In my experience, most collectors bought their first original Japanese samurai suite of armor without having any clue of what they were buying. Some have been lucky to found an original and nice item, but some have lately found out their purchase was not what...
Authenticity mattersGiven that Japanese traditional painters learned their craft by copying earlier masters, it can be very difficult to distinguish an original from a copy, especially if the work is very old. Even if the artist was not deliberately creating a fake, the copy might...
The high esteem accorded to calligraphy in Japan is demonstrated not only by a large number of works of art which include scripts and writings but also by the attention paid to the craftsmanship of tools used for this form of art.While writing boxes (suzuri-bako,...
Five facts about sōmen Sōmen are masks for the samurai armor which cover the entire face. Here you are some unknown facts about them: Most sōmen are modified half-face menpo. Due to the rarity of original sōmen, many antique me-no-shita-men (half-face masks) have been modified with the...
Decorations for kabuto (samurai helmet) are called tatemono, literally "things that stand". they were used since the Heian period and for a long time, the only design was the kuwagata, two long stylised horns that appeared on highest-ranking warriors' armor. We can see this decoration...
Revival samurai armorUnlike European armor, which is usually formed from large plates, Japanese samurai armor is primarily made up of many small pieces of lacquered iron or leather threaded together with silk cord to produce a scale texture that is both protective and flexible. The...
It is a common idea that traditionally japanese samurai sword was the main weapon for a samurai during battle. This is actually not true, as it was used only as a last resort or in a duel (especially during the Edo period), while there were...
On the great majority of Japanese helmets there is a hole, more or less large, that can leave puzzled those who do not know its origins. Why should a samurai have a hole on the most important part of the armor? Here are some considerations...
The Spartan yet ascetic culture of the samurai is beautifully summed up in the tea ceremony, one of the most meaningful expressions of the Zen philosophy. A major influence in codifying the ritual was Sen no Rikyū, tea master for the great samurai leader Oda...
The years 1478–1605 are described as Sengoku jidai, the “warring states period”, a time of a nearly permanent state of war between the approximately 250 fiefdoms making up Japan. Of these, only about thirty were the most powerful ones. Many daimyō had ambitions of rising...