Evening star., 1942-10-30
japanese Trophies

japanese Trophies
The average American citizen at
first may not understand the merit
of the protest of the Municipal Art
Society of New York against the un-
necessary sacrifice of cultural treas
ures to the scrap metal campaign.
But the explanation offered by Ely
Jacques Kahn, president of the Or
ganization, is easy to comprehend.
1--WE are fighting for the preserva-
ton of our way of living and our
culture" he said, "and part of that
cultural inheritance consists of
works of art that in an impassioned
moment tend to be thrown into the
scrap heap because the artist hap
pened to be Japanese, German or
Italian by birth. The actual scrap
value of such articles is negligible
and their replacement, particularly
In the case of objects of actual
artistic value, impossible"
1t was the scrapping of two dozen
japanese swords, scabbards and
decorative hand guards by the
Brooklyn Museum that prompted Mr..
Kahn's statement. He realized, as
perhaps the generality of his con-
temporaries would not, the signifl-
canoe Of such weapons to the people
Of Japan. They might be expected
frankly to be delighted by news of
the destruction of cultural trophies
In American custody. DR.. William
Elliot Griff1s, in his classic "Mikado's
Empire" wrote: I'm no (other) coun-
try has the sword been made an
object of such honor as in Japan.
1t is at once divine symbol, a
knightly weapon and certificate
OF noble birth. The girded sword is
the soul of the samurai' It is the
precious possession of lord and vassal
from times older than the divine
period Japan is the land of many
blades The gods wore and welded
two-edged swords. From the tail of
the dragon was born the sword
which the sun goddess gave to the
first Emperor Of Japan. BY the
sword Of the clustering clouds of
heaven Yamato-Dake subdued the
East. BY the sword the mortal heroes
Of Japan won fame"
Each weapon was, first Of all, an
achievement in design. DR.. Griff1s
declared: "The forging of these
swords occupied the smith 60 days.
No artisans were held in greater
honor than the sword makers. The
forging of blade, was often a re-
llgious ceremony. Every part of a
sword was richly inlaid or ex-
pensively finished. Daimios often
spent extravagant sums on a single
blade and small fortunes on a COL
lection. A samurai, however Door,
would have a blade of sure temper
and rich mountings, deeming it
honorable to suffer for food, that
he might have worthy emblem of
his social rank"
Many Japanese swords represent
very ancient secrets of workman
ship transmitted from father to son
during many generations of the
families of Miochin, Umetada and
Goto, all famous in the history of
Oriental art. The metals employed
were iron, copper, tin, silver, gold
and several mysterious alloys. Since
perfection was the goal of the de-
signer in each instance, he dealt
with his materials meticulously. The
results were jewels in the estimation
OF their owners.
1t is true that very few of the JAP
anese swords now in the United
States are precious. Most of them
however, have an theological i'm
portance to the japanese race. For
that reason-as captive trophies
as well as because of their genuine
esthetic character, they should be
preserved. The British Museum and
the Victoria ard Albert Museum in
London are not scrapping their
cultural treasures.