Sussex Heritage: The Roald Knutsen collection of Japanese arms and armour

Toovey’s Arms and Armour specialist, Mark Stonard explains “Roald Knutsen [1933-2025] was born in Hertfordshire to Anglo-Norwegian parents. He was educated at the Perse School, Cambridge, and went on to serve with the Intelligence Corps in the Suez Canal Zone and Tripoli in the post-war years.

Roald attended the London Judo Society. He discovered three old sets of kendo armour and from that moment began his journey to ignite the art of kendo in the south-east of England, with the help of Charles Lidstone and a small group of other enthusiasts. Roald began acquiring Japanese spears as a student in Brighton in the 1950s and both he and his wife, Patricia, continued collecting and studying Japanese polearms, swords and martial arts throughout the 1960s, producing a number of pioneering books with the assistance of his friend Basil William Robinson, FBA, FSA, FRAS (1912–2005), who was Keeper of the Metalwork at the Victoria & Albert Museum from 1966 to 1972.

Roald gained martial arts training in the 1970s and 1980s from some of the world’s leading masters of the time, including Kato Urasabure-sensei, whom he described as a very fine teacher and hugely influential to his learning, and other legends such as Arai Shigeo-sensei, Takami Taizo-sensei and Ozawa Takashi, 9th Dan Hanshi. Notably, in 1976 he trained in Japan with Yoshikawa Koichiro-sensei, the renowned headmaster (soke) of the Kashima Shinto-ryu.

For many years, Knutsen-sensei taught at the Butokukan dojo (Brighton/Lewes) with Patricia. He was a true inspiration to generations of kendoka and was particularly influential in shaping Junior Kendo as a family activity. His skill was such that Kato Urasaburo-sensei commended him as a ‘very fine teacher’ in 1987. Roald was hugely influential in the European Kendo Federation and was a founding member of the British Kendo Association (later the British Kendo Renmei). He achieved the ranks of 7th Dan Kyoshi and 6th Dan Kendo, and was the first European to be awarded Menkyo-Kaiden (senior master’s license) in the oldest surviving traditions of lai-jutsu and lai-do (drawing-sword arts). Patricia Knutsen, also a deeply respected martial artist, went on to hold a 5th Dan Kendo and was experienced in naginata-do.

Their son, Alex Knutsen, remembers trawling the markets with his father throughout the 1960s and 1970s, frequenting places like Portobello Road in London and the Lanes in Brighton looking for new pieces, which were readily available and relatively affordable with the lack of interest in Japanese arts at that time.”

Mark concludes “This is a deeply personal collection, built by a man who truly lived the art. Roald didn’t collect for show or for investment; he acquired these pieces to study their balance, history and use in old Japan. A unique blend of academic history and the personal perspective of a master practitioner.”