Muneyuki Myôchin 明珍宗恭 (1917-2011)

Sad news for the Japanese armour world.

News has reached us that Mr. Muneyuki Myôchin (明珍宗恭) passed away on January 17 2011. He was considered the last armour smith in the famous Myôchin-line, and was maybe most famous for his fabulous work on the armours in the film The Seven Samurai from Akira Kurosawa. I was fortunate enough to have met Mr. Myôchin a few times here in Japan.   

An interesting article about his life and work can be found here. A book on his life can be found on the Amazon.co.jp website.

 Me, Mr. Myôchin and Mr. Fujimoto, former president of the Armour society (October 2009)

NKBKHK: December Meeting

Yesterday we had our last meeting of the year and traditionally also the end of the year party (bounenkai 忘年会).

Miura sensei, of the very few real armour makers (甲冑師), together with his student Andy  Mancabelli, gave some explanation about some restoration projects they have done (as also seen on television here in Japan). Andy gave also some explanation about the akodanari he is making under Mirua sensei's guiding, and a mempo he has been restoring. Miura sensei gave a very interesting work in progress of a maedate he is making, based on a kabuto that was on display at the great Samurai exhibition at the Mets at the end of 2009.

And then their was the always enjoyable party where it is always great to hear some interesting armour gossip and news.

I would like to repeat once more that it has now become extremely easy also for people outside of Japan to become a member of the society via their renewed website: www.japanese-armor.org.

Nihon Katchû Bugu Kenkyû Hozon Kai (NKBKHK) Website

The Nihon Katchû Bugu Kenkyû Hozon Kai (NKBKHK) has a new bi-lingual (Japanese - English) website.

Contact information in English is available on how to become a member, something off course I encourage strongly to do. (It will be no problem to email in English)  

At this moment, the Japanese part has still more content, but as time progresses, I will also help to translate the rest of the site together with the very helpful staff of the society.

Also short reports about the monthly meetings will be available, the yearly shinsa procedure etc.

This is the first time that access to the society has been so easy, and I'm really grateful to the board members that they have taken this big international step.

Website: www.japanese-armor.org.



New Book: Nihon Katchû Zukan by Ichiro Miura and Yasuyuki Nagato (日本甲冑図鑑)

Title: Nihon katchû zukan (日本甲冑図鑑)
Author: Ichiro Miura (三浦一郎), Yasuyuki Nagato (永都康之)
Publisher: Shinkigensha (新紀元社), 2010
ISBN: 978-4-7753-0821-9
Language: Japanese
Illustrations: Black & White line drawings
Other: 407 pages, 21 cm by 15 cm, softcover
Description: This new book by Mr. Miura, an NKBKHK member and owner of katchu.com, is an illustrated encyclopedia with drawings of Japanese armour by Mr. Nagato. The fact that many Japanese words have also furigana (the phonetic hiragana or katakana on top of the kanji), makes it an interesting study book for people with less than perfect Japanese reading skills. Autographed copies are also available as the authors had a special signing session.

(A video review will follow)

New Book: Sengoku no kawari kabuto

There is a katchu boom in Japan (mostly related to the Sengoku period), and the good thing about that is that several new books have appeared.

Title: Sengoku no kawari kabuto
Author: Iwao Fujimoto, Uneme Kasahara
Publisher: Gakken, 2010
ISBN: 978-4-05-605725-6
Language: Japanese
Illustrations: Color pictures
Other: 191 pages, 25.5 cm by 18 cm, softcover
Description: This new book on kawari kabuto during the Sengoku period was made by members of the Japanese Armour Society. The book in the popular Gakken series is illustrated with a lot of color pictures.

(A video review will follow)