Samurai exhibit in Victoria B.C. Canada

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria will be presenting an exhibit of various samurai items, if any members of the forum are in the area this should be worth a visit... Trevor Absolon of Toraba.com will be providing assistance and loaning some items to the exhibit so there should be a wide variety of interesting items being shown. Hopefully someone will attend and take some pictures. From>> http://aggv.bc.ca/exhibitions/return-samurai

Since its last exhibition on the samurai in 2003, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria has recently been donated four significant samurai suits of armour, helmets and a number of other related paraphernalia. This exhibition will showcase these newly acquired works of art. There will be approximately ten suits on exhibit.

 

The samurai of old Japan were amongst the world’s greatest and most courageous warriors as well as being amongst the most cultured. The samurai followed a strict code of behaviour, which came to be known as Bushido or the way of the warrior. The samurai’s life was directed by righteousness. He must not disgrace his status and must live up to the honour and specific obligations, which were expected of him. The samurai had a tremendous sense of moral obligation or duty and loyalty to his lord, to his family and to society. Martial bravery was very important to the samurai. He glorified in his military skills and his honour as being a warrior and a descendant of warriors.

 

The exhibition will include about numerous new prints illustrating the life and times of samurai including prints of the famous story of the 47 Ronin (one of Japan’s greatest samurai tragedies). Other items include scroll paintings of samurai and paintings made by samurai and boy’s day festival samurai items. The highlight of the exhibition will be the newly acquired samurai suits of amour, a major new sword and a painting attributed to the greatest samurai general of all, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98).

 

Events:

AUGUST 11, 2010 - 1:00PM

Curator's Tour

AUGUST 21, 2010 - 2:00PM

Drop-In Tour

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 - 2:00PM

Drop-In Tour

Updated info on the return of the samurai exhibit and some photos. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/art ... le1666630/

Eric,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It looks well worth visiting.

... Ron Watson

I just got back from seeing the Return of the Samurai exhibit in Victoria Canada. I was able to attend 2 lectures on samurai armor by Trevor Absolon and had a chance to look at a preview of the book he will be publishing soon on samurai armor. Trevors book will is really incredible and anyone with an interest in the subject should think about getting a copy when it comes out. Not much in the way of nihonto due to space limitations, just a couple of swords and some tsuba. Barry Till, curator of Asian Art from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, did a good job with what he had to work with as far a space and money. I took a lot of pictures but with flash not allowed, dim lighting and a reddish room back round color I had trouble getting good shots. Here is a link to all the pictures I have. http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz23 ... ?start=all

Eric, Thank you for posting the pictures. There is some very nice items there. I especially love the kusari armour with the eyes looking at you. It looks as if it has a kind of haidate divided into sections like a kendo tare. I don't think I have seen that before.

Again thanks for the images.

Ian Bottomley

Eric, Thank you for posting the pictures. There is some very nice items there. I especially love the kusari armour with the eyes looking at you. It looks as if it has a kind of haidate divided into sections like a kendo tare. I don't think I have seen that before.

Again thanks for the images.

Ian Bottomley

Ian,you have a good eye, I had to search a little for some old kendo equipment I have and you are right, the haidate on the kusari gusoku displayed in the exhibit has 5 panels much like a kendo tare. I have seen several 3 panel haidate but this is the only 5 panel one I have seen.. I have posted a picture of a 5 panel kendo tare and a link to some other old kendo equipment.

There is a story on the kusari gusoku, when I heard that Trevor Absolon would be helping with the exhibit I contacted him and asked if there would be any kusari displayed, he thought that would be a good idea and some how convinced Barry Till ( the curator of the exhibit) to include this particular armor in the exhibit. Trevor set up the armor with the head which was a good visual aide. Although it is a composite armor it is a very good representation of a complete kusari armor as used in the Edo period. I do not know of any other kusari gusoku that has been displayed in another samurai exhibit.

After talking to Trevor and Barry I realized how hard it actually is to plan and carry out even a small exhibit of this kind. Convincing people to loan items for display is the only way to get items other then what a museum already owns on exhibit. Thats hard enough to do ( most nihonto owners would cringe at the idea of loaning their beloved swords I believe!! ) but then there is the shipping and customs problems as well as budget concerns...it is a miracle that any displays of this type ever get off the ground. Everyone involved did a great job with what they had to work with.

http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz23 ... equipment/

Eric, Yup, exhibitions can be a nightmare. I started planning for the Tokugawa Ieyasu exhibition in 1998 and it finally took place in 2005. My original plan was to try and bring together all the surviving armours of the commanders at Seki ga Hara and hold it in 2000, the 400th anniversary. Surprisingly this does not seem to have ever been done. Sadly it wasn't to be. However, what finally emerged was a nightmare, compounded by the fact that many lenders insisted their objects could only be exhibited for half the time. This meant a lot of re-jigging so that each half of the exhibition told the same story.

Ian

Ian, are there any pictures of the Tokugawa Ieyasu exhibition online? I was talking to someone at the exhibit who complained that there were not enough armors displayed....having just priced shipping an armor and armor box between Europe and th U.S. at over $600 with insurance I could understand how few people would be willing to lend a heavy and or expensive item and pay for shipping both ways. I am sure we will see less of these kinds of displays in the future except for the largest cities.