A SAMURAI ARCHER'S GLOVE (MITSUGAKE) 三つ弽JAPAN, EDO PERIOD- 1...

Estimate

£150 - £300

A SAMURAI ARCHER'S GLOVE (MITSUGAKE) 三つ弽JAPAN, EDO PERIOD- 1603-1868 Deer leather, material, ink, modern display stand glove 25cm long Provenance: Ex Private collection For a Japanese table scroll, detailing a very similar glove, lying next to a bow see accompanying photograph by Yoshizo Shibahara, from a private collection. A rare survival, there is an ink inscription inside the glove allowing us to date the glove to 1683 寿永二年, together with the workshop where it was made: 〇武具店, O-armor. Kyūdō or 'Kyūjutsu' (the name used prior to 1919) was the martial art of archery within the 'Samurai' class of feudal Japan. The first 'asymmetrical' longbow recorded in Japan dates to the Yayoi period (circa 500 BC to 300 AD).