All serious collectors (and not only of Japanese armour) will say the same: start your collection with a good book library, where you can learn and train your eyes.
As I’m lucky to live in Japan and to be an active member of the Japanese Armour Society, I’ve had access to see many rare (and often old) books when I get invited to see private collections. In order to help people to build a good library, I will review the books I encounter. In order to give the best objective overview of a book possible, I will use video. I’ve seen too many online auction or sales listings where the seller highlights the four armours in a certain book and catalog, giving the impression that there are many more inside, while in reality, that’s it. I hope that my browsing gives an honest overview on the content of the books. I will keep the resolution of video and pictures low, in order to make sure I don’t run into copyright issues. I only want to give you an idea what is in the book.
The library will be in constant flux as I will make the info available while I’m adding reviews. You can easily get complete lists of the books with the links above, or browse books individually.
The website is kept as simple as possible to make it as easy to maintain as possible.
(c) Copyright Jo Anseeuw 2026. Last update: 2026-06-29