Nap suggested I post this here, hope I have the right place. Below are details of how the shoulder guards (Sode) attach to the body armour (Do) on an older Japanese armour with large shoulder guards. Essentially the white bow in the centre attaches the shoulder guard and holds it in place on the shoulder strap of the Do by means of a ring on each part and the orange cords attached to front and back help to ensure the shoulder guard does not swing too far forward or back when moving thus exposing the arm. This is a detail which many sculptors either omit or get wrong.

These pictures are from the Tower Armouries in London (I believe the armour was gifted to King James 1st in 1613)

Very useful post. As you can see I posed this very question earlier this year so this sort of info is always welcome.
Felix came to the rescue on that occasion.


"Despite much googling and referring to the six books I have on Samurai, am still unsure how the sode was attached to the armour. I can see how it attaches at the front and that it ties to the agimaki at the back but what stops it sliding off the shoulder?
In Misoe Kure's book Samurai, there is a picture of the sode with straps in the middle of the top. He names them as kan which I presume is Japanese for strap as there are other straps with the same name. Where do these straps tie off? Under the arms? this still wouldn't stop them moving down. Unfortunately most miniature manufacturers omit any small cords that can't be cast onto the torso and contemporary Japanese illustrations aren't easy to follow".

Bill