Japanese Scale Armor?

[Discrimination Dave]

I climbed Mount Shigi last Saturday. My first serious hunt since mid winter. There was a siege of the castle there in the 16th century and the castle was totally destroyed. I hunted a pine forest half way down the northwestern slope. It was nice and flat for long stretches in there and I figured it was a good place for all those samurai dudes hanging out during the long siege. The place was fairly accessible so there was some modern trash to deal with but I did find three old bita-sen coins (1580s-1620s), five musket balls and what I think could be pieces of scale armor. I found the larger one first. I found the three smaller ones together in a single hole about 20 yards from the first. I did not get around to cleaning them until this morning. I was surprised that the larger one has black lacquer on it and even more surprised to find some type of insignia on it with the phonetic symbols ヒサア(Hi-Sa-A). Cleaning was super tricky. First distilled water then a hot peroxide bath and light scrubbing then a light oil soak. I managed to bring it out enough to see it. I am still not sure what it is. Hard to see the insignia in the photos. I traced it out on PS. any opinions, ideas or info would be really cool from all you smart cats out there.
Cheers!

 

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[Discrimination Dave]

My ten year old just came home from school and reminded me that back in the old days Japanese was read from right to left. That would be Asahi or morning sun / rising sun. that fits. I have about decided that the mark / crest is the sun over breaking waves / water.

 

[Tony in SC]

Cool finds!! Tony

 

[TheTreasureAddict]

Thats so awesome! Congrats on some great finds, gotta be a sword around there somewhere, or a helmet or something. Gold Samarai coins? Keep looking!
CB

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Thanks CrackBadger. Im jonesing to get back out there. I found a new trail that leads from the same site back through the woods for a couple of miles and ends up near the train station close to my house. It is very remote so should be less trash. Rain in the forecast for this Saturday so it may be two weeks but there has gotta be something in there.

 

[DCMatt]

Great find! This has to be one of the coolest pieces I've every seen on Tnet.

Any luck attributing ASAHI to the battle? I poked around a little but didn't really find anything useful. Without the ability to research in Japanese, this is a tough one.

I did learn that warriors of the period marked their armor, especially the helmet, with distinctive crests (kabuto maedate) to make themselves easily identifiable on the field.

It is interesting to me that the characters are hiragana and not kanji. Curious... but way cool.

DCMatt

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Hey DC,
Hisashioburi,
I was fairly astonished several years back to learn that katakana predates hiragana.
Nippon finds dont generate much interest on this ole TNet site but we have a few fans.
Serious finds are near!(i think)

 

[MrLee]

Dave, very cool find. I'll be over there in July, first Tokyo then Akita to visit the in-laws. I think I will head down to Kamakura or Odawara and do some hunting. I tend to visit those places whenever I go back because my wife and I have great memories there. I hope I am as lucky as you were and find a relic.

 

[Kiros32]

Can't believe how tiny those are... very cool piece.

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Can't believe how tiny those are... very cool piece.

I know,
seems too small for scale armor.
(would be plush and light weight though)

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Dave, very cool find. I'll be over there in July, first Tokyo then Akita to visit the in-laws. I think I will head down to Kamakura or Odawara and do some hunting. I tend to visit those places whenever I go back because my wife and I have great memories there. I hope I am as lucky as you were and find a relic.

Good Luck Bro!
Ive been living here ten years and detecting for about five and still a mystery to me.....
but that keeps it fresh!

 

[Red-Coat]

Just tidying up some blasts from the past (including some very ancient ones), largely for the benefit of anyone searching the site for information.

Sadly, those are not pieces of scale armour and have no military connection. They’re called ‘kohaze’ in Japan, which loosely translates as “connect and unite things with a hard material”. These fingernail-sized clasps are most usually for fastening Japanese socks called ‘tabi’, but also for leggings called ‘kyahan’ and hand or wrist covers called ‘tekkou’. There are usually twelve of them on each sock, individually attaching to a hook called a ‘kohazekake’.

Tabi were invented in the mid-Heian era (between AD 794-1192) and worn by upper classes to prevent slippage of the thongs on sandal-like clogs called ‘geta’. Originally they could only be worn by common people with the permission of their feudal lord. By the mid-Meiji era (between 1868-1912) tabi were being widely worn by everyone and kohaze were used to fasten them, usually made from brass. During WWII, zinc-plated iron was substituted for brass but it was quickly found that it easily rusted and the Japanese government then authorised the distribution of aluminium for kohaze production before manufacturers were ultimately able to revert to brass in the post-war 20th Century. The writing and logos will likely be for the manufacturers.

Lots of modern examples here, and more history on their use.

https://kohaze.net/collection_en/