Exploring 'The Art of the Samurai' at Bowers Museum

Samurai warriors may be best known in the United States from movies and video games, but a more authentic and nuanced view of their legacy and culture is being presented in “The Art of the Samurai” at the Bowers Museum.

A warrior class, “samurai” means “those who serve in close attendance to nobility.” Though their status was initially low, during the Edo period (1603-1868), they began using weapons, grew more powerful and were elevated to a more refined social class. Their skill and focus is reflected in their sword making, which involves hammering metal thousands of times to make weapons known for their unique curvature.

The exhibition, which includes 81 objects from the Tokyo National Museum, is divided into two thematic sections illustrating multiple aspects of samurai life. The first part features battle regalia, including armor, handcrafted swords, robes and medicine cases worn on the warriors’ belts; the second part focuses on the culture of the time via objects such as tea ceremony paraphernalia, scrolls, calligraphy and costumes for Noh theater. Also on display is a screen called “Chronicle of Yoshitsuni,” which depicts various battle scenes, on loan from the private collection of Etsuko and Joe Price.

In fact, the Price collection, seen in “The Age of Imagination: Japanese Art, 1615-1868” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art last year, inspired Bowers President Peter Keller to travel to Japan to see the Tokyo National Museum’s samurai collection firsthand. (A version of the exhibition was also at the Kremlin in Moscow last fall.)

“The aesthetics excited me,” said Keller. “The whole history of the samurai philosophy continues today in so much that [everyday people] do in Japan.”

The exhibition runs through June 14 at the Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. Tickets are $12 for adults, $9 for students, seniors and children age 6 to 17; and free for those younger than 6. Info: (714) 567-3600; www.bowers.org.

-- Liesl Bradner

Photos: top, Atsuita garment (Noh costume) with designs of hexagons, interlocking circles and paulownias; bottom, Jinboari with dragon roundel on red wool. Credits: Tokyo National Musem; Bowers Museum

Comments

[Bill R]

These articles are very interesting, and the writer has obviously put a lot of effort into research before setting pen to paper.

I would like to call attention to one description which I find erroneous. When Ms. Bradner spoke of Samurais and their swords, she said, "Their skill and focus is reflected in their sword making, which involves hammering metal thousands of times to make weapons known for their unique curvature."

First, Samurai warriors did not make their swords. Samurai swordmaking is a process which involves many people, from the smelter who builds a furnace, mixes a particular 'brew' of ores and minerals, and through knowledge gained during long years of experience, creates a special kind of steel. This steel is then sent to a forger, who, again with years of experience hammers and folds the metal like a baker creating a puff pastry.

The forger may fold the metal thousands of times, and this creates a blade that is very flexible yet amazingly strong. At the same time, he tempers the blade in one way and the back of the sword in another, allowing one edge to be very strong and hard in order to hold a razor sharp edge. The back of the blade, or top if you prefer, is softer to allow some flexibility and avoid shattering. Melding these two steels takes many days, but eventually the blade is ready to be sent to another expert for sharpening.

The sharpening is done, as are all the processes, by hand, using small pieces of stone to bring out the razor sharp edge. This process can take weeks, but at last the blade is ready to be polished. Again, an experienced expert uses small bits of stone to create a mirror finish, and at last the blade is fitted with a guard and a handle, and a sheath is created to hold the finished sword and protect the razor sharp edge from cutting anyone who may brush it by accident.

The whole process takes between six months and one year to complete, and the finished sword can cost upwards of $50,000. Often the sword will bear the name of the forger, although in ancient times the whole process was often done by one man and the sword bore his name, like Masamune, who was probably Japan's greatest swordmaker and a Samurai in his own right.

Japan's culture of the Samurai should not be confused with Japan's honoring the Craft of the Swordmaker, and I felt that Ms Bradner might have inadvertently misled the reader.