All serious collectors (and not only of Japanese armour) will say the same: start your collection with a good book library, where you can learn and train your eyes.

As I’m lucky to live in Japan and to be an active member of the Japanese Armour Society, I have had access to see many rare (and often old) books when I get invited to see private collections. In order to help people to build a good library, I will review the books I encounter.  In order to give the best objective overview of a book possible, I will use video. I’ve seen too many online auctions or sales listings where the seller highlights the four armours in a certain book and catalog, giving the impression that there are many more inside, while in reality, that’s it. I hope that my browsing gives an honest overview on the content of the books. Once in a while, I will add some pictures to highlight some specific points of a book. I will however keep the resolution of video and pictures low, in order to make sure I don’t run into copyright issues. I only want to give you an idea what is in the book.

The library will be in constant flux as I will make the info available while I’m adding reviews. You will be able to access the reviews via the blog (while I add them) or in an alphabetic list for title and author, and even a searchable index. Be aware that the great plugin I use has (for my purpose) one flaw. It expects a author’s name to have first and last name, while some books have only an association listed. So instead of Nihon Katchū Bugu Kenkyū Hozon Kai (The Japanese armour society) as author, you will see Kai, Nihon Katchū Bugu Kenkyū Hozon. But so be it.

Some books will be only about tsuba, swords and kamon… If there would be a certain book you look for, let me know.

Shortcuts to the different lists will be available in the menu and a permanent post at the top of the front page, but if you want to have a look already at what is available:

Searchable index

Library by Title

Library by Author

Library Topic 

Photography of Armour Collections
I like to combine my passion for photography with my passion for armour. Besides making the pictures for two published books, I also made pictures for the catalog of an armour exhibition here in Japan. I often also make pictures of private collections, or restoration projects.

Book Hunting
I love the thrill to locate a difficult to find book, so if you look for something, let me know.

For Sale
I sometimes end up with doubles of a book, and in order to make place for new books I will offer them (from time to time) for sale. If already available, a review of the book will be added to give you the best possible objective info. I probably have some more doubles that are not listed yet, so please contact me if you want to find certain specific books.

you can contact me at katchunobi [at] gmail [dot] com

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…