A RARE JAPANESE IRON HORSE MUZZLE

A RARE JAPANESE IRON HORSE MUZZLE, KUCHIKAGO

EDO PERIOD, 16TH CENTURY

In two halves with openwork designs, the upper half decorated with two family crests with paulownia leaves and flowers, kiri mon, one side with a monkey wearing a Shinto priest's hat and holding a Shinto wand with zig-zagging paper streamers, onusa, the other side with a Japanese nightingale, uguisu, with a band of further kiri mon in between, the lower half left undecorated, 26.5cm long.

Provenance: formerly the collection of Kyoto Arashiyama Museum.

Cf. I Bottomley & A P Hopson, Arms & Armour of the Samurai, p.10, where this horse muzzle illustrated.

Monkeys were often used as decoration on equine equipment as they were thought to protect horses from diseases.