pretty not authentic...

[Ryokai]

You might consider introducing him to the really pretty authentic stuff then. If you dig a little you can find some absolutely beautiful suits. Amazon and other such book sellers have plenty of books to provide you with resources too.

[Saionji Shonagon]

If you dig a little you can find some absolutely beautiful suits.

Not to mention museum websites! It's almost as good as pressing your nose up against the glass, without alarms, or anxious security guards.

I include links rather than images as most of these will include descriptive information and alternate views of the armor in question:

14th century yoroi from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (If I were ever in the market for armor, something like THIS would rock my tiny little world. The stamped leather is exquisite!)
tinyurl.com/bb7oj

16th century armor with later pieces in the British Museum
tinyurl.com/7lgo4

Armors from the Tokyo National Museum
tinyurl.com/a4zrd
tinyurl.com/b3fwb
tinyurl.com/at68j

Armors from the Kyoto National Museum
202.223.183.4/eng/syuzou/index.html
202.223.183.4/eng/syuzou/index.html

Some comments from behind the kichou:

Novice decides on ambitious endeavor with no prior experience. Should his teachers cut him any slack whatsoever? If you answered "Yes," karma demands that you suffer the Hell of "The Next Karate Kid" Reruns. Or a dinner date with Pai Mei, Uma Thurman's malicious Sifu in "Kill Bill, Vol. 2."

There was a thread on this board a couple months back about somebody wanting weird wooden armor. Date-dono wrote a beautifully considered post about having your name associated with your work and not compromising your standards.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well, particularly something as involved and labor intensive as constructing armor. Welcome to The House Of No Slack. ;->

Novicer armorer's friend wants movie armor. Should Novice Armorer (a) tell his friend to screen the scene in said movie in which the hero, writing in his journal, admires the dedication to perfection in the disciplined lives of the people around him? (b) Say, "Sure, no problem." (c) Say, "What are you smoking and where can I get some?"
(d) Tactfully show him some exquisite examples of the armorer's art.

Choose wisely, kohai. ;->

M.

[Odawara]

I dont know, if someone were to show up to an SCA event with that armor on, I think it would be one of the better looking suits of japanese armor ever on the field. Pretty good for that purpose.

If you were trying to creat replica quality armor, then there are afew problems, sure. But really? Pretty nice to my eye. But then I aint no expert

[Nobuhide]

makiwara said:

There was a thread on this board a couple months back about somebody wanting weird wooden armor. Date-dono wrote a beautifully considered post about having your name associated with your work and not compromising your standards.

that was me there, about my dilemma of going along with the wooden armor commision to get some cash, versus declining the offer in hopes of retaining my honor as an armorer. i went with the second option, after date-dono gave me the little push in the same direction i had been leaning to make me decline and i never regreted it. i now have a higher paying pending commision on not a suit of armor, but on a pair of kote designed for a shinobi, silenced with every chanlink being sewn down and extra cloth being sewn on top, disguised as regular sleaves. it was an interesting challenge to design something that one could wear in broad daylight as a part of a disguise and concealed weapon and be armor at the same time with moderate protection but none of the noise.


to kenshiros original post, it looks nothing like hotoke, its obviously laced, or is EXTREMELY well disguised as being so, and you knew that since you added with plates laced on, so my advice is this. if you see armor dont assume it was made by a nutty smith who was like 'lets take simple armor and make it COMPLEX AND CRAZY WITH OPTICAL ILLUSIONS MWAHAHAHA" just...say the armor that most closely resembles the piece. like a kebeki tachi do for this scenario. see easy? no conspiracies-no thought-BUT ALL THE RESULTS

sweet huh?

[Sakurai Takamori]

Does this mean I can't be attracted to movie armour??!!
OK, Last samurai (first off way off period anyway) was pretty...but what about other movies?
I've looked through many a museum website (even more thanks to you good gentles on this list) I was drawn to several as a first do project.
Then was watching Ran and fell for Saburo's gear and zunari...

Are there ANY redeeming features to movie armour? Does an indistinct gut reaction to movie armour make me a bad person . . .or simply a misguided noob in need of gentle direction from the assembled here?

veejay

P.S. if this is rehashing an old argument, please forgive (I lived through enough plastic versus steel back in the early 90s and don't want to go there)

[Saionji Shonagon]

Does this mean I can't be attracted to movie armour??!!

What you do in your personal life is YOUR business.

Then was watching Ran and fell for Saburo's gear and zunari...

As always, I will defer to the more learned armorers on the list, but Kurosawa's usually pretty good with costumes and armor.

Are there ANY redeeming features to movie armour?

Think about it. Costume designers don't win Oscars for historical accuracy. Costume designers win Oscars for what the Academy voters THINK looks cool, which may or may not involve creating an impression of a period effect. This doesn't mean that there aren't costumers and armorers doing historically based work, it means you have to know what you're looking at. So you're back studying extant armors anyway. ;->

M.