Title: Tokugawa Bijutsukan no meikoku (Treasures from the Tokugawa Art Museum 1)Great catalog from the Tokugawa Art Museum that covers famous treasures from it’s collection.
Title: Japanese Swords and Sword Fittings from the Collection of Dr. Walter A. Compton (Part I, II, III)These are the auction catalogs for the fabulous Walter A. Compton collection, probably the best collection on Japanese swords ever outside of Japan (or even maybe including Japan). Mostly nihontō and tōsōgu.
Title: Nihon katchū daizukanThis is the famous (and originally very expensive – 80,000 yen) encyclopedia of Yoshihiko Sasama, also called: An Illustrated Book on Japanese Armor. Almost no pictures but many illustrations from Sasama. Of course, many illustrations come back in other publications, but the big advantage here is, that the book is big, so much more detail can be seen in the illustrations. One of his latest works, so content wise probably the most up to date.
Title: katchū men mononofu no kasōThis is as far as I know the only serious book on menpō . Several of the examples in the book have become famous and have ended up in big collections. This is a reprint in softcover from the hardcover version from 1991 (B0014). The pictures in the big hard cover edition are slightly better in my eyes.
Title: Armures japonaises dans la collection Jean Saporta - Japanese armor from the Jean Saporta collectionBeautiful book from Jean-Christophe Charbonnier about the magnificent collection of Jean Saporta. The collection has since then been sold, but Mr. Saporta has been very active in gathering a new collection, so there is hope for another book!
Title: Casques, masques et armures des seigneurs de l'ancien JaponBeautiful book from Jean-Christophe Charbonnier with a wide selection of top quality kabuto, menpō, sōmen, katchū from private collections. Excellent explanation about the various schools, beautiful photography.
Title: Armures du Japon II : 100 pièces sélectionnées dans la collection du Musée Stibbert de FlorenceBeautiful book from Robert Burawoy with 100 selected pieces from the Famous Stibbert Collection in Florence. Excellent photography, with explanation in French and English. This is the best book about the Stibbert Collection.
Title: Katchū bugu no kenkyū : kinsei no kabuto o chūshin toshite (Studies on Arms and Armour - With a Focus on Modern Helmets)During his many years as a member of the Nihon Katchū Bugu Kenkyū Hozon Kai, Mr. Orikasa wrote several highly interesting articles about Japanese armour for the magazine of the society. What makes the articles of Mr. Orikasa so interesting is the fact that he starts from thorough research, and not from pure guess work.
In this book (limited to 200), Mr. Orikasa assembled his best articles with, where applicable, some extra comments. As it is probably the first time that these articles will be available for people who are not a member of the armour society, it is a very valuable document.
Title: Sōma no kabutoFantastic book by the Fukushima group of the Japanese Armour Society. Only 4 armours, but a huge amount of kabuto that were at that time in collections in Fukushima. Rare.
Title: Kinki no meikōVery nice and now rare publication from the Osaka regio branch (Kinki) of the The Armour society. Many pieces you will probably not find in any mainstream publication. Does also include several old akodanari kabuto and haramaki etc. Limited to 300.
