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Unearthed Edo wakizashi in Berlin


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It's amazing how a little 'patina' can get museums so excited, when there are SOOO many examples from the period that are in pristine condition. 'Richly decorated' is stretching it. To spend money on a 'restoration' is a fallacy when the funds could be better spent on some high quality polishes of other blades. I find it hard to imagine what it looked like pre-restoration. Some things are just a lost cause. 

 

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I think maybe someone from the Museum has led a rather sheltered life on the subject, judging from statements like this.

 

"Who could have imagined that at a time when Japan was isolated and hardly any European travelers came to the country, such a long-used and richly decorated weapon would end up here in Berlin?" Matthias Wemhoff, state archaeologist of Berlin and director of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, said in the statement.

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Well,  what is the fuss about ? Before  WWII there have been collections  of  japaneses swords in Berlin.  During the  war, many  houses  have been bombed, many  swords have been destroyed. So it is no wonder to find  such an thing  in  an cellar filled up with rubble etc. Nobody  cared  at this time about  antqiues. They  did have  serious problems. Does  this  Wakizashi has something  to do with the gifts  presented  to  the German  Emporer by the Japanes, no. Why  not  take  it as what it is. An wakizashi  which  has been destroyed  during  the war. All the other  is pure speculation and nonsens.

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