Title: Kakuzen zukō Author: Eisen Ikeda Publisher: Unknown, 1939 (1845) Language: Japanese Illustrations: Color Pictures and black and white pictures Other: 33 cm by 21.5 cm, hardcover Topics:Katchū ID: B0309
Rare 1939 copy of the Kakuzen Zukō (originally from 1845), illustrating many stencil patterns used for decorating leather, used for example in armours. Review of the original edition will follow later.
This is a facsimile from a very rare book, originally from 1848. It contains drawings of 200 items related to warfare, in a kind of visual dictionary way. The original book will be reviewed later.
Title: Kōrō yadan: Tōsei gusoku no kumi himo Author: Asajirō Morita Publisher: Asajirō Morita, 1986 Language: Japanese Illustrations: Color Pictures Other: 29 pages, 30 cm by 21.5 cm, hardcover Topics:Katchū ID: B0307
This is a very rare manuscript of Asajirō Morita, one of the great post-edo armor maker, about the cords used in armours, mainly tōsei gusoku. It contains 77 color pictures of cord-remains from Nambokucho onwards, with his comments.
The same content was one year later bundled with 5 articles Mr. Morita wrote in the magazine of the armor society (will be reviewed later).
Title: Bushido The Way of the Warrior Author: John Newman Publisher: Gallery Books, 1989 ISBN: 0-8317-1031-4 Language: English Illustrations: Color and black and white pictures Other: 192 pages, 31 cm by 24 cm, hardcover Topics:History, Kabuto, Katchū, Paintings, Samurai ID: B0303
General book on the samurai culture, from the early beginnings till the legacy after the second world war. Only a few famous armor are in the book.
Title: Samurai An Illustrated History Author: Mitsuo Kure Publisher: Tuttle Publishing, 2002 ISBN: 0-8048-3287-0 Language: English Illustrations: Color Pictures Other: 192 pages, 31 cm by 24 cm, hardcover Topics:History, Kabuto, Katchū, Menpō, Paintings, Samurai ID: B0302
Nice general samurai overview book with several armors, re-enactors and drawings. The picture on the cover is rather famous as it illustrates that by the time that photography became available, many ‘samurai’ did not know anymore how to put on an armor properly. The sode are reversed…
This is one of the several books that Stephen R. Turnbull has written about Samurai. This one is a very broad one, and in that sense gives a good overview. Only a few armors ate in the book, but many paintings etc.
This is the Dutch translation of The Way of the Samurai (1983) From Richard Storry with pictures of Werner Forman. Includes a limited number of armor pictures. More included in my library as nostalgia.
Beautiful catalog that was published on the occasion of the exhibition Lords of the samurai – the legacy of a daimyo family, organized by the Asian Art Museum and the Eisei-Bunko Hosokawa Collection (Tokyo), in San Francisco, 2009. Besides the famous armors, also many other beautiful items from the collection are in the catalog.