Good sword museum in Japan

[Stephen V]

Hi all

 

I'm going to Japan next February for my second visit (first since getting the nihonto bug) and would like to receive some advice on the best places to visit to see top displays of swords.

 

Also maybe even your recommendation of places that sell nihonto and related stuff that would be best suited for a non Japanese speaker to cope with.

 

Any tips gratefully received, I will be travelling most of the country for three weeks this time.

 

My particular interest at the moment is in the early Muromachi Bizen school around the 14th and 15th centuries, and more narrowly the Eikyo-Bizen period.

 

 

Stephen

[b.hennick]

Hi Stephen:

Stop off in New York for a day and go to the Met. You will see the best of the best! Not exactly what you wanted to hear but I is worth the trip.

[Bugyotsuji]

If you're interested in Bizen, try and fit in a Sunday at Osafune Sword Museum. They have a courtyard with people working in the forge and in all the little koshirae-related workshops on Sundays, (urushi work, tsuka-maki, horimono, etc.) and there is usually some sort of relatively local-flavour, fairly good quality sword exhibition in the Museum part. There is a shop with knick-knacks, books, etc.

 

If you have extra time, the two top sword shops in Okayama City with decent swords for sale are Ando Bo-eki, and Tamayama Meishi-to. My experience has been solely with Tamayama where you can bargain to some extent, and the son speaks English, but I expect they have similar staff at Ando too. There is another shop/museum out of town with a big website called Touken Sato, but I am not qualified to guarantee the prices and business practices there.

[Chishiki]

Hi Stephen. Not sure if you have been to see this display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales but I recommend it. Here is the thread link viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4666 It is really 1st class and within our own shores. Regards Mark

[hillman]

If you're in Tokyo, you'll always want to stop by the NBTHK mussum near Shinjuku station. Aoi Art is right by the museum too, so that's a plus.

 

ALso, if you have time for general Japanese artifacts, then you can also stop by the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum in Ueno. I saw a Sanjo Munechika, and a real Masamune, among other big names, in their armory department.

 

Have lots of fun with looking at some high end swords.

 

Cade

[Bazza]

Hi all

 

I'm going to Japan next February for my second visit (first since getting the nihonto bug) and would like to receive some advice on the best places to visit to see top displays of swords.

 

Also maybe even your recommendation of places that sell nihonto and related stuff that would be best suited for a non Japanese speaker to cope with.

 

Any tips gratefully received, I will be travelling most of the country for three weeks this time.

 

My particular interest at the moment is in the early Muromachi Bizen school around the 14th and 15th centuries, and more narrowly the Eikyo-Bizen period.

 

 

Stephen

Stephen,

Gavin Hougham's website offers a list of places to see Nihonto in Japan. His website in general is http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/1135/ and the link to the sword places to visit is http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/1135/sights.html. You could also check out Richard Stein's website at http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/nihonto.htm, and in particular his links, which have numerous Japanese websites http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/sites.htm and http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/sites2.htm. Do check these fairly soon as Richard has a monthly bandwidth quota that may not last the month.

 

I hope you will give us a report when you return.

 

Best regards,

Barry Thomas

Melbourne

Australia

[Stephen V]

Hi all

 

Thanks for all the good info.

 

We are still working out our itinary and I will definitely be trying to squeeze in some nihonto browsing this trip.

 

Luckily the Aussie $ is gaining a little bit in value to the yen at the moment too.

 

:lol: