Well said Akaryu, thanks for putting your head above the parapet first. My initial reaction to seeing this was Wow! until I looked at it more closely.
I am not trying to discredit what is after all fantastic sculpture, but I agree with all your comments 100%.
a)The "leaning on the sword" pose also bothers me. Although I can't say it never happened, I would imagine that it would only be done while the sword was sheathed. Good find on the illustration Brimmer! (where did that come from?). I rarely rely on illustration alone for samurai subjects, as I have found them often tainted by more than a little romanticism. Doing so is sometimes unavoidable but I always consider doing so to be conjectural.
b)The voluminous sleeves depicted are also problematic for me. I am not familiar with the type of forearm armour depicted on the model. This seems to be a misinterpretation of the forearm plating which was usually sewn onto the lower part of the Kote, which was close fitting to the arm, and would have extended as such, to cover the shoulder.
c)People will probably disagree with me on this but I also find the face to be too western looking.
d)The use of Haidate (thigh protection) is also used on most Samurai models that have been released to date although in Sakakibara Kozan's "Manufacture of Armour and Hemets in 16th century Japan", first published in 1800, he states that "it was, it seems, usually discarded for fighting on foot".
I know this is not definitive evidence and as many illustrations show it in use as don't, but it does seem to make sense to me.
Like Pegaso's earlier "Ronin" piece I see no reason to designate this release as such. There seems to be as much misconception about this term as there is about Ninja. Judging by Pegaso's previous release of a "Ronin" (code 90-045), their only working definintion of the term seems to be a Samurai with long hair and no helmet!
I am not Pegaso bashing here, I have most of their other Samurai models but I am finding their choices of new releases to be both disappointingly safe and repetitive.
There are many personalities who had much more distinctive armour that could be used, such as Honda Tadamasa's shell helmet and western breastplate worn at Osaka, Tokogawa Ieysu's cow hair armour and Maeda Toshiie's Golden armour, as well as many other extreamly distinctive Kabuto and Sashimono styles which have never been modelled. And yet, Pegaso seem to be choosing relatively similar armour styles for their releases.
Akaryu, I tried to open a private conversation about our shared interest but you seem to have withheld your
profile. If you wish to do so, please open a private conversation with me. There are a couple of subjects I would like to hear your opinion on.
