Very neat. I would lose half my day in that room.

Somehow it never occurred to me that jingasa would be lacquered cloth. If they were made of metal, like I’d thought, that might provide better protection, but then again, it might not really. I’m actually not so sure. In any case, it would certainly be much heavier and less comfortable to wear.

It’s really amazing how versatile and useful lacquering can be, and how deceptive its appearance can be, looking like wood, or like metal…

JapanDave, yeah, I wish I’d've spent more time in there too. Vintage sewing machines may not be my cup of tea but it is an interesting room & one deserving of more time spent.

Thanks for your comment.

I guess there were all different types of materials & methods used in the making of Jingasa. Wearing a piece of tin on your head on the regular marches to Edo would be a real pain in the neck. Alternatively, a flimsy, lightweight one in battle you’d need like a hole in the head. (I should’ve re left that out.)

Hope you are enjoying your travels in Japan. Well, I’m sure you are!

The sword guard is a Tsuba. I am not an expert but it looks authentic. Many of the other objects do. The helmets I believe belonged to ashigaru which were foot soldiers. The large black diamond with the white diamond in the center on the helmet is a clan mon. I believe it is the mon of the Akaza clan but I am not certain. The last helmet has a samurai clan mon with two feathers in a circle I believe but I am not certain what that clan is. Very cool though and it is not a lame video. Very cool.

The ashigaru wore these conical shaped helmets called jingasa and ashigaru were not technically samurai. The were the lower ranked foot soldiers of the daimyo. It is very cool to see those ashigaru helmets. They look authentic.

I’m really glad that you’ve pointed that out Tornadoes28. Just as I have already tweeted, I’d thought ashigaru & “samurai” were the same. Glad you liked the vid.

I already tweeted this also. The black diamond with white diamond in the center is the mon of Hori Hidemasa, a samurai retainer of Oda Nobunaga and later he served Toyotomi Hideyoshi. If the ashigaru jingasa is authentic, it would have belonged to a ashigaru that served Hidemasa. Pretty cool that these items are in that school. The fact that NHK was to do a story on these items makes me think some or all are authentic. But I am not sure as I am not an expert on samurai armor or the other artifacts.

I think the students will really get into this.

I learned from Samurai Archives that the two feather mon on the ashigaru helmet is a mon used by several clans from Kyushu.

Sixmats: Thx. Yeah, it is cool that the students can get amongst this stuff & interact with it.

Tornadoes28: I appreciate the info & you finding out about it in the first place. I like the look of the Kamon but am pretty poor at recognizing them. Except for the really obvious ones.

I could not tell what the mon on the first helmet was. Pretty faded. I’m curious though.

The faded “mon” looked to be very common 3-comma design. I just came across this website: http://kamoncafe.livejournal.com/ The site looks to be a work-in-progress / abandoned-project but two of the mons are there.

Very cool, lots of good comments, I’d say a winner of a post, eh!

Thanks Matt. I appreciate your words. Actually, looking back, I feel I could’ve done a lot more with this video. There’s always next time.

Am looking forward to a having a beer with you when you come to Japan.

Of Course! maybe two? hehehe