Oyoroi and Kusazuri

[Katayama Hiromoto]

Greetings all...

Yet another silly question regarding Oyoroi construction...

Is there a hard and fast rule for determining the width dimension for the bottom kusazuri on Oyoroi?!?

I'm aware of the general principle for later Do... Chest circumfrence divided by the number of kusazuri... However, it would appear to my humble, untrained eye that said convention was not applied until later on in the scheme of things...

Any suggestions/observations from the learned masses?!?

As always, thank you in advance.

Katayama

[AJBryant]

I've got something about that in the being-written-now hardcopy of the armour manual (which has a whole new chapter on o-yoroi making).

What I'd recommend is following the proportions of original models. It takes a bit of algebra: if the front top was 10" and you need 14", and the original bottom was 16", then all you need to do is "find for X" where X is your bottom.

Here's some text:

On ô-yoroi of the Heian period, the front and rear kusazuri were one lame shorter than the side kusazuri. That is, while there were five stepped lames on the sides, the front and back only had four. This was because samurai were first and last mounted warriors, and it made riding a horse easier. Kusazuri on ô-yoroi of the Kamakura period and beyond were made with the same number of lames. As a concession to riding, however, the bottom-most lame on the front and rear was split vertically in the middle into two segments.
Each lame down is wider than the one above it. It would be too easy and hoping too much for them all to be identically patterned so that each kusazuri was the same size — so of course that is not the case. The actual expansion may be identical (e.g., each lame being three scales wider than the lame above it), but the actual scale count is not. A comparison the scale-count of 25 ô-yoroi of the Heian through Nanboku-chô periods show only [bold]one[/bold] where even two kusazuri are identical (the left and right ones on a white-laced ô-yoroi of the Nanboku-chô period in Ôyamazumi Jinja).
Put in simple terms, the front kusazuri was a shade wider than the rear in Heian-period armours; in Kamakura armours and those made later, this was reversed. The right kusazuri as a rule was the narrowest. The left kusazuri is the third narrowest.

The actual proportions and scale counts changed over time, you you'll have to decide if you're doing an 11th century, 13th century, or 14th century o-yoroi. The scale count chart below will tell you the proportions you need to work with:



There are also lots of differences in some of the plates and structure depending on the period you're interested in doing.



Effingham

[Katayama Hiromoto]

Hiraizumi-Sensei,

As always, you are the bottomless fount of Dou knowledge.

Now for the really hard questions... When and where do we get the book?!?

Domo Arigatou Gozaimasu.

Katayama

[AJBryant]

Still working on it. Lots more material, lots more information, lots more patterns. I got sidetracked by it for a while since I discovered online gaming -- even older games like Wolfenstein and Medal of Honor take on a whole new take when you play real people. I used to think I was pretty good against the game, but real people play differently than the AI enemy do. <G>

But Brian has expressed interest in pubbing the book, which is great. I'll keep y'all informed as it progresses.


Effingham

[Kitadatedenka]

TOMJAR, eh?

[AJBryant]

TOMJAR, eh?

Hey, that's catchy. ;D

That's the general idea.


Effingham