Anthony J. Bryant

Bryant was born in Franklin, Indiana, and was adopted at age 5 by Robert M. and Margaret Bryant.[1]

After Robert M. Bryant's death in 1967, Tony and his mother moved to Miami Shores, Florida, where he spent his youth and attended Pinecrest Preparatory School.[1] After graduating from Florida State University in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in Japanese studies, he completed his graduate studies in Japanese studies (history, language, and armor) at Takushoku University in Tokyo, graduating in 1986. Bryant lived in Japan from 1986 to 1992.[1] He also earned an M.A. in Japanese from Indiana University Bloomington in 2003.[2]

An authority on the making of Japanese armor, he joined the Nihon Katchū Bugu Kenkyū Hozon Kai ("Japan Association for Arms and Armor Preservation"), and was one of four non-Asian members. While living in Japan, he also worked as a features editor for the Mainichi Daily News, and as editor for the Tokyo Journal, an English language monthly magazine.[1]

Bryant wrote four books for Osprey Publishing on samurai history, and co-authored, with Mark T. Arsenault, the core rulebook for the role-playing game Sengoku: Chanbara Roleplaying in Feudal Japan.[1] He was a historian of Japan specializing in Kamakura, Muromachi, and Momoyama period warrior culture. His areas of interest also included Heian-period court structure and society and Japanese literature.

After returning from Japan, in 1995 he became the editor of Dragon Magazine, the flagship publication of TSR, Inc., the creators of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.[1] He was the editor for eight issues, before Dave Gross took over.

Bryant died on December 25, 2013, at St. Francis Health in Indianapolis.[1]

• The Samurai, (Elite), Osprey Publishing, London (1989) ISBN 0-850-45897-8 OCLC 20221896
• Early Samurai AD 200–1500, Osprey Publishing, London (1991) ISBN 1-855-32131-9 OCLC 24696248
• Samurai 1550–1600, Osprey Publishing, London (1994) ISBN 1-855-32345-1 OCLC 31011021
• Sekigahara 1600: The Final Struggle for Power, Osprey Publishing, London (1995) ISBN 1-855-32395-8 OCLC 33355511
• Sengoku: Chanbara Roleplaying in Feudal Japan, Gold Rush Games; Revised edition (May 1, 2002)[3]
• Iwaya no sōshi ("The Tale of the Cave House"): A Translation and Commentary, Indiana University (2003)
• Sekigahara 1600: The Final Struggle for Power, Praeger Publishers (September 2005) ISBN 0-275-98869-4

• Nihon Katchu Seisakuben, a Japanese armor manual
• The Estates of Heian Nobility (essay)

• Sengoku Daimyo – Anthony J. Bryant's website
• Author of Osprey books on Japanese military history Article on Rencentral.com
• Author biography from Osprey Military Publishing
• Anthony J. Bryant at Find a Grave