Myochin

[christianmalterre]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

here is a book- ( meanwhile "old" i just read it in last weeks, in space due time i sorrwly did not have so to read it in once...)....

 

i do hard! recomment to read and study!

 

very good!- just excellent!- goes to its point!

 

Christian

[IanB]

An excellent study based on the writings of the Miochin / Myochin armourers. These people are a real mystery and I keep changing my mind as to what really went on. What is definite is that they concocted a fake genealogy around 1660 claiming to have made armour since 'times immoral' whilst at the same time admitting that they were also the makers of horse bits called Masuda. They also claimed everyone and their dog were Miochins, even some of the Haruta smiths who were still working. What must be recognised is that the later Miochin did exist and made some superb armour. Well worth reading.

Ian Bottomley 

[christianmalterre]

exactually.

in it´s work, it does represent a pure tradition- plus a pure answer by a expert! (relating the swordsmiths traditions and the tsubako traditions!)

not to mention it´s main topic....of course...

 

thank you Ian! !

 

i think, we do have to applaude to Robert!

(Merci beaucoup! Robert!)

 

personally, i do think, much better then this "en vogue " behaviour in just translating "evereything what i do can find me "......( and latter do look for help of commerce)

but....?

modern times....

 

[Jean]

Robert is a real expert in kodogu/Tosogu and in Katchu. He wrote a book on the armours displaid at the Stilbert Museum in Firenze.

He is also very good in swords. When he was still in activity he invited me several times at his home to have dinner and showed me a few of his treasures, I remember a first generation Soten and a a signed first generation Muramasa tanto with a yahazu hamon among other treasures. His flat was a real museum with yumis, Armours displaid and shelves all over the walls crumbly under the weight of hundreds books...

[Shogun8]

Like Jean, I had the great honour of being invited - along with a few of my JAS colleagues and our visiting Japanese friends from the NKBKHK - to Robert's home, where he and his lovely wife hosted us for a wonderful dinner, at the Paris stop of our Grand Tour in February. I had corresponded briefly with him several years before and yet not only did he remember me, but he even remembered what our correspondence had been about!

 

His "Studies on the Meiko Zukan" is an invaluable reference for katchu enthusiasts. I just hope to have the entire thing translated into English one day, because Lord knows how much I'm missing with my high school French!

[Bugyotsuji]

Thank you for the recommendation, Christian. This book is now on my 'want' list.

A friend has a thick book in Japanese, Ian, which goes into great detail on the Myochin generations right through the end of Edo. Perhaps that one too is (partly) based on the genealogy you mention. I have a 'Muromachi' Myochin horsebit here, which might fit in with your theory above.

[IanB]

Piers, It is accepted that the genealogy is concocted and many armourers who are included had nothing to do with them. What is still a puzzle are the Miochin Nobuie helmets. They look old but not one is mounted in an armour that is known to be pre-1600 - they all form part of Edo period armours. Since he is supposed to have worked in the early 16th C. and was supposed to have been the bee's knees, it is all rather suspicious.

However, it is a good book and worth having.

Ian