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Surveys of Japanese Art by Medium
Arms and Armor
The subject is treated well in Japan: The Shaping of Daimyo Culture, edited
by Yoshiaki Shimizu (see below under Momoyama), and briefly but usefully in The
Great Japan Exhibition and The Shogun Age Exhibition (see below
under Tokugawa or Edo period). As an introduction, each of these books is equal to
Basil W. Robinson, Arms and Armour of Old Japan (London: H.M.S.O., 1951),
or to H. Russell Robinson, Japanese Armor and Arms (New York: Crown, 1969).
For extensive discussions of swords, along with briefer discussions of sword guards
and other fittings, see W. M. Hawley, Japanese Swordsmiths, 2 vols. (1967);
Kanzan Sato, The Japanese Sword, translated by Joe Earle (New York:
Kodansha International, 1983); Walter Compton et al., Nippon-to: Art Swords of
Japan (New York: Japan Society, 1976); and, for discussions and excellent photographs
of 42 swords and 58 sword fittings and related accoutrements, One Hundred Masterpieces
from the Collection of Dr. Walter A. Compton, edited by Sebastian Izzard
(New York: Christie's, 1992). Martin Collcutt has a short, informative essay on swords
in Court and Samurai in an Age of Transition (New York: Japan Society, 1990),
a catalogue (no editor is named) illustrating and discussing 23 blades. Spectacular
Helmets of Japan, 16th-19th Century (New York: Japan Society, 1985), illustrating
76 helmets (many designed for show), includes excellent essays on Tokugawa military
culture.
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