Masamune Ten Tetsu Exhibition – Master Swordsmith Masamune and His Disciples in the Fukuyama Museum of Art

[tom]

Here is a good Video about Masamune and his Disciples.

Have a look.

 

Tom

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Thanks Tom! Saw this exhibition earlier today.
See parallel thread. 

 

[The Blacksmith]

Thank you so much for posting that film Tom. That exhibition is simply mouth watering!  I am so extremely jealous of Piers being able to actually see it. 

Is there a printed catalogue to the exhibition Piers?

[stackinnutts]

On 3/2/2024 at 12:48 PM, The Blacksmith said:

Thank you so much for posting that film Tom. That exhibition is simply mouth watering!  I am so extremely jealous of Piers being able to actually see it. 

Is there a printed catalogue to the exhibition Piers?

I was thinking the same thing; printed catalogue? 

[Bugyotsuji]

There is a catalogue, but it sold out almost immediately.

I heard on Thursday that there has been a reprint and it is back on sale at the museum now.

[Bugyotsuji]

Russ and Jimmy, nothing to be jealous of.  I have just watched Tom's linked beautiful video above and learned more from it than I did from the exhibition itself, even though I was wearing the guided headphones at the time! The headphone descriptions were definitely instructive, but some allusions to rock music & the sublime taste of food left me by the wayside.

 

It is always good to hear various people discussing something; you can agree or disagree, and you can learn, and the various inspirations and descriptions are fascinating, helping to 'see' and appreciate the subtleties hidden within.

[Lewis B]

Here's another from the always interesting History of Katana YT channel with his usual informative historical context and backstory. A little shocked his real voice was so different to the narration though 

 

I really wish channels like this would stop perpetuating certain dogma such as Norishige being one of the Masamune juttetsu, when he was more probably a contemporary of Masamune and perhaps senior under their Master Shintogo Kunimitsu.

 

 

[Toryu2020]

Lewis -

I agree that Norishige was probably a senior student to Masamune and the only one of the Jutetsu to actually work alongside him. In the end this grouping is just a way to remember the names of the smiths that showed the influence of the Soshu-den. Imagine packing up all your sword-making equipment and travelling across a war-torn Japan for a few months study in Kamakura. The more likely scenario is that the armies of Ashikaga Takauji travelled about the country and with them went the swords of Kamakura, local smiths got a look at these and attempted to recreate what they saw...

 

All great makers regardless,

-t

[sabiji]

If you look closely at the time, there were two major migratory movements of swordsmiths. The first begins around the time of Go Daigo's accession to the throne in the 1320s. Go Daigo formed the center of court opposition to the Kamakura bakufu and it seems that the rather subtle migration of swordsmiths to areas of families that supported Go Daigo was already part of a long-term planned overthrow in Japan.

 

The second, much more extensive exodus then begins with the Nanbokucho conflicts, particularly of swordsmiths from the Kyoto/Yamashiro region and of course Yamato. In the latter case, the mixture of Yamato styles and the Soshu influence under the figureheads Kaneuji and Kinju led to the formation of Mino-Den in the longer term.

 

I think the Masamune Jutetsu are symbolic of the rapid spread of the Soshu style in Japan, which would hardly have been possible without the particular political situation at the time. After the fall of the Hojo, Kamakura played only a minor role as a swordsmithing location and center of Sosu-Den. This is quite special when you consider that before 1320, swordsmithing traditions spread mainly through the Kotobunji system.