Bizen Swords Exhibition At The Japanese Sword Museum Nbthk (Japan)

[Gokaden]

Supereme Sword Country,Bizen

First stage(Tuesday, June 9 - Sunday, August 25, 2015)

Second stage(Tuesday, August 25 - Sunday, November 1, 2015)

 

In the area currently known as the Okayama Prefecture, a Supreme Sword Country, Bizen, once existed, prevailing from the Heian until the Muromachi period. The history of sword country Bizen can be traced back to a group of swordsmiths known as Ko-Bizen-mono in the latter half of the Heian period. With the two great swordsmiths, Tomonari and Masatsune, a number of swordsmiths established a firm foothold of the sword country. The Ichimonji school succeeded sword making. Conforming with the distinctive culture of the military samurai government that was in power during the Kamakura period, they created swords of dignified shapes with splendid choji hamon, thereby launching the flourishing age of sword production. Recognizing Mitsutada as its de facto founder, the Osafune school continued by his legitimate successors, Nagamitsu, Kagemitsu, and Kanemitsu. They formed the greatest lineage in Japanese sword history, which lasted until the Muromachi period, and consequently ensured the solidity of the “Supreme Sword Country, Bizen.” This exhibition follows in the footsteps of the Bizen swords by featuring works from the legitimate Osafune line, along with great works by members of collateral lines, Nagayoshi and Motoshige, from a time of social upheavals in the Nanbokucho period. Concurrently, there is also a focus on a group of swordsmiths known as Kozori-mono. Overall, this exhibition presents the attractiveness of the Bizen swords of the sword country. It would be greatly appreciated if you would take this opportunity to step into the world of the “Supreme Sword Country, Bizen.”

 

http://www.touken.or.jp/english/index.html

[Brian]

Frederick,

Would be appreciated if you would add the details to the calender above, which is an excellent repository for all Nihonto events.

 

Brian

[Bugyotsuji]

Hello Frederick,

 

You can see this was already posted here:

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/17252-bizen%E3%80%80to-ken%E3%80%80o-koku%E3%80%80%E5%82%99%E5%89%8D%E5%88%80%E5%89%A3%E7%8E%8B%E5%9B%BD-traveling-circus/

[lonely panet]

so whos going, im might be able to swing by.

 

whos with me hahahah

[Ron STL]

Japan is out of the question but wow, that would be a great exhibit to study! Ron STL

[Ken-Hawaii]

Well, if you miss this one, don't forget that the Bizen-Osafune Sword Village in Okayama (Setouchi) is a permanent exhibit, & I can't imagine that any traveling exhibition can be as spectacular. http://en.japantravel.com/view/osefune-sword-museum

 

Ken

 

[Bugyotsuji]

The Tokyo To-Ken Sword Museum is the HQ of the NBTHK, but the small display room means that not all of the swords making up this exhibition will be on display. The building is not earthquake proof either, so although they can use their own Kokuho, they cannot borrow from the Sano for example. Might be better to wait and see it at the Sano, or when it arrives in Osafune, where there is an anime/manga game character themed exhibition right now. Or better still, catch all three!

This display will have some really special swords, I hear.

[Gokaden]

Thank you Bugyotsuji, great information!

[Stephen V]

Great news, I'm going to be back in Japan again this October so will try to get along.

 

Extra interesting for me given that my only Nihonto is a Norimitsu Eikyo-Bizen wakizashi.

 

Been to the museum before, small but very interesting.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

[Bugyotsuji]

It sounds like a lovely wakizashi, Stephen.

 

Nothing to do with the price of fish, but a couple of years ago I was asked to show a Japanese couple around a sword exhibition and we stopped in front of an early 1500s Yosozaemon no Jo Sukesada. The wife proudly mentioned that her husband owned a Sukesada. When I asked which one she looked confused, and he finally opened his mouth and said Kozuke Daijo, from early Edo. Well, I was finding them hard work, so stupidly I decided to play a bit of one-upmanship and said I had a papered Mumei wakizashi that could be well by Yoso... 

 

Fatal.

 

They both looked as though I had slapped them in the face and the interview was over as far as they were concerned. They turned around and left, as if they had lost all interest in anything else on show there. I do hope that I will have learned to keep my mouth shut in such a situation if ever it were to arise again. TPO!     

[Gakusee]

Dear all

 

I have finally managed to scan the NBTHK flyers I took with me when I visited the exhibition (which I did twice during my stay in Tokyo - so remarkable was it). I took those with the conscious intention to share them with our ToKen Society members but also with the NMB. I have to preface my subjective comments below by admitting that I am an ardent Bizen den aficionado and to me that was the greatest collection ever (mind you, my Tokyo visit also included marvelling at the Kokuho swords Sadamune and Munechika in the national museum).

 

My absolute favourites were the two Tomonari tachi, the two Masatsunes and the Nagamitsu. All of them had the most vivid, resplendent utsuri imaginable, which glowed from afar even in the dimly illuminated showroom.

Darcy B had previously written up about one of these two Tomonari tachi - in my view, the pinnacle in swordmaking, it was rumoured that Masamune had admired it and tried to emulate it (after Ishii Akira - please refer to Darcy's website - I have extracted the  quote and hope Darcy does not mind as it eloquently and succinctly describes the magnficence of this sword). That tachi has a nagasa of around 93 cm, if memory serves me right and is the largest Koto sword I have seen (the overall length easily exceeding 120cm overall, probably more). It is remarkably well preserved, with visible mei and so many activities that one could spend many hours studying it.

 

Among Tomonari's signed tachi, this is the longest and has a very powerful feeling. It is more than 3 shaku long, and the jihada is a consistent itame hada from the moto to saki. Masamune, who established the Soshu Den school, is supposed to have admired this sword, and particularly its very natural ko-midare hamon and the nioi-guchi. The entire hamon, including the ha-saki, has fine thick ha-nie, also a controlled but varying thickness of the kinsuji, niesuji, and frequent sunagashi. The hamon is similar to those of Ko-hoki swords, which have a wild feeling or presence and an interesting hamon. Among Tomonari’s swords, this was made not later than the Heian era, and has a dynamic shape and at the same time, a very elegant look, and we could say that this is one of his best works.

 

 

One of the two Masatsune (the earlier one) was similar in calibre and elegance (while the later one was perhaps not so elegant in terms of hamon but still a sword with great sugata and ever-so-fine kitae). The Naritaka also held their own strongly and of course, the Ichimonji swords (of which I expected more examples - perhaps to come in the next phase of the exhibition?) were amazing.

The Osafune swords were also very impressive - starting from the founder Mitsutada through to the even more flamboyant Nagamitsu and the more quietly beautiful Kagemitsu tanto.

 

I have attached the flyers and map for those who might decide to go and visit this first instalment. The trivial cost of 300 yen for members is negligible given what is on offer. Unfortunately one cannot take pictures in there without a special permission.

 

Michael S

Supreme Sword Country Bizen 1.pdf

Supreme Sword Country Bizen 2 - English.pdf

NBTHK map.pdf

[Bugyotsuji]

Great write up and information, Michael. Many thanks.

[Bugyotsuji]

Finally it has twigged!

 

The first one only at the Tokyo Sword Museum is a split exhibition, Phase I on now, and Phase II running from 25 August until 1 November.

 

The Sano Art Museum, and the Bizen Osafune Japanese Sword Museum displays are planned as 'whole' exhibitions.

[Gokaden]

Anyone been able to take a peek at the Phase II of this lovely exhibition yet?

[Jimmy R]

I will be going to the second phase of the exhibition on Thursday. Does anyone know if there is any literature or a book of photography on the exhibition? I cannot get through to anyone there. Maybe because of the holiday???? It is crazy here right now.

Jim

[Bugyotsuji]

http://www.sanobi.or.jp/shop_article/

 

Yes, this one is advertised on the Sano Art Museum site.

[Bugyotsuji]

PS The above book should be available at the NBTHK Tokyo Sword Museum too.

備前刀剣王国 "Bizen Token Ohkoku"

Color, 73 swords, 188 pages, J/Eng Bilingual, 2,800JPY.

[Bugyotsuji]

Was given one complimentary copy. Bought three more at the local sword meeting, NBTHK slightly reduced rates.

 

And no, the editing was still not perfect! Aaaarrrggghhhh.....

[DirkO]

What do you mean "not perfect" - Nothing wrong with "gold inalay" :-) I even had to look up 'redolent' - didn't know that was an actual word!
I understand your frustration, but nevertheless it seems like a very worthwhile publication.

[DirkO]

Just a quick review on the book - although the translation isn't 100% perfect at least there is one and it's actually quite good!

It's built up out of chapters:
1 - KoBizen Mono

2 - Ichimonji School

3 - Osafune School (Kamakura)

4 - Osafune School (Nambokucho)

5 - Kozori Mono

6 - Osafune School (Muromachi)

I'm glad to see they finally made an effort for the Kozori school, seeing it's usually a bit overlooked and underestimated. The book is a nice size hardcover and very pleasant to leaf through. Very nice picture quality, you can really assess the hada. Most of them are also accompagnied by an oshigata.
There's an English introduction by Taeko Watanabe and translated by Piers D. - a short 1 page glossary and an English list of all 73 items portrayed. All in all a quality publication, although some minor details got lost in editing (read earlier posts)

[Bugyotsuji]

Thank you Dirk. Yes, the descriptions concerning each of the 73 swords are also translated into English.

 

Essays. There were originally four essays but that was cut down to three when one of the contributors failed to meet the deadline. They then ran out of time for two of the translations, so only Taeko Watanabe San's introductory essay was eventually translated into English. Still plenty of detailed information for the non-Japanese reader, though.