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Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156-1868 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) |  | Creator: Morihiro Ogawa
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Category: Book
List Price: $65.00
Buy New: $40.94
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 26232
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 356
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.1
Dimensions (in): 12.3 x 9.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0300142056
Dewey Decimal Number: 739.709520747471
EAN: 9780300142051
ASIN: 0300142056
Publication Date: November 10, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Samurai arms and equipment are widely recognized as masterpieces in steel, silk, and lacquer. This extensively illustrated volume is published in conjunction with the first comprehensive exhibition devoted to the arts of the samurai. It includes the finest examples of swords—the spirit of the samurai—as well as sword mountings and fittings, armor and helmets, saddles, banners, and paintings. The objects in the catalogue, drawn entirely from public and private collections in Japan, feature more than 100 officially designated national treasures and important cultural properties. Dating from the 5th to the 19th century, these majestic works offer a complete picture of samurai culture and its unique blend of the martial and the refined. Many of the greatest Japanese blade makers are represented in this volume, from the earliest koto ("old sword") masters such as Yasuie (12th century) and Tomomitsu (14th century) to the Edo-period smiths Nagasone Kotetsu and Kiyomaro. These blades, cherished as much for their beauty as for their cutting effectiveness, were equipped with elaborate hilts and scabbards prized for their exquisite craftsmanship and materials, including silk, rayskin, gold, lacquer, and alloys unique to Japan, such as shakudo and shibuichi. Japanese armor is also fully surveyed, from the rarest iron armor of the Kofun period (5th century) to the inventive ceremonial helmets made toward the end of the age of the samurai.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
A 'must' for any collection strong in Japanese arts March 19, 2010
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
ART OF THE SAMURAI: Japanese ARMS AND ARMOR, 1156-1868 is a 'must' for any collection strong in Japanese arts. It provides an extensively illustrated catalog published to accompany the first comprehensive exhibition of the samurai, and uses works from public and private collections in Japan, along with 34 officially designated National Treasures and 64 Important Cultural Properties, packing in black and white and color drawings alike. College-level arts collections or holdings strong in Japanese history and culture MUST have this!
 This is an important book, I think, because of what it teaches us about Japan. March 8, 2010
Mendicant Pigeon (pdx, or United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
One day, when I was fourteen or fifteen my grandfather pulled me over to the book shelf and handed me some books and said that I 'had' to read them, implying that not doing so would condemn me to a life of ignorant darkness. One was The Red and The Black, another, Conrad's Lord Jim, I think and perhaps a third was Madame Bovary.
His point was well taken, in retrospect, if not well made, and grounded in a belief that there is a certain canon of knowledge that has a place in a person's education.
As such a library of books should be accumulated that help to inform one about the world.
I would put it to you that this is one of those books. As an art book, quite frankly, it leaves a bit to be desired despite the superb construction of its binding and the quality of its paper. For this reason one is happy that the book is made in Japan, because it has the look and feel of something well made and substantial and unlikely to explode or be recalled for any other reason. Actually, my complaint concerns the editorial choice to go with a matte finish rather than glossy, and not to photograph the exhibited swords in color.
This is a book ostensibly about art, after all and unless we are talking about black and white art, by God, I want to look at color reproductions. There probably is an excellent rationale for using a matte finish rather than gloss for the numerous excellent reproductions of Samurai 'Art' ranging from aforementioned swords to copious amounts of elaborate armor, highly decorative sword guards, fittings, scabards, clothing, and other accoutrements of war, as well as reproductions of period scrolls depicting more of the same. These are accompanied by mostly edifying text giving contextual information as well as interesting provenance details. Apart from some minor typographical irritations, e.g. in a discussion of a certain type of pig iron it is first identified as zuke and then as zuku, the accompanying text is generally lucid and informative. One does wish, however, that a broader discussion of the actual functionality of the pictured items had been undertaken for, while some of it was obviously ceremonial in nature, it is not made clear if all of it was, and it would be interesting to know just how effective the various armor and weapons were in their assigned roles. The weight of one set of the armor was listed once, I think it would have been interesting to know what each of the pieces at the exhibition weigh.
Likewise, this Metropolitan Museum of Art publication, includes many pictures of swords. A major constituent part of the Samurai sword is the pattern that appears on the polished metal. These patterns are nearly indistinguishable as pictured: A major shortcoming.
Nevertheless, this is a book worth owning. Not just for its large number of excellent, if matte finish, reproductions and extended essays but also for how well it demonstrates the very Japaneseness of these items. (Oh, and by the way, the book includes material earlier than 1156 as a means of tracing the evolution of the various forms of armor and sword blades.)
What is perhaps most impressive about this collection is the amazing, utterly amazing, continuity of forms and aesthetics that can be observed from the earliest items to contemporary Japan's artwork or, more exactly, cultural signifiers.
Such a unified cultural thread is really quite extraordinary. Consider, for instance, the English whose civilization is arguably as old as Japan's. Yet can any one identify a single continuous ancient English theme that runs through its culture today (Putting aside Shakespeare who one argues was channeling the Greeks and doing after a gap of more than a thousand years)? Englishness was once defined by its affinity to tea, a Chinese import, and to fish and chips (the latter, a new world import). Her artists, while excellent at times, hardly define the culture (Turner, Constable, Hogarth) do they? Dickens might have captured more than a moment in time, but one could hardly call any aspect of modern England Dickensian could one?
The Japanese, on the other hand, not only defined themselves through an aesthetic typified by the Samurai (one part of a greater contiguous whole), but have also taken its motifs to heart and woven them into the present day culture.
For this reason, what it says visually about the Japanese, I recommend owning this book. Also, I suspect it may become collectible; although I am unfamiliar with art books with Samurai themes so can't be sure.
Very pleased March 5, 2010
G. J. Ras (the netherlands)
The book was a gift to my son ,who is a collector of books on this subject,and he was very pleased.
He said it was perhaps the most beautiful book in his collection
outstanding January 8, 2010
Bruce C. Carman (Marin, CA. USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A superb collection of Japanese arms and armor as well as the history that goes with it.
A great piece of a samurai History January 7, 2010
Jenaro Pliego Fox (Mexico)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
It's an amazin book that show a various times in the Samurai Tradition, Culture and Legacy, amazing photos and a way to imagine the great warriors that was these Samurai.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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