Nodowa (喉輪), black, red, blue, yellow & brown leather, part of the classical Japanese armour series. Hand stitched. Photography: Burke Photography. One part of the Samurai armour is the Nodowa (喉輪), a type of throat and neck protector. Rather than rectangular kozane (小札), the scales here are angled to allow them to form an arc when laced together into boards. The leather kozane are hand cut and punched. I have stitched the kozane together using red, blue and yellow leather lacing, (kawa odoshi, 革縅). The leather panel above the kozane is hand-printed leather and is called “egawa”. I first had to hand cut a pattern to print the leather; my pattern is based on the hexagon (六角) which, in Japan, is associated with turtle shells and have been used for centuries to symbolize I also had to make my own leather thonging by using traditional leather making |