Saddle of the Japanese kurabane type, lacquered throughout in mottled black and gold the pommel and cantle (arched front and back plate) each have black and gold slightly raised cherry blossoms on the outer surfaces. These two panels are connected by the contoured side bands (igi), both with slots for the stirrup straps (not present); the lower sections of pommel and cantle have attached loops. With a beige suede leather saddle seat.

Between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, warfare was mostly carried out by cavalry using the long, deeply curved tachi and the bow (yumi). Over time, the samurai developed and mastered ‘the way of the horse and the bow’ (kyūba-no-michi) – a warrior tradition which eventually evolved into the philosophical and practical martial concept, bushidō (‘the way of the warrior’).