Title: Arts of Asia May-June 1977This number of Arts of Asia contains an article on the history of Japanese armour, nothing ground breaking but nicely illustrated. The issue contains also interesting articles on inro, netsuke ukiyo-e and costumes of the noh theatre.
Title: L'Art Guerrier du Japon: SamouraïVery nice catalog from an exhibition in 1987 with some amazing pieces in (then) European collections. Contains mainly pieces from the at that time big and famous collections of L.J. Anderson and Bernard Le Dauphin. The color pictures are gorgeous.
Title: Armes Japonaises dans les collections privées FrançaisesThis is a pioneering (exhibition) book from Robert Burawoy that shows the quality of the French collections already in the late 70’s. Some of these pieces are still in France, some have moved to other countries. A classic book. The hardcover is limited to 300, numbered and signed. There is also a softcover version.
Title: Orientations October 1992This magazine issue contains an interesting article on the fabulous Japanese Armour collection (and how it came to be) of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Title: Art Japonais - Galerie J-C Charbonnier GRAF Paris ArtcurialNice catalog of Jean-Christophe Charbonnier a cultural event in September 2011.
Title: Honcho Buki MeikanPartial (?) reproduction of the Honcho Buki Meikan from 1854, a handbook of Military terms. With English translations.
Title: 850 Japanese Armour TermsW. M. Hawley was one of these pioneers who opened up a lot of info to the West. He is famous for his “Japanese Swordsmiths”, but he also made many other (and smaller) books. This is one of them. 850 Japanese Armour Terms is one of several volumes that contain specific terms for a certain subset of Japanese arms, illustrated by mainly line drawings. The only regret is that the kanji are still all hand written. Otherwise fantastic resource.
Title: A short history of Japanese armourThis is a classic. Since then off course more elaborated works have been published, but you just must admire the pioneering work of these early researchers like H.R. Robinson.
Title: Samurai The Flowering of JapanVery nice book that was published at the occasion of an exhibition in 2012 in the Frazier History Museum. Several very nice kabuto and armours (and many other samurai related items). Nice photography.
Title: Bulletin Association Franco-Japonaise No 47 Janvier 1995This number from the Bulletin Association Franco-Japonaise magazine contains a few gems, all written by Robert Burawoy. The first one is the only extended article I know of about modern armour makers Fukutake and Ryūtarō Ichirō, famous mainly for their sōmen that are now collectors items. The second gem is an article about the Kaga armours, based on research of Teruo Orikasa. The third one is an about a helmet by Nagasone Masanori, and the last article by Mr. Burawoy is about three armours designed by Noguchi Zesai.
