Sano Art Museum, Mishima City — Masamune: A Genius Sworthsmith and His Lineage

Book Good No Jacket 1st Edition Sano Art Museum, Mishima City; The Suiboko Museum, Toyama; The Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya and Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo Japanese text with captions and introductory text also in English.; Paperback.; 1 kg.; 22.5 x 30 cm.; Used with signs of wear on the exterior and interior. The exterior shows signs of wear, edge wear, scuffs and scratches, some peeling of the laminated layer at the edges on the back cover, small bump at the bottom of the spine. Interior with minor signs of wear.; Catalogue from an exhibition held at Sano Art Museum, Mishima City, January 5th Feburary 4th 2002; The Suiboko Museum, Toyama, Feburary 9th March 10th 2002; The Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, April 13th May 19th 2002; Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo, May 25th June 23rd 2002.; "Masamune is said to have created many superb swords in Kamakura, Sagami province, but today swords signed with Masamune's own name are extremely rare. The unsigned swords that have been attributed to Masamune and their splendid craftsmanship have led to the high praise of Masamune as a master swordsmith. Today, Masamune is Japan's best-known swordsmith, far outstripping the fame of many other master swordsmiths. This exhibition seeks to clarify why Masamune has become so famous. The swords of the Sagami province swordsmiths, with Masamune's works as their major representative, reveal a diverse array of expressions in their ground patterns and edge patterns. The nie metallic sheen of these swords is particularly jewel-like. Masamune then went one step beyond nie expression to create swords with lovely edge patterns. Masamune forged a large number of short swords, and many of his swords have carved patterns derived from Esoteric Buddhist rules and prescriptions. Needless to say, these are some of the most fascinating aspects of Masamune's swords. Masamune is thought to have been trained by swordsmiths from Bizen and Yamashiro provinces, such as Kunitsuna and Kunimitsu. Masamune himself went on to train many disciples, and the swordsmiths in the swordmaking lineages formed by Masamune's pupils continued to forge swords with Masamune's own particular charac teristics. This exhibition displays 57 swords by 21 swordsmiths from the late 13th century through the beginning of the 19th century, focusing on Masamune and the Sagami province school of swordsmiths. This array of swords will hopefully present a real sense of Masamune's efforts, and an explication of the reasons behind the high praise accorded to the genius swordsmith, Masamune." excerpt from the introductory text.