EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

The Japanese sword—one of the world’s most beautifully crafted pieces of art for over a millennium. Buoyed by mounting interest in Japanese art and culture worldwide among people of all ages, numerous katana exhibitions—with many of these presenting extensive collections—have been held in recent years, attracting a considerable following. Originally created as a tool of warfare, these swords quickly became objects of art to be cherished and collected over its long and distinctive history. Likewise, the inro medicine case was adopted as a collectible from a relatively early period, having been made and refined by the larger, more prestigious feudal clans and master craftsmen, to emerge as a work of art symbolizing the samurai culture up to the end of the Edo period. While popularized in the modern era largely through a panoply of historical dramas, the inro’s purpose and use has remained somewhat obscure to this day. The bushi samurai treasured his katana and inro, both lovingly and lavishly created by expert artisans and each brilliant and beautiful in their own right. For “Samurai Dandyism,” the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum is proud to present some 300 works—including 20 swords and 235 medicine cases, along with a number of katana peripheral pieces—two of a samurai’s most prized possessions that he had on him at all times. The exhibition will also delve into the origins and evolution of the little known, long overlooked charms of the inro over the course of its feudal history. We believe viewers will be able to experience for themselves the fascination and adoration the bushi had for these palm-held cases of artistic mastery.