In celebration of the anniversary of the opening of the Shusui Museum of Art, we are proud to present this exhibition of iconic items from the museum's collection. The 2F Exhibition Room features a focus on swords, with a collection of outstanding Japanese swords and sword fittings, while the 3F Exhibition Room features a selection of paintings and craft items by some of the leading Japanese artists of the modern era, as well as folk crafts, antique pottery, and more.

Japanese swords have roughly a thousand years of history, dating back to the mid Heian period (10th and 11th c.) and continuing to today. Over the past millennium, countless swordmakers throughout Japan have worked to create these swords, and while some of these swords were owned by famous figures, known even centuries later, many more have been forgotten - nameless swords that were nonetheless an important part of life for people whose names have likewise been lost to time. This exhibition focuses on swords from the museum collection that have inscriptions clearly indicating when they were made, presented alongside background information about events and culture from when each sword was produced. We hope that visitors appreciate the many years of history possessed by each of these swords, and that this might serve as an opportunity to consider the cultural and historical contexts that these swords came from.

The contemporary artist Tetsuya Noguchi combines modern materials like resin and plastic with techniques such as carving and painting. Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of his work is that the people depicted in his art all wear armor. His art inhabits a mysterious world, with sculptures small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and curious interminglings of old Japanese paintings and modern society, playing with and defying the modern stereotypes of the samurai.

Long ago, Kibi Province once spanned the entirety of modern-day Okayama Prefecture, the eastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the western part of Hyogo Prefecture, and since ancient times, the region was known for its iron. During the Nara period (8th c.), Kibi was divided into the four provinces of Bizen, Bitchu, Bingo, and Mimasaka, and Bizen in particular went on to flourish as a center of swordmaking. From the mid to late Heian period (10th to 12th c.), Japanese swords developed the iconic form they would come to be known for, and Bizen Province produced such swordmakers as Tomonari and Masatsune. Starting around that era, numerous smiths took up residence in the Yoshii River basin in particular, and Bizen became medieval Japan’s largest producer of swords. The Bizen swords that still remain today tell us, through the inscriptions mentioning years on many of them, about the various ups and downs experienced by these smiths and their various schools of swordmaking over some 500 years, making them incredibly valuable as historical research materials. This exhibition features Bizen swords belonging to the museum’s collection, organized by era and by school to show the changes over time by swordmakers and their work,...

Prince Shotoku by Chikuha Otake

The Mori Shusui Museum of Art is proud to host the Hokuriku region’s first traveling exhibition of the Contemporary Swords and Artworks exhibition, through which the Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords seeks to train sword artisans and show off their skills. In the past, this society held two events, each boasting a long history of over 60 years: the Exhibition of Newly Made Swords, with a focus on the work of contemporary swordmakers, as well as the Sword Mounting and Polishing Awards Exhibition, meant for sword artisans who polish swords and who make sword mountings. The Contemporary Swords and Artworks exhibition combines these two events, building on their traditions and dignity. The first exhibition was held last year to celebrate the opening of the new Japanese Sword Museum, marking the start of a new chapter for the society. The exhibition features truly excellent items created through painstaking efforts based on the fundamental spirit of the philosophy of harmony, according to the instructions of Kanzan Sato, founder of the Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords. We hope that this exhibition provides visitors an intimate look at the philosophy of harmony as put into practice on a daily basis...

We are pleased to present this Dandyism and the Sword exhibition, showing off sword blades, koshirae fittings, armor, and other items from the Japanese sword collection of the Mori Shusui Museum of Art, with a focus on items to which sword fittings would be attached. Because Japanese swords were, at their core, ultimately weapons, user safety was a prerequisite, necessitating tsuka hilts, tsuba handguards, saya scabbards, and other fittings. Many decorated sword fittings have been found dating back to the Kofun period (ca. 3rd to 7th c.), suggesting that this tendency already existed even by that time. Decorated swords were a way for influential individuals to flaunt their power to those around them. Due to their association with authority figures, sword fittings developed over time into works of art carried primarily by nobles and the samurai, with designs changing to fit the tastes of each era. On the whole, the Edo period (ca. 1600–1870) was an era of peace, spared from the bloody upheaval that defined the Warring States period before it. As a result, swords took on more of a symbolic meaning, and many ornately decorated items were produced during this time. There were also master artisans who specialized...

Since long ago, swords made in the Hokuriku region have been known as Hokkoku-mono, or “items from the Hokkoku region,” and these swords were known for unique characteristics such as their dark jigane. This exhibition focuses on works by swordmakers from Etchu Province (modern-day Toyama Prefecture), which make up a large part of the museum’s collection, as well as other celebrated swords, past and present, from the three prefectures of the Hokuriku region. From the late Kamakura period (late 13th to early 14th c.) through the Nanbokucho period (14th c.), Etchu Province was home to outstanding swordmakers like Norishige, said to have been a senior apprentice to the great swordmaker Masamune, and Go no Yoshihiro, who was active in the Matsukura area of modern-day Uozu City, and who was once regarded as one of Japan’s three finest swordmakers. Around this time, Konyudo Kunimitsu, founder of the Uda school of swordmaking, moved here from Yamato Province (in modern-day Nara Prefecture); the works produced by this school have been highly acclaimed. This exhibition also includes an overview of celebrated Hokkoku-mono from Kaga Province to the west (in modern-day Ishikawa Prefecture), produced by such swordmakers as Kashu Sanekage, Fujishima Tomoshige, and Kanewaka, who...