Does the world need another blog/website?

Maybe, but only if it contains information that is difficult to obtain otherwise.

The world of Japanese Armour is a very fascinating one. For me the beauty lies in the esthetics, the functionality and the way they were constructed. And all this in combination with the fact that all of this changed over the centuries, resulting in a wealth of beauty but also undiscovered mysteries.

As an engineer and an avid photographer, I want to combine my passions to share pictures and information about the construction and history of Japanese Armour. A lot of this history is still unknown or vague, but I hope that my pictures could help to study armour remotely in a way that was difficult before.

The internet is a beautiful, but also dangerous place. Pictures are stolen and used to sell items that are not for sale. Therefore it is quite likely that pictures of private collections will not end up on these pages, unless I got explicit permission of the owners.

As I am also the official representative of the Japanese Armour society, The Nihon Katchū Bugu Kenkyū Hozon Kai (NKBKHK), I will also post news from the society, meeting reports etc. If you want to join the society, let me know, and I will make it happen. Nice to know maybe is that we are translating the armour magazine with the permission of the society. So now, for the first time ever, armour information is available in English in a very regular way…

And finally I want to share the info and resources that are available. Many books exist, more then most people think, but off course most are in Japanese. But they are unknown to many, hence unloved… So you can expect an avalanche of book “reviews”. I can only hope that these give you an inspiration for your own library.

I hope you enjoy the ride.

Jo
p.s. armour or armor… as I’m from Europe, I grew up with ‘armour’, so…