Samurai armour (Bloomsbury Publishing)

For beauty, precision and strength, nothing has ever matched the combination of form and function found in the armor of the Samurai. For a Samurai, the consumate warrior, his suit of armor was so much more than 'just' protective equipment that could save his life in the heat of battle. It was the embodiment of his personality, his social status and his very soul. Within these pages, an unparalleled expert in the field traces the history of a craft that dominated the lives of all those it touched, drawing on over 20 years of research and technical work to develop a complete study of all aspects of Samurai armour construction. As well as a detailed technical exploration of the many different physical aspects of the armour, it is a meditation on a process that was, and still is, nothing short of an art form.