In 2014, a magnificent Japanese armour exhibition took place in “Le Château des Ducs de Bretagne” in Nantes. At the occasion of the exhibition, two catalogs were published. The fIrst one, “Samouraï – 1000 ans d’histoire du Japon” by Pierre-François Souyri is now already sold out. More unique however was the big collector’s edition, limited to 94. This edition included the original catalog (bound in the Japanese way), plus a special full color book with pictures of several of the armours and other items, and a limited edition, unique print of one of the 47 ronin, specially made for this occasion by Morii Kusuo. The book got the prestigious “le Prix du Livre d’Art 2015” at the “Nuit du Livre, Paris.”. I have been told by the curator of the exhibition that only a few copies are still available. These can be ordered via the website of the castle museum in Nantes.
Video of the normal catalog
Video of the special edition catalog
Some pictures of the exhibition in Nantes.
This is a short but nice article about Robert Soanes, one of the very view Japanese Armour restorers. His teacher is Fumio Nishioka, vice president of the Japanese Armour Society, and a top restorer in Japan. Link to article.
Thomas Del Mar Ltd holds biannually arms and armour related sales since 2005 entitled “Thomas Del Mar Ltd in association with Sotheby’s“. The next sale will be on June 29th, 2016.
The auction catalog can be viewed online here
Several Japanese items are for sale in the catalog and the kind people of Thomas Del Mar Ltd supplied me with some high resolution pictures for you to enjoy.
Some very nice kura: (link to auction catalog, click on the picture for a high resolution picture)
A nice Saotome Iyechika kabuto (link to auction catalog, click on the picture for a high resolution picture). Note that in the description of the kabuto, reference is made to our book Helmets of the Saotome School.
A new Armour exhibition is underway in the Iyeyasu and Mikawa Bushi Museum in Okazaki, Japan. The exhibition runs from May 20 till July 16, 2016. There will be no catalog.
More info can be found here (Japanese).
Pamphlet (click for larger pictures)
Title: Yanagawa no bijutsu 2 (Yanagawa Bunka Shiryō Shūsei, dai 3 shū 2)Author: Yanagawashi Shi Henshū Iinkai Publisher: Yanagawashi Shi Henshū Iinkai, 2007
Language: Japanese
Illustrations: Black and white pictures few color pictures
Other: 464+42 pages, 30 cm by 23 cm, softcover
Topics: Abumi,
Ceramics,
Documents,
Kabuto,
Katchū,
Kura,
Menpō,
Nihontō,
Paintings,
Tōsōgu ID: B0270
Nice catalog about the many art objects from Yanagawa. Some very interesting armour related items are also displayed, among many other items.
The armour society meeting of May 2016 had as theme “Ko Myōchin”, the old Myōchin. Nine Myōchin kabuto from the Tenbun period (1532-1555) where brought by members of the society to look at the Myōchin smiths that were active in that time.
People interested in joining the Japanese Armour society can find more info here, and contact me at katchunobi [at] gmail [dot] com.
Celebrating the beauty of Japanese samurai armour