Mr Morisaki has been surrounded by samurai
armor since childhood. His first experience was helping his father lacquer armor
when he was a junior high school student. Mr Morisaki was working in Tokyo when
his father told him about a particularly daunting request he had recieved: the
restoration of Konito Odoshi, owned by Oyoroi Oyamatsumi shrine in Ehime prefecture.
The set of armor was designated a Japanese national treasure, and his father
told him that ‘It will be a good opportunity to improve your skill. If you’d
like to take a chance, come back to Okayama’. At the age of 26 he decided to
dedicate his life to the craft and succeed his father as an armorer. As soon
as he returned, he began an apprentice-ship under his father. In the time-honored
manner of traditional Japanese master craftsmen, his father gave him knowledge
but did not teach any skills. Mr Morisaki immersed himself in the study and research
of armor, one day hoping to hear ‘How did you do this? I didn’t teach you any
of the skills that you have demonstrated!’ from his father. His father, Masahiro
Morisaki’s great achievements were finally recognized when he was designated
a living national treasure in 1999.
The second opportunity to restore a national treasure came
at the age of 38. Akagawa Odoshi Oyoroi is a set of armor valued at 6 million
dollars that Okayama prefectural museum had bought, and is one of the oldest
sets of armor dating from the Heian period. The yoroi was owned by the same family
for 750 years. Its restoration had to be historically accurate in every detail
and every technique. The late Masahiro Morisaki and his son, Tateki went to the
museum and researched the armor day and night painstakingly for a month until
they were satisfied that a proper restoration could be undertaken; in fact, they
became very excited by the prospect of restoring such an excellent example of
Heian Samurai armor. It was also at this time that his father became very sick.
Mr Morisaki was so badly disturbed by the news that he thought he couldn’t continue
working on the armor all alone. Although his father’s condition was deteriorating,
he asked his doctor for a permission to return home for a day so that he could
instruct his son. His father taught him the technique of applying the perfect
coat of lacquer, which has to be a precise thickness. It was then that Mr. Morisaki
learned the importance of trusting one’s intuition when restoring armor. This
realization inspired him to delve even deeper into his studies. Whenever he had
difficulties, he remembered the lessons his father taught him. At the age of
39, under his father’s watchful eye, Mr Morisaki finally completed the restoration
of Akagawa Odoshi Oyoroi. Shortly thereafter his father, confident in the knowledge
that his son would continue his life’s work, passed away.
Restoration is an attempt to return a damaged armor to its
original form. Cow hide, deer leather, goat leather, horse leather, lace, fabrics
and metal are all used in the restoration process. More than 400 rivets are used
and small pieces of leather called Kozane are laced together in keeping with
authentic armor-smith traditions from the appropriate period. Restoring japanese
armor requires many varied and skilled techniques such as lacquering, braiding,
metal chasing and leather dyeing.The making of a full set of Katchu used to require
the work of a group of highly skilled craftsmen. Today a single armorer handles
every aspect of the restoration process, and makes original suits of armor as
well.
There are insufficient numbers of skilled-armors to restore
samurai armor overseas so Mr. Morisaki feels strongly that there is a need for
restoration abroad as well as in Japan.
Excerpted from Asu Co., Inc. Osera Vol.26 |