Student working on Japanese swords during the Edo period

[Tokugawa]

Hey everyone,

I'm coming to you for a specific reason.
I am a french student in art history and in my Japanese art class, I have a paper to write on the theme of the evolution of the Japanese sword during the Edo period.

I thought I would organize my work plan this way:

- Introduction
- I. The Edo Period
   - 1) A time of peace
   - 2) Persistence of military values
- II. Stylistic evolution
   - 1) The emergence of Shinto blades
   - 2) The specific work of the Tsuba
         A) The different schools
         B) The case of Tsuba Namban
- III. Some examples and comments of important works
- Conclusion
- Appendices

What do you think of that? What are the essential notions I need to talk about for the swords of this period? And finally, do you have any emblematic swords from that period that you recommend I study and comment on?

I'm still a beginner so all your advice is welcome!

 

Thanks, Antoine

[Brian]

Man...there is so much you could write here. You could write an entire book.
Everything from shape changes to uses to the schools and fittings...
I would strongly suggest you cut down the subjects you include, or it is going to take you ages. Edo is a loooong period and a lot happened. Good luck, great subject.

[Jussi Ekholm]

One possible categorization for swords could be geographical. You could have for example

 

Swords of the Northern provinces (North regions of Japan)

Swords of Edo area (Tokyo)

Swords of Yamashiro & Settsu area (Ōsaka & Kyōto)

Swords of the South (Kyūshū)

[Tokugawa]

Man...there is so much you could write here. You could write an entire book.

Everything from shape changes to uses to the schools and fittings...

I would strongly suggest you cut down the subjects you include, or it is going to take you ages. Edo is a loooong period and a lot happened. Good luck, great subject.

 

The edo period is so rich, it's really fascinating.

Any recommendations for documentation on shape changes at this time?

 

One possible categorization for swords could be geographical. You could have for example

 

Swords of the Northern provinces (North regions of Japan)

Swords of Edo area (Tokyo)

Swords of Yamashiro & Settsu area (Ōsaka & Kyōto)

Swords of the South (Kyūshū)

 

I will probably do that, you are right !

[Stephen]

this book will help you tremendously if you dont have it.

 

 https://www.amazon.com/Connoisseurs-Book-Japanese-Swords/dp/1568365810

[Brian]

I think Connoisseurs book would be one of your main reference works here.
Edit *snap* lol. See what Stephen posted.

[PietroParis]

On amazon.fr the book is not discounted, but you can get a slightly lower price here.

 

Cheers, Pietro

[16k]

That book is a gold mine! Highly recommended. In French you can also read “les Sabres Shinto” by Serge Degorre.

 

https://www.amazon.fr/sabres-shintô-Serge-Degore/dp/2865510379/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_fr_FR=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=Les+sabres+shinto&qid=1575393828&sr=8-1

 

It’s an excellent book and the swords are described according to school/region.

[BIG]

Hi Tokugawa, please sign your posts..

 

Good luck with your paper..

 

Best

[Peter Bleed]

Antoine,

I commend you for setting out to discuss swords in an "art" class. (It never worked for me) . Unfortunately, you have exactly proposed a BOOK that has already been written - and written and written.They best you can hope for in this way is a book review or a discussion of current sword dogma. There may be a market for that sort of paper. But after you have the many discussion of shinto swords and them find a specific issue that you can address BEYOND what is already well established. You can review that schools and styles of the Tokugawa era. You can contrast the subtle differences in the literature. You may find it easier to write this paper if you address koshirai and kodogy rather than blades....

Peter

[Ken-Hawaii]

Hmm, the sword as art, or the art of the sword? Two different paths, for sure.

[16k]

The art of the sword that led to the sword of art.

[Surfson]

You are obviously a budding collector of Nihonto!  (at least once you get out of school and make some money....).  

 

I suggest that you work very hard to make this paper enjoyable and accessible by and to an audience of non collectors and art students.  I wouldn't think that they would be interested in many of the things that we collectors are, such as the evolution of sword shape (which is much more interesting when it was a practical matter before Edo), the regional differences in hamon, hada, evolution of schools etc.  

 

What I would think would be more interesting is the art in the blades and koshirae - for example the introduction of waves (Toranba) or Mt Fuji, or chrysanthemums or other artistic flare in the blades themselves.  Similarly, the changes of the art in tsuba that moved along from Sengoku/Monoyama to Edo and followed the changes of style of art of the day.  Steve Waszak has a nice paper on the relationship between tsuba designs and pottery for example.  Your classmates and teachers may find this much more relevant to the artistic interests.  

[Tokugawa]

I cannot talk about all the schools for the production of blades in my work, so I have chosen to focus on a few of them, which seem to me to be the "most important" ones for the Edo period.

These are the ones I kept:
- Osaka ( Kunisada School, Sukehiro School, Kunisuke School)
- Edo (Nagasone School)
- Kyoto ( Mishina School)
- Hizen ( Tayadoshi School)

 

Are these really relevant ?

 

You are obviously a budding collector of Nihonto!  (at least once you get out of school and make some money....).  

 

I suggest that you work very hard to make this paper enjoyable and accessible by and to an audience of non collectors and art students.  I wouldn't think that they would be interested in many of the things that we collectors are, such as the evolution of sword shape (which is much more interesting when it was a practical matter before Edo), the regional differences in hamon, hada, evolution of schools etc.  

 

What I would think would be more interesting is the art in the blades and koshirae - for example the introduction of waves (Toranba) or Mt Fuji, or chrysanthemums or other artistic flare in the blades themselves.  Similarly, the changes of the art in tsuba that moved along from Sengoku/Monoyama to Edo and followed the changes of style of art of the day.  Steve Waszak has a nice paper on the relationship between tsuba designs and pottery for example.  Your classmates and teachers may find this much more relevant to the artistic interests.  

Thanks ! I need to make more searches about art in the blades. I'm also going to have a part dedicated to Tsuba schools because their changes are really emblematic of the period.

[16k]

Good choice!