Samurai dog armor

Pink Tentacle reports:

This suit of dog armor — identified by antique Japanese armor dealer Toraba.Com as the only known and certified authentic example of its kind — is believed to have been created for the pet of a wealthy, high-ranking and presumably eccentric samurai or daimyo (feudal lord) in the mid to late Edo period (mid-18th to mid-19th century).

Spencer Burns at Yachigusa Ryu wonders why this innovation didn't occur during the fifth Tokugawa shogunate, when Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646-1709) "prohibited the harming of dogs and ordered the establishment of dog kennels, [thus earning] the nickname of 'dog shogun.'"

Comments

[CraigC]

As always, try to imagine this with cats.

[Melissa]

You've seen Jeff de Boer's stuff, right?

http://jeffdeboer.com/Galleries/CatsandMice/tabid/77/moduleid/433/viewkey/photo/photoid/119/Default.aspx

That's the first thing I thought of, though they're not old.

[Yabu]

That is classic...My dog Stretch would love it. He's already bad, but that would make him bad to the bone.