Abumi (stirrup)

Cup-shaped stirrups (tsubo abumi) that enclosed the front half of the rider's foot eventually replaced the earlier design.

[1][2] During the Nara period, the base of the stirrup which supported the rider's sole was elongated past the toe cup.

[1] The military version of this open-sided stirrup, called the shitanaga abumi, was in use by the middle Heian period.

[1] The abumi had a distinctive swan-like shape, curved up and backward at the front so as to bring the loop for the leather strap over the instep and achieve a correct balance.

Most of the surviving specimens from this period are made entirely of iron, inlaid with designs of silver or other materials, and covered with lacquer.