ROYAL ARMOURIES SEMINAR
July 2005
I was fortunate to be able to attend a one day seminar at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on Sunday 17th July 2005. This was held to coincide with their important current Shogun Exhibition which is a combined effort between the Royal Armouries and the Nikko Toshogu Shrine in Japan. It is at this shrine that the body of the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu is buried and immortalised and so both the seminar and exhibition concentrated, although no exclusively, on this aspect and period of Japanese history.
The seminar comprised of three lectures, two of which were accompanied by visual aids. They were conducted by Mr Ian Bottomley (Senior Curator at the Royal Armouries) Dr Stephen Turnbull (author) and Tom Richardson (Royal Armouries). Ian Bottomley opened the proceedings with a lecture and slide presentation on Japanese swords. He explained early swords with examples from Shoso-in repository followed by pictures of Ko-garasu-maru, Masamune, Kunihiro and several examples of koshirae. Explaining the historical context of Japanese swords around the time of Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu, the lecture was also illustrated with guns from the collection and slides of Hideyoshi’s famous red and silver striped daisho. The class structure of Edo period Japan, the seclusion policy and the Westernisation beginning in the Bakamatsu period were all fully explained.
After this lecture, attendees were invited to inspect a number of examples of weapons, including three swords, from the Royal Armouries collection. Viewing conditions were not ideal.
After a short break, the seminar was resumed with a lecture from Dr Stephen Turnbull, prolific author on books about the samurai. The subject was scheduled as the battle tactics of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Dr Turnbull spoke in his unique manner and told of Ieyasu’s early life with the Imagawa clan as a privileged hostage. He went on to talk of Ieyasu’s military career including Sekigahara and the campaigns at Osaka Castle. This was followed by a one hour lunch recess.
A minor technical hitch delayed Mr Tom Richardson for a few minutes. His lecture explained the development of various types of armour. Illustrated with both images on screen and actual examples from the collection, Mr Richardson’s talk was delivered in an interesting and professional manner and was most informative. As with the other lectures, a short question and answer session concluded matters.
After the lectures, the attendees (about 25) visited the Shogun Exhibition. Contained in the exhibition are several armours from the Royal Armouries collection as well as a kabuto owned by the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. From Nikko there were some spectacular screens depicting the battles at Nagashino, Sekigahara and several others as well as kakemono of such luminaries as Tokugawa Ieyasu and Honda Tadakatsu his favoured general. Slightly disappointing to me was that there were few blades displayed. Those that were there shown included a very wide Iga (no) Kami Kinmichi, a naginata by Bizen Osafune Kagemitsu and a Bitchu Aoe blade by Tsuguie. Sadly it was stated that all three had been damaged in a 19th century fire at a storehouse at Nikko and that they had been re-hardened by a modern smith.
Accompanying the exhibition is a very well illustrated catalogue. The first part tells of Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu’s life, whilst the rest catalogues the exhibits. There are 6 gatefold pull-outs which illustrate some of the screens mentioned above. It represents very good value at £12.
The pioneering co-operation between the Royal Armouries and Nikko Toshogu Shrine must have taken much organisation and credit is due to all those involved. Many of the exhibits have travelled from Nikko for the first time and are important cultural objects. The exhibition runs to 30th August 2005 and is highly recommended. For more information you may care to check out www.shogun.org.uk
Clive Sinclaire July 2005
Front cover of catalogue: Portrait of Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu