Dark blue leather laced shoulder guards of black scales

This pair of shoulder guards was made around the 16th century. Wide type shoulder guards like this piece were produced for protecting shoulders against arrows. They became obsolete with the arrival of guns.
In a document of the Tachibana family, this pair was recorded as a part of a suit of armor owned by Tachibana Muneshige. However, this was not the original shoulder guard of his armor. It has the design of three stars and two lines, which is actually the Otabe family crest.
There is an interesting description recorded in 1778. At the military camp in Korea in 1592, Muneshige found that his vassal, Ono Kihachiro, had no shoulder guards. He then took off his shoulder guards and gave them to Kihachiro. Soon after, another vassal, Otabe Shinsuke, noticed that his master wasn’t wearing shoulder guards. He then took off his and offered them to his lord.
This pair of shoulder guards is considered to be the one that Otabe Shinsuke gave to Muneshige.
The Otabe family made this incident a festive custom, and customarily presented shoulder guards to the Tachibana family during the 18th century.