Trevor Absolon - Samurai Armour, Volume I: The Japanese Cuirass

To my loving wife and children, who patiently missed out on so much without complaint while they supported me through the writing of this book.

&

In memory of Anthony Bryant, 19612013, with whom this book was originally to have been co-written. Im sure this book is lacking for your absence, Anthony.

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This electronic edition published in 2017 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published in Great Britain in 2017

2017 (Trevor Absolon)

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Every attempt has been made by the Publisher to secure the appropriate permissions for material reproduced in this book. If there has been any oversight we will be happy to rectify the situation and written submission should be made to the Publisher.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Trevor Absolon has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this Work.

ISBN: 978-1-4728-0796-0 (HB)
ISBN: 978-1-4728-2225-3 (eBook)
ISBN: 978-1-4728-2224-6 (ePDF)
ISBN: 978-1-4728-2223-9 (XML)

EDITORS NOTE

All quotations from Japanese language source material are translated into English by Trevor Absolon.

IMAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All line drawings and artwork unless otherwise accredited were commissioned from and produced by Brian Snoddy, an exceptional artist and valued friend.

All images and photographs are from the authors personal archive unless otherwise accredited.

Front cover: A cuirass made in the yokohagi-okegawa-d style.

Title page: A historically accurate reproduction of the Japanese National Treasure aka odoshi -yoroi. The original armour is said to have belonged to the famous 12th century Genpei War samurai Hatakeyama Shigetada. (me Municipal Museum of Provincial History)

Dedication page: Legend of Muge Hoju no Tama. Detail of a Japanese folding screen of the 18th century, at the Museum of Eastern Art in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD