Always wanted to decorate the bedroom with photos of yourself in full samurai garb? Here's your chance: the Samurai Armour Photo Studio in Shibuya boasts exact replicas of kacchu (samurai armour, natch) worn by legendary warriors like Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Sanada Yukimura and Kuroda Nagamasa ‒ not to mention a copy of the red outfit donned by Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai – and lets anyone try them on (for a small fee, of course).
If you aren't worried about fearsome samurai lords haunting your dreams, we suggest booking a photo session – if not for vanity's sake, then to appreciate just how difficult it must have been to move about wearing these clunky contraptions, let alone fight in them on horseback. I went for the Date Masamune look, modelled after the famous Edo-era daimyo from Tohoku, known for wearing a crescent moon-shaped helmet crest and a patch covering his missing eye. While you're at it and still fearless, consider striking poses that would make the original 'owner' of the armour – probably not the nicest of men – turn in his grave.
A standard photo session includes five poses, each shot 10 to 15 times, and sets you back a cool ¥13,000 – with the exception of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's armour, which costs no less than ¥40,000 to try on. Kuroda Nagamasa's kacchu also comes in a kid-friendly size. The total price includes an SD card containing all the photos taken, with an optional printing service for ¥1,000 per photo. See here for more info and reservations.
Behind-the-scenes photos by Youka Nagase:
