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Miniatures Adventure => Adventures in the Far East => Topic started by: robh on 16 November 2020, 07:01:48 PM

Title: Boshin War Uniform reference?
Post by: robh on 16 November 2020, 07:01:48 PM

Does anyone know of a good single volume reference to troop uniforms during the Boshin War?

I am considering putting some forces together in 15mm (I already have a lot of Japanese scenery and "Samurai" figures in the scale) and as there are no specific ranges (that I can find) I am looking for proxy/conversion options.
OG15s do lovely Boxer Rebellion Japanese which would be a decent start and I am thinking 1870 French and ACW may give a basis for some other uniform styles.

Google Image search has thrown up several scanned pages from a Japanese magazine which look useful but none of the sites/blogs that show the page scans bother with an attribution. Anyone know what this source is?

Title: Re: Boshin War Uniform reference?
Post by: Osmoses on 16 November 2020, 09:26:12 PM

I assume it's Ritta Nakanishi's 1841-1929 volume:
https://hirose1117.ocnk.net/product/993 (https://hirose1117.ocnk.net/product/993)

There's also this book by Ian Heath, which is a bit more reasonable in terms of price. I don't have this one, so I couldn't comment on whether it's worth it or not.
https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/military-history-books/products/japan-and-korea (https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/military-history-books/products/japan-and-korea)

Title: Re: Boshin War Uniform reference?
Post by: OSHIROmodels on 16 November 2020, 09:58:17 PM

There’s also an Osprey book out for it but I haven’t got it yet.

Title: Re: Boshin War Uniform reference?
Post by: robh on 17 November 2020, 12:21:21 AM

Quote from: Osmoses on 16 November 2020, 09:26:12 PM

I assume it's Ritta Nakanishi's 1841-1929 volume:

Thanks, that is indeed where the Pinterest and blog pictures seem to come from.  Bit of a "sticker shock" moment on that price for a used copy  :o

Quote from: OSHIROmodels on 16 November 2020, 09:58:17 PM

There’s also an Osprey book out for it but I haven’t got it yet.

Actually in their sale at the moment!  I picked it up last week, it is a good starter.
Covers the Boshin War and Satsuma Rebellion so 2 different uniform eras in the colour images.  The modernisation  prior to the Boshin War is also covered in the text and b/w images.

Title: Re: Boshin War Uniform reference?
Post by: thomastheo on 17 November 2020, 07:11:01 AM

You can also take a look at these two other books :

https://www.amazon.fr/Japanese-War-Art-Uniforms-1853-1930/dp/0764339575 (https://www.amazon.fr/Japanese-War-Art-Uniforms-1853-1930/dp/0764339575) (haven't received it yet)

https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/military-history-books/products/japan-and-korea (https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/military-history-books/products/japan-and-korea) (pretty amazing book  about Japanese, Korean and Ainou with a lot of simple but effective black and white drawings)