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Museum Collection Exhibition
Armor, Swords, and Sword Fittings
A Mitsumura Collection Digest - Saturday, September 2－Sunday, October 15, 2024
| 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.
- Gusoku Type Armor with Pale Green Blue and Navy Blue Lacing
- Japan Edo period, 18th-19th centuries
Nezu Museum - The cuirass of this set of armor has been carefully built of layers of pale green-blue and navy blue lacing. The inside of the helmet has the name Myōchin Shikibu Ki no Munesuke, an Edo-period armorer, inscribed in it. The set also includes a pennant with the same crest as that applied to the metal fittings of the cuirass.
- Tachi Sword by Nagamitsu
- Iron
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Japan Kamakura period, 13th
Nezu Museum - It is said that Toshimo collected 2000 swords, new and old, large and small, but the nature of the collection as a whole remains unclear. Of the swords that remain at the Nezu Museum, the medieval-period swords are mainly from Bizen, while most of the early-modern swords were produced in Kyoto or Osaka. Nagamitsu was a master swordsmith who established the Bizen Osafune School. This tachi sword with alternating clove patterns in the hamon (blade pattern) is an exemplary work from late in Nagamitsu’s life.
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Wakizashi Sword Mounting with Bracken Design in Metalwork
Metalwork by Unno Shōmin -
Japan Meiji period, 20th century
Nezu Museum - This set of sword fittings, with the scabbard narrowing at the end, is covered in a unified modern bracken design. Toshimo was an ardent admirer of the craftsmanship of Unno Shōmin, the master metalsmith at the Mito Metalworks, and gave him more commissions than he did any other craftsman. Unno Shōmin was selected as an Imperial Household Artist.
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Sword Guard with Jigoku Dayū, a Courtesan, Design
By Fukawa Kazunori（2nd generation） -
Japan Meiji period dated 1903
Nezu Museum - An impressive sword guard shaped like a skull. The skull motif and the Hell pattern on the woman’s uchikake robe evoke the courtesan Jigoku Dayū and the Buddhist monk-poet Ikkyū Sōjun, respectively. Their encounter was a popular subject in paintings. Fukawa Kazunori (2nd generation, 1855-1919) was a metalsmith in Tokyo who won many prizes at the National Industrial Exhibitions and other events.