Closed | Mondays, except September 18, October 9 and closed on september 19, October 10 |
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Hours | 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.(last entry: 4:30 p.m.) |
General admission (On-line timed-entry tickets) |
Adult 1300 yen, Student 1000 yen *Timed-entry tickets will be on sale from 1 p.m., August 29. |
Gallery | 1/2 |
In 1909, Nezu Kaichirō, Sr., purchased an entire collection of more than three thousand swords and sword fittings, without having even seen the actual objects. While he himself was not interested in swords, he acquired the collection because it had been assembled with great care: it was the collection of Mitsumura Toshimo, an entrepreneur (also known as Ryūshidō; 1877-1955).
Toshimo had begun this collection when he purchased a real set of armor, and a sword, to celebrate the first Boy's Day for his eldest son, Toshiyuki. That event occurred in 1897, when Toshimo was twenty. Amazingly enough, he then went on to build his collection in just a decade. The result was a group of works of extraordinary value, both in terms of their quality and their significance as reference materials.
This exhibition presents a selection from the 1200 objects in this category in our collection, including, for the first time, armor. We hope that it will be an opportunity to learn about Toshimo’s support for the art of metalwork, which went far beyond his being a sword and armor collector.