redinight

Hello everyone, I just had an experience that left me a little salty. I went back to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) after about six years between visits. The first time I went there I encountered MANY tsuba, nihonto, menpo, longbows, yoroi, and of course more traditional art (sculpture, paintings, pottery etc). I believe this visit sparked my deep interest in the subject. I am a Star Wars/George Lucas fan, and upon returning home finally realized the true extent of eastern influence (especially samurai and Japanese film) on Lucas. I have serious Vader helmet and Stormtrooper armor replicas, so in a way I have a kobuto and yoroi set! Back on topic, most of the items were no longer there. Understanding that museums have permanent, rotating, and traveling exhibits at first I was just annoyed. I became upset when I entered the room that was dedicated solely to Samurai arts. There are permanent and impressive artifacts however in sum I was disappointed. The was one sword displayed that in my opinion is a horrible example. This sword was more of a decorative piece with a snake engraved on the length of the blade. The sword was displayed with a saya that wasn't even part of the set. No mention of tsubas (most artistic part of sword in my opinion) or menuki or other fittings... There were about seven different longbows, that was satisfying. There was a menpo randomly on its own. Sadly it's very similar to the one displayed with the entire yoroi set. The yoroi set is a beautiful example of armor and the clearly the center piece of the collection. There are two very large painted room dividers conveying battles. Stirrups for cavalry, a tanto, and two kobutos. The dragon fly kobuto is extremely impressive, however the other kobuto was in sadly rough shape and not a great display piece. And that was it. I was hoping to stay in this section for an hour and I was done in fifteen minutes. I returned to the area after completing the tour Asian arts, just because I wanted to get my fill. But, I was asked to leave because apparently there was a private tour happening. God forbid I listen in on a private tour. I asked the front desk if I could speak to anyone with a few questions. I was handed a comment card... I searched the Mia site to find other artifacts not displayed. They have about 70 tsubas, with only a few pictured. I could only find a few other nihonto, with horrible snapshots. I didn't find one menpo on the site, not even the one on permanent display. So, where did these objects go? I know the permanent display was rearranged last year. I could tell by the accession numbers on large displays incorporated into the displays, like the entrance into a middle class residence, that things had changed. Did my mind deceive me? Did a large part of the collection get de-accessioned and removed from the collection? Is the online collection database that poor? Or, has Mia changed its view on samurai objects? Do they actually fit the mission of the museum? Are they art? Or just weapons?