Book Review: Nihon no buki bugu (Tokubetsuten zuroku) by Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan

Book Review: Nihon no buki bugu (Tokubetsuten zuroku) by Tōkyō Kokuritsu HakubutsukanTitle: Nihon no buki bugu (Tokubetsuten zuroku)
Author: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan
Publisher: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, 1977
ISBN: None
Language: Japanese with some English
Illustrations: Some color pictures, many black and white pictures
Other: 364 pages, 37 cm by 26.5 cm, hardcover
Topics: Abumi, Bagu, Bugu, Kabuto, Katchū, Kura, Menpō, Nihontō, Tōsōgu

This is a beautiful book published by the Tōkyō National Museum after the big 1976 exhibition.
Mostly old armours, swords, koshirae etc.
The sode on the cover are from my all time favorite dōmaru in the National Museum.

Book Review: Genshoku nihon no bijutsu katchū to tōken (21) by Motoharu Ozaki, Kanzan Satō

Book Review: Genshoku nihon no bijutsu katchū to tōken (21) by Motoharu Ozaki, Kanzan SatōTitle: Genshoku nihon no bijutsu katchū to tōken (21)
Author: Kanzan Satō, Motoharu Ozaki
Publisher: Shōgakkan, 1993 (1970)
ISBN: 4-09-663125-6
Language: Japanese with some English
Illustrations: Many color and black and white pictures
Other: 250 pages, 35.5 cm by 26.5 cm, hardcover
Topics: Kabuto, Katchū, Menpō, Nihontō, Tōsōgu
ID: B0018

This is part 21 of a 30 volume book series. In a later edition, the series was extended to 32, and this volume became nr. 25. Content is identical as far as I can tell.
Beautiful color pictures, mostly from old armour and swords.

Book Review: Jūyō bunkazai kōgei hin III (26) by Mainichi Shimbunsha

Book Review: Jūyō bunkazai kōgei hin III (26) by Mainichi ShimbunshaTitle: Jūyō bunkazai kōgei hin III (26)
Author: Mainichi Shimbunsha
Publisher: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1977
ISBN: 0370-611126-7904
Language: Japanese
Illustrations: Some color pictures, many black and white pictures
Other: 120 pages, 35.5 cm by 26.5 cm, hardcover
Topics: Abumi, Bagu, Bugu, Documents, Kabuto, Katchū, Kura, Menpō, Mirrors, Tōsōgu
ID: B0017

This is part 26 of a 30 volume book series on jūyō bunkazai pieces, about half of them armour. Many pictures, although mostly rather small. Focuses mainly on armours from Heian till Muromachi. Very interesting to see an overview of the jūyō bunkazai armour pieces.

Book Review: Zaigai nihon no shihō (10) kōgei by Tetsurō Kitamura

Book Review: Zaigai nihon no shihō (10) kōgei by Tetsurō KitamuraTitle: Zaigai nihon no shihō (10) kōgei
Author: Tetsurō Kitamura
Publisher: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1981
ISBN: 0370-611150-7904
Language: Japanese and some English
Illustrations: Many color and black and white pictures
Other: 141 pages, 35.5 cm by 26.5 cm, hardcover
Topics: Ceramics, Kabuto, Katchū, Mirrors, Nihontō, Paintings, Tōsōgu
ID: B0016

This beautiful book is part of a 10 volume set that focuses on Japanese art in Western collections. This part does not contain much armour, but has some of the best pictures available of the famous ō-yoroi in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Book Review: Kunzan tōshōgū densei no bunkazai by Yūichi Hiroi

Book Review: Kunzan tōshōgū densei no bunkazai by Yūichi HiroiTitle: Kunzan tōshōgū densei no bunkazai
Author: Yūichi Hiroi
Publisher: Kunōzan Tōshōgū Hakubutsukan, 1994
ISBN: None
Language: Japanese
Illustrations: Many color and black and white pictures
Other: 345 pages, 35 by 27 cm, hardcover, limited to 500
Topics: Bugu, Ceramics, Documents, Kabuto, Katchū, Menpō, Nihontō, Paintings, Teppō, Tōsōgu
ID: B0015

Very beautiful book from the Kunōzan Tōshōgū museum with a lot of pieces related to Tokugawa. Limited to 500.

Book Review: Katchū men mononofu no kasō by Kazuo Iida

Book Review: Katchū men mononofu no kasō by Kazuo IidaTitle: Katchū men mononofu no kasō
Author: Kazuo Iida
Publisher: Tōken shunjū shinbunsha, 1991
ISBN: 4-88583-011-7
Language: Japanese, some English
Illustrations: Few color pictures, many black and white pictures
Other: 320 + 9 pages, 30 cm by 21.5 cm, hardcover
Topics: Menpō, Sōmen
ID: B0014

This 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. En reprint in softcover was published a few years ago (see B0203). The pictures in this big hard cover edition are slightly better in my eyes.

Book Review: Nihon katchū dai zukan by Yoshihiko Sasama

Book Review: Nihon katchū dai zukan by Yoshihiko SasamaTitle: Nihon katchū dai zukan
Author: Yoshihiko Sasama
Publisher: Kashiwa Shobō, 2007
ISBN: 978-4-7601-3171-6
Language: Japanese
Illustrations: Some color illustrations, many black and white illustrations
Other: 474 pages, 30 cm by 21.5 cm, hardcover
Topics: Kabuto, Katchū, Menpō, Sōmen
ID: B0013

This is a reprint from the famous (and very expensive) encyclopedia. Almost no pictures but many illustrations from Sasama. Off 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. Still in print so easy to find.

Book Review: Nihon katchū meihinshū by Yoshihiko Sasama et. al.

Book Review: Nihon katchū meihinshū by Yoshihiko Sasama et. al.Title: Nihon katchū meihinshū
Author: Minoru Iida, Naoyoshi Saitō, Yoshihiko Sasama
Publisher: Yūzankaku Shuppan, 1968
ISBN: None
Language: Japanese
Illustrations: Few color pictures and drawings, many black and white pictures
Other: 279 pages, 26.5 cm by 19 cm, hardcover
Topics: Kabuto, Katchū, Menpō
ID: B0012

Sasama was well known for reusing his material in his many books. As this book focuses on several nice Japanese armour sets (also several Muromachi ones), it is however nice to have, especially with the pictures that appear in the second half of the book. As is regrettable the case with almost all books on Japanese armour, also here only one general picture is shown per set.

Book Review: Nihon katchū taikan by Yoshihiko Sasama

Book Review: Nihon katchū taikan by Yoshihiko SasamaTitle: Nihon katchū taikan
Author: Yoshihiko Sasama
Publisher: Gogatsu Shobō, 1987
ISBN: 4-7727-0048-X C3072
Language: Japanese
Illustrations: Black and white pictures, drawings
Other: 1374 pages, 22.5 cm by 16 cm, hardcover
Topics: Kabuto, Katchū, Menpō
ID: B0011

This very thick and dense encyclopedia covers a lot of ground on Japanese armour, but as it is mainly text, sparsely illustrated, it will be hard to follow for most. Can probably be best read in combination with one of Sasama’s other, more visual oriented books. The First 1050 pages is an encyclopedia, with the last 300 pages an earlier version of the katchūshi meikan.

Book Review: Nihon no meitō (3 volumes) by Yoshihiko Sasama

Book Review: Nihon no meitō (3 volumes) by Yoshihiko SasamaTitle: Nihon no meitō (3 volumes)
Author: Yoshihiko Sasama
Publisher: Yūzankaku, 1972
ISBN: None
Language: Japanese
Illustrations: Few color pictures, many black and white pictures
Other: 335, 351, 355 pages, 26.5 cm by 19 cm, hardcover, limited to 1500
Topics: Kabuto, Menpō
ID: B0010

In these three books (limited to 1500), Sasama focuses on Japanese helmets, and this time he relies on many pictures, in line with his Nihon katchū meihinshū. In some cases a few views of one helmet are even available. Some helmets are famous, but many you will find probably nowhere else. They are also know as the “blue books”. In many places you will find the alternative reading: Nihon no meikabuto.