Lords of the Samurai 6/12–9/20/09, San Francisco

[Saionji Shonagon]

Coming this summer to San Francisco's Asian Art Museum:
www.asianart.org/Samurai.htm

"More than just warriors, Japanese samurai of the highest rank were visionaries, writers, and artists as well. The Hosokawa clan, powerful military nobles with a 600-year-old lineage, embodied this duality of fierce warrior and refined gentleman. This exhibition features more than 150 works from the Hosokawa family collection housed in the Eisei-Bunko Museum in Tokyo, the Kumamoto Castle, and the Kumamoto Municipal Museum in Kyushu. Objects on view will include suits of armor, armaments (including swords and guns), formal attire, calligraphy, paintings, teaware, lacquerware, masks, and musical instruments."

[roninpenguin]

I think that I have now narrowed down when I am making my next visit to San Francisco. ;D

[Saionji Shonagon]

Dec 14, 2008 21:19:48 GMT -5 roninpenguin said:

I think that I have now narrowed down when I am making my next visit to San Francisco. ;D

Make time for seafood this time, ok?

You read right, my friends. The House of Cheerful Monkeys has kinda sorta turned into a ryokan this year and it has been our honor to offer crash space to several members of this forum.

While the ryokan is small, it boasts a clean if lumpy futon and ridiculously convenient access to Oakland International Airport.

[Saionji Shonagon]

More info up on this upcoming exhibition at www.asianart.org/Samurai.htm including a gallery of some of the items that will be displayed. www.asianart.org/samuraigallery/samuraigallery.html


As with many shows at the Asian, they will have two rotations of art and artifacts to maximize gallery space and preserve fragile items. The first rotation starts July 12, the second rotation starts August 2.

[Saionji Shonagon]

As a member of the Asian Art Museum, I received this month's issue of "Treasures" featuring the upcoming "Lords of the Samurai" exhibition. There was much rejoicing - and a good bit of squeeing over photos of art and artifacts appearing in the article, including a fan painting, a noh robe, two Edo period armors, a 13th century sword blade by Moriie and tsuba decorated with tattered fans and cherry blossoms. (This last is so GORGEOUS I want to steal the design as a textile motif!)

For information on the show as well as companion lectures, entertainments and so forth, asianart.org/ has further details.

I can't wait. It looks like it's going to be wonderful.

Saionji no Hanae
West Kingdom

[Saionji Shonagon]

So the Asian Art Museum has been promoting their upcoming Lords of the Samurai exhibition. Is it me, or is their samurai wearing extremely awful armor?
www.asianart.org/samurai/spotthesamurai.htm

Review of the opening at:
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/13/DDFG183SDA.DTL

Be sure to check out the slide show accompanying the article.

[Takeda Sanjuichiro]

Jun 17, 2009 17:18:50 GMT -5 Saionji Shonagon said:

Is it me, or is their samurai wearing extremely awful armor?

Obviously it is a demonstration of the absolute power/obediance the "Lords of the Samurai" weilded...

"Takeshi, I want you to wear this in public...."

I know museums are on budgets, but that is pretty bad... I can only assume that their collection or what they used for compairision were some severely funky Edo pieces.

-Takeda

[Saionji Shonagon]

My theory is that they weren't going to parade the real stuff around town. I know they're planning a "daimyo for the day" interactive area for kids, where they can try on armor and so forth. I assume said "armor" is similar.

[Saionji Shonagon]

I just got back from the "Kampai! Sake + Tea" evening at the Asian Art Museum.

"Lords of the Samurai" takes up the two ground floor exhibition rooms with scrolls, screens, armor (all Edo period), textiles (all Edo period, mostly noh costumes, a white wool dobuku with one red sleeve and a blue brocade collar, and a white jinbaori with the Hosokawa mon in black), tea-ware and other articles. It includes a number of "Book of Five Rings" scrolls, plus paintings attributed to Miyamoto Musashi. There were at least three sword blades that pre-dated the Edo period and a gorgeous matchlock musket with inlays of the Hosokawa mon all over the stock. The tsuba collection is also mostly Edo, but there were a couple of Muromachi ones as well. I understand that items will be rotated, so I definitely plan to get back to see it again later in the summer. (I did acquire the exhibition catalogue - to my dismay, the wonderful screen of dog shooting is reduced to some stupidly small photos, however, there are some excellent portraits, some of which I have not even seen).

The DJ - and the person who thought putting a DJ in the echoing atrium of a museum was a good idea - should both be used for cutting practice. It was too flippin' loud! The tea demonstrations were packed, however, I did manage to try a tasting flight of three sake early enough to be able to take my little tray and sit on a stone bench.

Fave of the evening was "Shichi Hon Yari" (The Seven Spearsmen), Tomita Sake Brewery, Shiga Prefecture. Darned smooth for a junmai, with fruity notes. A very close second was "Ken" (Sword), Suehiro Sake Brewery, Fukushima prefecture. this junmai daiginjo hit me firmly in the tastebuds like Hiroyuki Sanada kicking Tom Cruise's gaijin ass with a melon-flavored boken, though not too sweet. The "Sharaku" (Tokun Sake Brewery, Chiba) was a dry junmai ginjo. If you like dry whites, you'd probably enjoy it. While it was my least favorite of the three, it certainly wasn't bad. (EDIT: I just took a look at the TrueSake website. All three are in the Ludicrous Expensive Range.)

It was too crowded and noisy and I was hitting critical mass by the time I came back down from the upstairs gallery, so I didn't stay for the lecture on sake and samurai.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Went again today as they rotated some new items into the exhibit to maximize use of their show space. More Noh costumes, saddles, kabuto, a jubako (food box) and incense game set, and a kataginu kamishimo that dates from before 1642 in indigo kamon katazome with pleated shoulders and a 2" wide koshi-ita (back board), for whatever that is worth.

While I could not take photos on the exhibition floor, I did shoot some up on the 2nd floor in the permanent collection, including an Edo period jinbaori and an Edo period kariginu used in Noh performances. There was also a terrific pre 1650 screen of dog shooting that I took a number of detail shots of because of the great clothing on the spectators. www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/sets/72157621990102075/

[BigMek]

Dammit, why o why do I have to live so far away from all the goodness *sigh*.
Sounds like one heck of an exhibit!

[Saionji Shonagon]

Aug 23, 2009 5:19:30 GMT -5 BigMek said:

Dammit, why o why do I have to live so far away from all the goodness *sigh*.
Sounds like one heck of an exhibit!

There is a nice exhibition catalogue with color photos. My only quibble, as usual, is that they never photograph the folding screens in enough detail to suit me.

www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lords+of+the+samurai&x=0&y=0

I know Amazon.com has European branches - you may be able to get a copy there, if you like.

[BigMek]

Pictures are nice, but I prefere to see it "live" ^^
I've only seen one place where I live where they have anything japanse, and thats the local martial art's shop, they do have a very nice armour in the window...would be even better if it didnt have X's and railroads, but still nice.

[mrcunningham]

I flew into Oakland to go to a wedding last weekend...and of course didn't have time to drive across the bay to go to this.

So, final verdict: no pre-1600 armour that isn't already a part of their permanent collection?

[Saionji Shonagon]

Armor, no. There were some period sword blades and other artifacts, however.

Oh, and the only suit of armor in the permanent collection that I've ever seen on display is an Edo period one.