Experts shed light on mystery armour at Fort Smith museum

The Northern Life Museum in Fort Smith, N.W.T., has learned a few things since December about a mysterious suit of Japanese armour in its collection.

Following a CBC report on the item, curator Rachel Dell says the museum received "an overwhelming flood of information."

Trevor Absolon of Yellowknife, a collector of Japanese armour who has written books on the topic, was one of the experts who contacted the museum.

He says it is a composite set, an amalgamation of pieces from different sets. The separate pieces of armour all seem to date to the mid-Edo period, or the 18th or 19th century. 

He told the museum the armour may have belonged to a low ranking samurai, or have been lent out by a feudal lord to warriors in his service who were unable to find their own equipment.

Michael Peters, owner of Black Hydra Armouries, has identified the diamond-shaped flower crest on the centre of the chest piece as that of the Yonekura family, a branch of the Takeda Clan, which Dell says would match Absolon's opinion of it being from the mid-Edo period.

As for how the Japanese armour ended up in Fort Smith, Dell says the museum has also learned more about Louis Bisson, the man to whom the item belonged.

Joe McBryan of Buffalo Airways says his father Red McBryan knew Bisson. Bisson lived in Fort Smith before and after the war and flew for the Catholic mission.

"He used to tell me about this pilot Louis Bisson," McBryan said. "He was flying the bishop around out of Fort Smith and then he was moving priests from one mission to the other."

Bisson was also a highly decorated pilot who flew in the Second World War. A note in the museum's file said the armour was purchased in China during the war, but there are no records of Bisson serving in China.

McBryan said he thinks Bisson may have bought the armour when he flew missions over Burma (now Myanmar) near the end of the war. 

The museum is still compiling information about the suit and still wants to learn more.