Sendan-no-ita & Kyubi-no-ita

Sendan No-Ita & Kyubi-no-ita (armor plated armpit protectors) where worn on O-Yoroi samurai armor sets and continued to be used into the mid / late Muromachi era (1336 ~ 1573).  Because the inside of the arm typically only had some thick cloth (often rolled kimono sleeve) for protection, the armpit and inside of the armor was vulnerable to attack.  So the purpose of both kyubi-no-ita  and sendan no-ita is to protect the armpit from spear strikes and upward, inside cuts common in yarijutsu and kenjutsu techniques, in order to demobilize or even sever the arm completely. Both armpit guards are hung from the wadagami (shoulder straps) of the do (cuirass).  The sendan no-ita (wider armpit armor) is made of 1 solid upper plate, with 3 hanging plates laced together and is worn over the right armpit.  The wider plates allowed a little more protection when extending the right arm to draw the yumi (bow).  The lamellar style hanging plates allowed for more flexibility of the sendan no-ita, not to hinder the motion of the arm while handling a yari (spear) or katana.  The kyubi no-ita is crafted from a solid piece of narrow armor plating, often with a tapered effect matching the samurai’s natural body contour when sighting the yumi. This is believed to help prevent the movement of the plate and to help prevent it from catching on the yumi’s string as it was drawn or released.

As the armpit protection was originally used on o-yoroi, it has the stigma of only being used by Daimyo.  Their direct retainers fortunate enough to have a full samurai’s armor set would typically have the gyoyo or giyo-ji-ita, which are smaller leaf shaped armor plates which are worn mostly to protect the cord holding the do and watagami (shoulder armor) together.  As time passed, the larger sendan-no-ita & kyubi-no-ita became less common, giving way to the smaller gyoyo, more commonly seen on do-maru and then go-mai style do , made popular the Date Masamune.  In time the waki-biki armpit protectors crafted from cloth, kusari (chainmail) and armor, would come to replace both armpit protectors.  As the Sengoku era (warring states) came to a close, bringing the more peaceful Edo era, the sendan No-Ita & kyubi-no-ita  became popular again as a fashion statement, honoring the samurai of old.

Keeping with tradition and honoring the samurai of old, Iron Mountain Armory is proud to offer this special armor piece to be added to any armor set.  Please select from the many different options to make these 2 pieces custom for you.

Features:

• Taisho Class
• Traditional Design and Crafting
• Customization of colors available
• Comes as a set of 2 (left & right)
• Can attached to any Do / Armor set

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