Domaru Armor with Black Lacing (with antler-crested helmet and small fittings; used by Honda Tadakatsu)

The Antler-Crested Armor of Honda Tadakatsu

The Domaru Armor with Black Lacing (with antler-crested helmet and small fittings; used by Honda Tadakatsu) (黒糸威胴丸具足〈鹿角脇立兜・小具足付／（本多忠勝所用）〉) is armour worn by Honda Tadakatsu (1548 to 1610) in the Momoyama period, location unknown, which in 1977 was designated an Important Cultural Property.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records one suit with helmet, sleeves, thigh guards, shin guards, face guard, armpit guards and a large rosary.

According to the Agency, it is one of the new, highly individual tosei gusoku armours fashionable in the Warring States period.

Construction

According to the Agency, the body is a two-piece hinged iron cuirass of black-lacquered iron plates laced sparsely with black thread. The helmet is a twelve-plate ridged iron bowl in black lacquer, with a lion-face front crest bearing twin horns in black-lacquered wood and a pair of large antler-shaped side crests.

The sleeves, thigh and shin guards are joined with iron chain mail; the face guard is embossed iron with a black-laced throat guard; the rosary has gilded abacus-bead shapes of wood. The body is 39.0 centimetres high and the helmet bowl 17.8 centimetres.

What to Look For

The Agency calls it rich in character, with its two-piece body, black-lacquered plates, large antler crests and great rosary worn over the shoulder.

It is also historically significant as the armour of Honda Tadakatsu, active at the start of the early modern period.

Visiting the Domaru Armor with Black Lacing (with antler-crested helmet and small fittings; used by Honda Tadakatsu)

Its owner and location are not disclosed, and no official information on viewing could be found.