Conference at the Tower of London

[myochin]

An interesting conference coming up organised by the Royal Armouries in Leeds:

 

CONFERENCE: EAST MEETS WEST

Saturday 14 September 2013 at Tower of London

DIPLOMATIC GIFTS OF ARMS AND ARMOUR BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA

 

http://www.royalarmouries.org/what-we-d ... meets-west

 

Paul.

[Derek]

Thank you for posting this. Very interesting. I was on vacation last month in London; my wife was annoyed with me for the hour I spent in front of the 3 nihonto on display at the tower! (Including an amazing Juyo Kaneuji)

 

Derek

[Bugyotsuji]

Look at the list of speakers. No 1 is no less than our Ian here, and No 2 works at the Armouries with him. Saturday 14th Sept... hmmm.... that sounds interesting, and maybe even possible for me.

[IanB]

Piers et al, Yes it's I who will be kicking off this seminar. It will of course mean I shall have to redeem the suit from the pawn-brokers before the event, and buy a pair of new socks - but needs must. One of the King James I (and VI) armours, which I have proved to my own satisfaction belonged to Takeda Katsuyori, lives at the Tower and is permanently on show. The other, on loan from the Royal Collection, will probably remain in Leeds since moving it would require Royal approval. There is also the mogami haramaki, which may be moved from Leeds to the Tower for the event. At this stage I know not. That armour we know was given to King Philip II of Spain in 1585 and had belonged to a member of the Shimazu family. Historic stuff!

Ian Bottomley

[Clive Sinclaire]

Strangely enough, I am off today to do a presentation at a "Budo Workshop" on a similar subject, ie Collecting Japanese Swords and how they came to the West in the Bakamatsu era and some of the big collectors such as Bigelow, Festing, Bowden etc. I had originally put this together for a seminar at Royal Armouries some years ago that was cancelled!

 

Wish me luck!

Clive Sinclaire