Marc T

Thank you Luc and Piers. Very nice…!!

Hi Piers, By pure curiosity, do you think it would be possible to get a picture of this armor?. Just to keep it as a reference.

Hello Russ, sorry. I was not a big help on this search. I sincerely hope the armors of this gentleman’s collection are kept in one set, and not sold by part, as we see it too often. I have seen recently a Myochin armor with a certificate ( genuine) dating from the 80’s, but previous owners changed the sangu and the yoroibitsu to look more attractive for foreign taste… It was not only a mismatch, it completely change the historic ( and financial) value of the armor. What a shame. I will look for the Munechika armor of the book , and will raise a flag if I see it. Kind regards

Hi Russ, Thank you for your mail, and this information. Very interesting to know. I believe you are referring to the armor No 36 in the book of Mr. L J Anderson. First of all, there are three Myochin ki Munechika armorers. Only the last character changes. There is no pictures of the sign of the armorer, so it is not easy to identify the armorer judging only by this black and white photo, but the comments of the book mention that many parts are dated from 1779-1780. Therefore it is not the Munechika I am tracking, who worked on the very late Edo period. To answer your question, unfortunately, I have no idea about what happened to this collection. I was not in Japan at that time. I have been looking for Munechika armors for more than 20 years in Japan, but I haven’t seen this armor on the market over those years . Hopefully, may be someone who will read this post will have more information to share with you. An interesting point if you are interested in Munechika is the armor on P 52 ( No42). Nice armorers collaboration. The helmet is older ( Saotome Iyesada) the Shikoro is signed by Myochin Munechika ( Probably in a gold cartouche), and the rest of the armor was signed by Myochin Muneyasu who was the adoptive father and master of the Myochin Munechika of the very late Edo. I have three others do identical to this one signed by Myochin Munechika. The work is similar to Muneyasu ‘s ones. Interesting to see these kind of mix. They are not rare. I have seen some example of collaboration between Myochin Munechika and Myochin Muneyasu. Both very high quality work. Hope you will find what you are looking for.

Hello Luc. indeed. Interesting armor. Will try to found out more about this one. Many thanks for your feedback.

Hello Uwe, Thank you for your feedback. Yes, very nice armor. Probably belong to a high ranking bakufu official or a super super wealthy Samurai. From the picture, I cannot see any family crest. The nice color variation reminds me of the Munechika armor in the Leiden museum. Will try to ask the Edo museum if they have more informations about the history of this armor. (Provenance, etc.) There is probably also a more precise date mentioned inside the Kabuto. Comment of the picture only mention the year. Interesting search. Will see where it will lead. Many thanks

Dear All, I just found out this morning an article about the reopening of the Tokyo Edo museum after 4 years of renovation. Big surprise as a unknown Myochin Munechika armor was on the press article. https://artexhibition.jp/topics/news/20260325-AEJ2867109/ I have been collecting and doing research on Munechika for almost 30 years, and that's the first time I see this one.... Is anyone aware or seen this armor made in Ansei 3 nen (the one on the right)? The museum is schedule to open on March 25th. Can't wait for the reopening and learn more about this armor....! Let me know your thoughts. Many thanks in advance Marc

Thanks to you Piers.

Hello Luc, interesting. Any picture on the Yoshimichi 8 plates Kabuto?

Hello everyone, I have a nice story to share today. About 2 years ago, Piers sent us an article about a tsuyama armor discovery (the newspaper article sent by Piers is on this discussion thread dated April 2021). The article mentioned a Yasutsugu who was a student of Muneyoshi. This article was very interesting to me as I have an armor of Munechika with the very same style of Kabuto. Thanks to my contact in Tsuyama, I was able to retrieve and meet the owner of this armor. He kindly authorized me to examine it more in detail . He and his wife are truly lovely people. The interesting part of this armor what that on the back of the helmet (and outside part of the helmet) it was written « made by Yasutsugu, a student of Myochin ki Muneyasu » (you can see that from the article.) Now comes the interesting part. Last week on Yahoo auction Japan, I saw a Kabuto that was very close (too close) to Munechika works. I have 3 Kabuto of 8 plates made by Munechika, and everything on this Yahoo auction helmet was pointing towards the tsuyama group of armorers, but there was no sign on it so impossible to be 100%sure. The seller was in Okayama which is close to tsuyama. Could be a local dig, but again parts of armor can travel so easily that it doesn’t mean anything. The seller didn’t mentioned any signature, and because of the rust on the Kabuto, and the quality of the pictures, it was impossible to detect any signature. it was so intriguing that I looked the pictures over and over. …..After a while, I thought I detected a 門　character on the back of the helmet. I remembered the writing on the back of the Tsuyama helmet, and decided to bid on this helmet to make sure. I was the only one to bid. Well.., you can imagine the rest of the story. The Kabuto was in fact signed, and signature and wording are the same as the Tsuyama’s armor found 2 years ago. It was under the rust, and even the seller didn’t know it was there. Judging from the dust and rust on the Kabuto, it is obvious that he spend many many years in a barn in the Japanese countryside. Lacing is dirty, but original. Laquer is original and only dirty, and the Kabuto is rusty, but because of the thickness of the metal, there is no serious damage to it. Thank you Piers for sharing this article 2 years ago. Thank you also for this forum. Sharing information is crucial, and I think we have a good example here. Many thanks to all. Marc

Hello Luc, Please, could you share the whole picture of the do, or more if you have. Many thanks.

Thank you Luc. No worries about the pictures. Kind regards

Hello Luc, Considering the high position of Munechika at that time, only few high ranking and very wealthy samurai would have been able to ask for a remounting made by Munechika. On the other hand Munechika would have probably never accept to work on a average Kabuto. I don’t believe he remounted only Yoshimichi Kabuto, but rather high value pieces of previous and famous armor makers regardless of the name of the original maker. If you remember in this site there was a Kabuto with the mei of Munechika inside the Shikoro. The Kabuto was clearly not the work of Munechika, but by adding his name , he was adding to the value of the helmet and prestige to the owner of the helmet. I believe this is the case we have here. The owner could say that he have a Yoshimichi helmet and remounted by Munechika. (You can’t miss Munechika mei on this helmet).Probably cost him a tremendous amount of money, but very prestigious. Luc, would you be able to share the pictures of the other Munechika armor with a Yoshimichi Kabuto?. By the way, just by curiosity, does anyone knows about other armor maker who remounted and signed their mei on the original piece? Well done Gary. Very interesting Kabuto. kind regards

Hello Gary, Very nice Kabuto, and remounted by Myochin Munechika. The owner of this Kabuto must have been very wealthy to have it done by Munechika. I also noticed that the signature of Munechika (which is genuine, and matching the other signatures we knows of him) do not bear the kanji "記"between Myochin and Munechika ( same as all the tsuba I saw of him). My guess ( and it is just my assumption) is that munechika remounted this kabuto during the first period of his career. Nice buy.

Thank you Ian. Kind regards.Marc