Strange Shield for Discussion

[Gavin Nugent]

I ran a broad image search over "Inside a jingasa".

It seems all I found has mounting points for the chin straps and head pads that all look much further spaced than this hand grip, yet none of these shields show any indication of having such broader mounting points originally?

[RobT]

Hi All,
There has been one response from the Nihonto Message Board. The respondent supports my opinion with, “my vote is for Jingasa, in origin at least”. I have requested that other members weigh in, especially with any information they may have about the design motif on the shield currently under discussion as well as the motifs on the two shields in the previous threads.

A Alnakkas,
I think the wooden grip is rigidly attached to the shield to prevent it from wobbling when hit with an opponent’s weapon. The leather grip is designed to be pulled to the wooden grip when the user’s fist is clenched, thus allowing the user to hold the shield rigidly.

Gavin Nugent,
From what I can see online there appear to be at least two methods for mounting jingasa straps and padding. In one method, the mounting points are on a circular and slightly domed metal plate attached to the inside of the jingasa and on the other the mounting points are part of the inside of the jingasa. I think the metal plate method may have been used when the jingasa had a metal finial and the other method was used on jingasa without finials. There may have been more attachment methods. In any event, the areas cut away on the inside of the shields in the previous threads appear to me to have been sufficiently large to have accommodated jingasa mounting points. The shield currently under discussion has a hole in the top so it may have used the finial/mounting plate method. In this case, the finial and plate could have been removed to allow the shield grips and padding to be added.

Sincerely,
RobT

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by RobT

I think the wooden grip is rigidly attached to the shield to prevent it from wobbling when hit with an opponent’s weapon. The leather grip is designed to be pulled to the wooden grip when the user’s fist is clenched, thus allowing the user to hold the shield rigidly.

RobT,

Depending what the origins end up being on the type, this may not be true of the leather strap.

When considering 4 boss India shields with only leather straps, this can be seen as so.
With 6 boss, the 3rd pair with a strap act as a supporting wrist strap whilst the other two are grasped.
Often lost from these Indian shields is a simple shoulder or back carrying strap that is looped through the grip straps.

The type under discussion, if using the India type as a guide is a "4 boss"

If this is found to be SEA in origins, only that timber section is gripped whilst the strap slips over the wrist.

[shayde78]

Saw this while looking through the book 'Shields Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania' and thought it might pertain to this discussion.