Note:
(a) Samurai! Armor From the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection. Museum of Fine Arts, Apr 4, 2013- Aug 4, 2013. http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/samurai
(b) photo caption:
(i) a mask made by MYŌCHIN Ki no Munenaga 明珍 紀 宗長
* Munenaga 宗長 is the given name.
* Myōchin is the surname.
translation: The noted armorer clan is Myōchin. In the Warring States Period of Japan (1493-1590), the seventeenth-generation MYŌCHIN Nobuie 明珍 信家 is deemed [among] the best armorer
(ii) "Horse armor, mask and tack, plus rider armor of the tatehagido type, 17th to 18th centuries."
(A) horse tack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_tack
translation: Its outer appearance is similar to the side of a bucket; thus named. When joints of iron plates 鉄板 run horizontally, the subtype [of 桶側胴] is called yokohagi-dō 横矧胴, whereas joints run vertically, the subtype is called tatehagi-dō 縦矧胴.
(A) First and foremost, see sketches of 横矧胴 and 縦矧胴 (two subtypes of 桶側胴).
In the section with heading "胴の種類":
* Plate 2 shows "桶側胴 * * * 丈夫で戦国期から江戸時代にかけて多く用いられた胴である。横になっているので、「横矧桶側胴（よこはぎおけがわどう）」とも言う。"
translation: It is safe to say that most armor from Warring States Period to Edo Period were 桶側胴. Because [iron plates] run horizontally, it is also called 横矧桶側胴.
* Plate 3 demonstrates 縦矧胴.
(B) oke 桶 【おけ】 (n): "bucket"
contrast photos:
* 桶 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A1%B6
and
* 樽 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A8%BD
whose pronunciation in Japan is "taru" たる and whose English translation is barrel/cask.
(C) gawa 側 【がわ】 (n): "side (of something, or taking someone's side)"
(D) tsunagime 繋ぎ目【つなぎめ】 (n): "joint; link; knot; tie-together point"
(E) tsunagu つなぐ 《繋ぐ》 (v): "to tie; to fasten; to connect" 作者: belle 时间: 4-24-2013 17:38
choi的post总是引用文献太多，严密是严密，不利于阅读。这是给自己攒资料呢，还是希望交流？作者: choi 时间: 4-25-2013 07:19
Both for myself (who have studied Japanese--language and culture--but every now and then encountered something that is very complicated)
, and for others (especially who may wonder what Chinese pronunciations of kanji are like in Japan, as well as if kanji words or phrases are similar to those in China).
Though the report about samurai armor is short (and transliteration terms are few) , it took me, unexpectedly, hours to find the corresponding kanji--maybe because the armor is a specialized area and not found in many Japanese (to Japanese or to English) dictionaries--and hard to extract from the Web.
Most important, (before I looked up yesterday) I simply did not the concepts. For example, Okegawa is a common surname, whose most likely kanji is 桶川. And it is also the name of a city
Okegawa, Saitama 埼玉県 桶川市 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okegawa,_Saitama
Thus for sometimes, I wondered (like Moses in the desert) if 桶川 is the name of armorer or the place the armor was made. Not until I stumped on Japanese Wiki page on 桶側, did I know why the armor was so named.