Japanese Armour society

[JoA]

Hi

 

As I'm not a prolific poster, just a small introduction for the people who don' know me.

 

My name is Jo Anseeuw, I live in Yokohama, Japan since 11 years. I have been lurking on the site for a while (sorry), but my main interest is Japanese armour.

If my name would ring a bell, it could be because I was involved in publishing a book on Saotome kabuto (I made the pictures) and also coordinated the translation on a book on armour from Mr. Orikasa (for both, see http://www.saotomebook.com). I also have a (dormant) website were I started to put armour book reviews online as I mainly collect such books (http://www.joanseeuw.com). I do contribute on a regular base to the Nihon no Katchu Samurai Armour forum of Dave Thatcher.

 

My sales pitch:

I have been a member of the Japanese armour society in Japan for several years (and actually the only active foreigner in the Tokyo branch), and in August this year, they have asked me to become the official representative for foreigners.

Normally the society membership is 12,000 yen/year plus one time 3,000 yen "start-up" fee. But for this year only (April 2014 until end of March 2015) they lowered that to 6,000 yen, without the start-up fee. (From next year (April 2015-March 2016) it will be 12,000 yen again) Members get 4 magazines/year for that amount, each around 30+ pages. To make lt easy and cheap, members pay me via PayPal and I pay via my local Japanese bank.

In this short amount of time, I was able to get more then 30 new members, and the society was therefore very willing to allow two important steps forward

1. From the 3rd magazine of this year (#188), published last week, they have added translations of the abstracts of the main articles, and a table of contents in English. (Abstracts are translated by Markus Sesko)

2. They also allowed me to run a self funded translation project. People who are interested can join (this year until March 2015) for 100 Euro and will get for that money the translation of the main articles of the 4 magazines. Translations are done by Markus Sesko. He is now working on the first two magazines.

 

People who become a member before end of March 2015 will also get the four magazines of 2014. However, the first two of 2014 are sold out already but they will get, with permission from the society, a scanned version, plus two printed magazines from 2013, and then of course the two last numbers of 2014.

 

My mission is to find more members for the society, who hopefully want to join also the translation project. In that way I can make sure that the price goes down from next year. Then this should become a sustainable way to get armour related articles translated in English.

If interested, please PM me, so I can give my PayPal address, and you can send me your address to send the magazines to.

 

My apologies for the double message for the many armour friends here who have already become a member, but I hope I can reach also some other people who could be interested.

 

Thank you for reading this far.

 

Jo

 

Edited to add a way to contact me, and to clarify a bit 'what year is what year'

[b.hennick]

Hello Jo:

I'm interested. I do not see to whom to send the money! I need a Paypal address where I can pay and input my information for shipping the magazines to me. I suggest that you edit the original post and then this one can be shortened to the first sentence.

[Brian]

Great work Jo!

Wish you luck and success, and hope you can give us some of your considerable insight into armour from time to time.

So to clarify, for the first year (2015) the dues are 6000 Yen in total if paid before end of March. From the beginning of 2016, it reverts back to regular rate.

A great deal for armour enthusiasts.

 

Brian

[Gilles]

Thanks to Jo, I am a member of the Japanese armour society in Japan. He is dedicated to his task and act as a real ambassador for us "gaijin". I can just praise his dedication to our cause.

[JoA]

Barry

 

Thank you.

You have a point. I will add that people need to PM me, i prefer not to have my mail in the open to avoid spam bots (as much as possible...)

 

Brian.

The 6,000 yen deal is for 2014 (that started in April 2014 and will end in March 2015). 3 of the four magazines have been published so far. From April 2015, the price will be again 12,000 yen for April 2015-March 2016.

 

Gilles, thank you for the kind words!

 

Jo

[b.hennick]

My journals arrived with a receipt and membership card. There was English in the third (newest ) issue. The most interesting articles for me was one on knots used in tying armour and one of X-rays of parts of armours. I understand that more English translations are forthcoming.  

[uwe]

Welcome to the club Barry!

Regards

Uwe

[estcrh]

What Jo has done is truly remarkable, he has put the slightist crack in the formally impenetrable wall that has surrounded the study and research conducted by the Japanese members of the Japanese Armor Society. I am not sure exactly how or what circumstances have set this new outreach program in motion but Jo has obviously spent a lot of time and effort over the years to get things to this point and anyone with an interest in the subject of Japanese armor should support this effort. Hopefully this will lead to a cross cultural exchange of knowledge in the future, unfortunately language and culture barriers keep this a one way exchange for now.

[Luc T]

Please have a look on our websites new book section. All books are written or edited by JAS-members’

https://www.japanesearmorsociety.com/copia-di-magazines-1

[Gakusee]

Dear Luc, will do

 

In your opinion, which books are thorough and comprehensive enough to give the same level of detail as the sword equivalents Fujishiro/Nihonto Koza or the tsuba equivalent Sasano, etc?

 

Many people go for glossy photos but I prefer more academic or scientific approaches. I often found that personal collection overviews (on which shorter books are sometimes based) or museum catalogues do not serve a good purpose to provide a through and systemic approach to the subject. 

 

Thank you!

[Chishiki]

Hi.  I checked your site.  Where is the link to buy books?  Thank You

[Shogun8]

Dear Luc, will do

 

In your opinion, which books are thorough and comprehensive enough to give the same level of detail as the sword equivalents Fujishiro/Nihonto Koza or the tsuba equivalent Sasano, etc?

 

Many people go for glossy photos but I prefer more academic or scientific approaches. I often found that personal collection overviews (on which shorter books are sometimes based) or museum catalogues do not serve a good purpose to provide a through and systemic approach to the subject. 

 

Thank you!

Hi Michael,

 

Well, every library should certainly have a copy of Ian's Arms and Armour of the Samurai which provides a great overview of the subject. If you're looking for scientific analysis or an academic approach to the study of armour that is more technical and specific, from the list of books presented at the link, then I would recommend Robert Burawoy's Armuriers du Japon: Etudes de Meiko Zukan (if you speak French of course). Trevor Absolon's Samurai Armour: The Japanese Cuirass is a hefty tome that goes into great technical (and at times, historical) detail about the dō. The first three yearbooks of the JAS have presented some very in-depth (and frankly, cutting edge - pun intended) articles on subjects as varied as toppai, momonari and Joshu kabuto, the Japanese matchlock, and the Nobuie controversy, presented by the most senior experts of the society in Japan, as well as Western scholars such as Robert Burawoy. As well, membership in the JAS provides partial translations of the society meetings, some of which have presented very serious discussion on varied topics relating to katchu. Hope this helps!

[Chishiki]

Hi.  Is there a link to buy your publications?  Mark

[Luc T]

Hi. Is there a link to buy your publications? Mark

not yet, but if you google the titels, you will find them easily.

I also recommend Jock Hopsons and Ian Bottomley ‘s Arms and Armor of the samurai.

It still is the best book to get started.