1. campus
buzz
Battle Tested
SAMURAI:BRADLEYSLADE;BOOK:COURTESYL.TOMPERRYSPECIALCOLLECTIONS
After Chinese history professor Paul
V. Hyer (BA ’51) helped an acquain-
tance while on a research trip to Japan
in 1964, he came home with a most
unusual payment.
While in Japan, Hyer met Kimura
Hisao, a former spy who sought Hyer’s
help in translating and publishing a
manuscript. To thank Hyer, Hisao
gave him a samurai suit that had
been in his family for generations.
Hisao was from Satsuma, lo-
cated on the southernmost island
of Japan, and was a descen-
dant of the Shimazu samurai
clan, which rebelled against
the Tokugawa shogunate in
1868. According to associate
professor of Japanese Jack C.
Stoneman (BA ’98), the suit
was likely worn in this con-
flict. “It’s not the kind of armor
that was put on display,” says
Stoneman. “It’s pretty clear
that it’s been used and has met
battle.”
Decades later Hyer, now
retired, donated the suit to the
Harold B. Lee Library, where
it now sits on the fourth floor
in the Asian Studies collec-
tion. This fall the suit will
be the center of a yearlong
samurai culture exhibit on
the library’s main floor.
—Natalie Sandberg
Taylor (’14)
2. The silk sleeves’ overlay of lac-
quered leather and iron chainmail
allowed soldiers more mobility com-
pared to earlier, all-metal suits—but
at the cost of reduced protection and
shock absorption.
3. Samurai honored to carry
the clan’s banners could do
so hands free, thanks to
loopholes on the back of
the suit for holding the pole.
1. This helmet’s colored fringe protected
the side of the warrior’s head from arrows,
while the animal hair and crest on top were
individualized decorations. “The more visu-
ally stunning you are to your enemy,” says
Stoneman, “the more advantage you have.”
Elements of samurai culture—including
helmets—inspired filmmaker George Lucas
and influenced the helmet design of his infa-
mous villain, Darth Vader.
nursinghumanities
a-lister: How does BYU compare to nearly
1,400 other nursing schools in terms of afford-
ability, academic quality, accessibility, and
board-exam pass rates? According to CollegeAtlas.
org’s 2014 nursing “A-List,” BYU comes in at no. 10.
explore the viki wiki: English professor Leslee
Thorne-Murphy (BA ’90, MA ’93) and students created
a wiki of Victorian short fiction from the HBLL Spe-
cial Collections, making samples of the genre avail-
able for future study. See more.byu.edu/vikiwiki.
18 byu magazine | summer 2014
at the y