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Gunsen
Japan, 1800-1850
Asian Art Museum
“In Japan commanders of samurai combat teams used a gunsen, an instrument resembling a baton, which sometimes took the form of a folding fan. This instrument was an emblem of the rank of supreme commander of the army and was used to direct the movement of troops. Two heavy iron guards enclose the ten dark-colored bamboo ribs of this fan. Covered with lacquered paper, both ends of the ribs are glued to the iron guards. The lower ends of the ribs and guards are joined with a gilded copper alloy tube rivet. A design of the sun in red decorates the center of the fan. Simple and bold, this design would have been visible from some distance. Among other instruments used to direct the movements of large bodies of Japanese troops were gongs, drums, and conch horns.”
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Tanto
Japan, 1596-1614
The Victoria & Albert Museum
“Daggers were worn both by samurai and by non-samurai, including, increasingly, the merchant classes. Merchants tended towards gaudier mountings for their blades so the restrained decoration of this tanto, together with the paulownia reference, would indicate that it was remounted for a samurai, perhaps an elderly gentleman. After 1876, when the samurai were abolished as a class and the wearing of swords was prohibited, there was little further demand for swords and sword fittings. Many craftsworkers turned their hands to the newly arrived market of foreigners who avidly collected anything Japanese.”
