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Soshu Den Masterpieces - book

Rivkin

By Rivkin
in Nihonto

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Rivkin Veteran

Rivkin

Posted
Posted

New book is coming up! I Catalogue of one private and important collection. While I am usually not a fan of "Swords in .... museum" kind of thing, since it suggests certain laziness limiting authors to what they could easily access, combined with randomness of selection, this one indeed reflects a very serious and earnest effort dedicated specifically to the subject of the early Soshu.

 

The Gentleman in question caused much pain to Soshu collectors for years by depriving them from chances to purchase some very advanced items, and now we finally get to see the results of this effort. I have not had the book in hands yet, but I expect there is going to be a lot of kantei on the early Soshu as well as translations and discussions regarding how the subject was reflected upon in Edo period studies.

 

The photographer who worked on the volume is a very important figure in the world of still life photography, though not equally well known one. I don't think he practiced the nihonto subject before, but being one of the best in the world in his craft should still show.  

 

Predicting an obvious question - I have little idea at the moment through which channels it will be sold.

 

Kirill R.

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  • Like 5
Brian

Brian

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I guess it is true that some of the most important art collections are in Russia.
Darcy, I assume he is a customer and important collector. Anyways....looking forward to the release. We'll do our bit to promote it here, and I am sure the ordering process will be conveyed when it is ready.

  • Like 2
Gakusee Veteran

Gakusee

Posted
Posted

Looking at the first image in the original post, it looks like Dmitry Sirotkin (zoom in first image, bottom left, where both the author and photographer are mentioned clearly)

  • Like 1
Rivkin Veteran

Rivkin

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Thank you very much! I have to state I bear no commercial interest in the project, just wanted to give heads up regarding what I feel will be an interesting "read and view". The author is Dmitry Pechalov as was already noted.

 

I hope to display a copy at SF show. 

 

Kirill R.

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Rivkin Veteran

Rivkin

Posted
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Hi Kirill, can't read cyrillic scipts. So is the authors full name Dmitry Vladimirovich Pechalov ?

 

Best

 

Yes. They released Russian and English versions separately.

 

Kirill R.

  • Like 1
  • 2 weeks later...
Grey Doffin Grand Master

Grey Doffin

Posted
Posted

Hi guys,

Sorry for being quiet about this new book for the past week but now it is available and on my website:

http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/books/c265-Japanese-swords-soshu-den-masterpieces-pechalov

If you would like to order a copy (and who wouldn't?) please contact me through my website, not by Personal Message here on NMB.  If you send a PM I will tell you to try again through the site so please skip that set.

Beautiful book.

Thanks,  Grey

  • Like 5
Rivkin Veteran

Rivkin

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Received my books yesterday, so just began the reading. 

Very impressive! 

The blades are mostly TJ with a relatively long provenance, which provides interesting background regarding the old papers, koshirae, alterations done etc.

Otherwise information is excessive, there is a hint of typical emphasis on lineages, as per guesses made in Edo period, but the community does not seem to object to those...

But there is quite a lot on observations regarding the style changes during the foundation of the Soshu school, kantei issues, and great wealth of information regarding the statistics on signatures, gathered both from Juyo volumes and old publications.

 

The publication quality is simply above and beyond Dr. Honma's book, which includes the photography.

 

Unfortunately SF show reduced number of tables this year, so they are oversold and with all my recent issues I did not get the table application in time, so will not be having it there... Maybe will drop a copy to show on Grey's table if needed.

 

Kirill R.

Rivkin Veteran

Rivkin

Posted
  • Author
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I finished reading at about 70%. The book is a very substantial improvement over Dr. Honma's. Markus Sesko did a very good job with a final edit; in the present form it is extremely impressive both in terms of analysis and objects presented. Detailed information about the Soshu school's early period, its reinterpretation and the resulting great uncertainty with Soshu attributions - it actually gets more interesting towards the middle.

As good as private collections go without venturing into kokuho territory. The praise can be repeated on and on, but its really worth to bite the (price, weight, convenience) bullet and just read it.

My personal interest here is anti-commercial - I myself ended up buying a significant number of copies.

 

Kirill R.

  • Like 2
  • 2 weeks later...
Darcy Mentor

Darcy

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I reviewed the book in Japan with Kurokawa san (his comment: Sugoi!!) ...

 

I have had early involvement with the book as Dmitri started writing it about 5 years ago and I laid down the foundations for the photography as well as helping with the early research. Even knowing what was coming I was surprised at the huge size of the print. This is nice because very high resolution photos I think with a Hasselblad scanning back (i.e. reallly non-casual photography equipment) were done over multiple pages which allows some close examination of the details of the blades. 

 

In terms of the presence of the book not to mention the contents, it is just simply beautifully laid out and done to what is the highest Japanese standards. Sanae Sakamoto who is a really great artist did the calligraphy throughout the book as she did for me, and details like this are what makes it its own piece of craftsmanship. I wrote the forward for this and one of the things I said is that until you try to make a book, you have no idea how hard it is to make a book. The details are so hard to nail down and the higher your goals are it gets exponentially harder to accomplish. When you are mixing things like nihonto photography which is hard enough on its own, with high level book construction, and getting the contents right, it's really something that is what it really was, five years of work for the author. 

 

Dmitri has quietly accumulated a hell of a great Soshu collection without getting high up on the radar and has a few things that are not present in even top level Japanese collections. 

 

The price may seem high but the book is massive and just the printing cost alone of such a thing is pretty much what the list price is.  It's not something made for profit but is entirely a labor of love on behalf of the author.

  • Like 13
  • 1 month later...
E_Arroyes Contributor

E_Arroyes

Posted
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Hello everyone

 

I'm just going to say that this book is one of the best books I've ever had. I received it today, it is a very beautiful work, design and quality are supreme. I can study the swords almost as if they were in my hand. A real work of art.

 

Also, Dmitry's very friendly person!

 

Recommended 200%

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Brian

Brian

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I recently received my copy of the book too,and plan on doing a full review once I get a chance to really sit down and absorb more of it.
But what I can say from spending some time with it, is that it is an incredible book. Don't expect some thin lightweight coffee-table book here. This is HUGE. Over 5kg of amazing photography and information. I thought it would have been full of pics and little info, but each sword comes with a huge amount of information, similar to Darcy's write-ups on his swords.
It is a BIG book, and oozes class from the paper used to the binding and slipcase. Everything has been done to showcase the best of the best. Which is what it contains. Some of the finest swords you could imagine.
Can't recommend this highly enough. This is destined to be a collectors item in itself, and is the next best thing to having the swords in hand. You will be able to see each sword in minute detail. Nothing is as good as having a sword in hand, but if that is not possible, this is a close second.
I know it is not cheap. But once you have it, you will know why and never feel like you overspent.
My honest opinions here. Will done Dmitry. World class.
 

  • Like 4
  • 4 weeks later...
raynor Proficient

raynor

Posted
Posted

I am going to have a copy of this shipped to my house in Norway, should make spending the dark cold post Christmas holidays there extra fun this year!

 

Lovely that books of this level is made for such a niche subject, hat off to Mr. Pechalov.

Ken-Hawaii Grand Master

Ken-Hawaii

Posted
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Would be nice to have Dmitri here as a member. Kirill can you invate him?

I saw that Dmitry had the book for sale on eBay, & sent him a message, thanking him for his work, & inviting him to join NMB. Here's his response:

 

 

Dear Ken,

 

Thank you very much for your interest and invitation. It is an honour for me to joint to the NMB community. I will little bit later. I'm working very intensively on my new website devoted Soshu school and it will a new one with a lot of additional information regarding Sagamy masters and predecessors. I'm afraid be impolite force a late or short answers on the questions on the forum and I think it will better when I will finish my project and the NMB community will see a result. You may check my old one soshudenbook com . I add some new information here. If you will have any ideas for cooperation please let me know I opened for any proposals now as it is a large project and I have a information massive, a platform together with time shortage.

 

Best wishes, Dmitry

 

  • Like 1
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