Peter Baggaley’s samurai-inspired Halloween costume
The following is a guest post by Peter Baggaley. Thanks, Peter!
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The samurai armor pictured is a Halloween costume that I made using paper, string, and other household materials. Most high school students do not go trick-or-treating for Halloween. For the past few years, I have been a proud exception to this rule. My costumes are all handmade and reflect a historical warrior idea, in chronological order. First, I was a hoplite, a Greek heavy infantryman from the Bronze Age. I then progressed to a Roman centurion, followed by a Viking/barbarian. As I entered high school, I entered the middle ages in the guise of a crusader. Last year, I made the slight leap to Renaissance period infantry.
For this year’s costume, I was faced with a dilemma.
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In an effort to balance both sides of samurai—the skilled fighter vs. the refined artist—I tipped the scales on the side of the stereotypical samurai, and in the process sparked a lively, and at times heated, dialogue about the glorification of war through the creation of art activities. Although the previous projects posted through the blog focus on the tools used by the samurai class in ceremonies as well as in combat, I stand by them as a way to bring history to life and engage kids in an exploration of Japanese art, culture and history, and provide a launching point for a larger, more thoughtful discussion about war and violence (and pacifism, the anti-war movement and critical thinking)…
People are serious about their swords. I was trying to show the swords and sword guards (tsuba) on view in Hambrecht to a friend the other day, but couldn’t quite reach the cases housing these finely crafted beauties. A group of hungry-eyed gentlemen hovered over them like vultures waiting for lunch—mouths open, staring. Although I tried, even my most effective derby moves weren’t enough to get the two of us close enough to see the displays. We ended up looking at the 
Samurai wore elaborate suits of armor to protect themselves in battle. Four distinct styles were worn—the showier, fancy armor generally saved for ceremonies –oyoroi and domaru-gusoku — and the two that were more often actually worn in battle, haramaki and tosei-gusoku (in case you haven’t already, you can see samurai armor on view at the museum through September 20). Armor was made of materials such as iron, bronze, metal, leather, lacquer and braided silk, and constructed in pieces so the samurai could move easily when fighting their enemies. Among other pieces, samurai armor consisted of the breastplate (dō), which protected the samurai’s heart and guts, and the tassets (kusazuri), which protected the hips. Like the helmets samurai wore, breastplates were often decorated with elaborate designs that distinguished them from the other samurai, guardian figures that protected them and creepy imagery that frightened their opponents. Ever wondered what it’s like to wear samurai armor? 
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