Japanese Sword Exhibit

If you’ve seen even one samurai chanbara (swashbuckling swordplay) movie, you’re familiar with the warriors’ katana, or sword. Although antiques can be found and collected, genuine hand-made swords from Japan in excellent condition are rare and considered to be art objects.

When the wife and I went on a tour of Japan in 1986, we were told by our guide that the antiques cannot be taken out of Japan and in order to own one, you must obtain appropriate certification.

I learned of the Japanese Sword Society of Hawaii’s exhibition at Soto Mission in the Nuuanu district of Honolulu through a poster tacked onto the wall of my doctor’s office, and have been waiting for it since August.

Well, it’s taking place this weekend, so the wife and I went yesterday. If you haven’t been there and want to see it, you’d better hurry; after today, you’re too late.  Be forewarned, parking is scarce, despite their large parking lot. The wife and I had to walk a few blocks after parking our car on the street. Admission is $10, but it’s well worth it to see the antiques.

In addition to the swords on display, the Bonsai Kenkyu Kai of Hawaii had a number of bonsai (miniature trees) on display. Some smaller plants (obviously just started) were on sale, but the attention of the attendees was riveted on a video crew interviewing one of the club members working on his bonsai tree.

We joined a long, slow-moving line that inched its way around the room’s perimeter, pausing for extended periods before some sumi’e (ink) scrolls of obvious value, then a great selection of ukiyo’e (block prints) also on sale. I’d love to own a few of these, but wasn’t on a buying expedition, so I passed.

(By the way, the line moved slowly because everybody was stopping to watch a kendo demonstration happenng onstage at the other end of the room. That was a loud-thwacking demo for sure.)

Just as we neared the sword displays, a young girl came up to me and said photography wasn’t allowed. Damn. That always happens to me. I took a look at the information that was handed to us at the door, and sure enough, there in plain English, was the bullet point: “No photographing or filming is allowed.” But I never let that stop me before, so I took one more picture looking down the first table of katana swords. Wish I could have taken more individual pictures, but that’s the way it goes.

I always seem to run into someone I know at these collector shows, and sure enough, there was my friend Marion Kendrick, who runs the coin shows for the Hawaii State Numismatic Association. He asked if I was going to set up at this year’s November show, but I told him I’ve stopped doing shows. Disappointing news, unfortunately.

Okay, so no pictures of more swords. That’s too bad, but still, I did get to see dozens of these antique weapons created during the 14^th through 18^th Centuries in Japan. And that, as they say, ain’t bad.

But as a consolation, here are two pictures of artwork that I was able to take before they stopped me:

Ukiyo'e Blockprint from "47 Ronin" by Kawanabe Kyosai, 1886

Sumi'e Scroll "Magic Dragon" by Nyoren, Edo Period, 19th Century