明治の刀剣保存運動と近代収集文化
Meiji-Era Sword Preservation Movement and Modern Collecting Culture
Following the 1876 sword-prohibition edict, Japanese swords underwent a fundamental repositioning from weapons to art objects, with former daimyo, aristocrats, and industrialists driving a preservation and collecting movement that established the modern frameworks for sword appraisal, exhibition, and museum collection.
Description
The 1876 haitorei (sword-prohibition edict) stripped Japanese swords of their functional and status roles overnight, triggering mass disposal and overseas export of blades. However, former daimyo and newly wealthy industrialists and aristocrats began collecting and preserving swords as art objects, aided by the reframing of Japanese swords as 'uniquely Japanese art' pioneered by figures like Okakura Tenshin. The Imperial Museum (now Tokyo National Museum) began acquiring and exhibiting swords as fine art from the 1890s. The post-Russo-Japanese War cultural nationalism accelerated the collecting boom, establishing the market and institutional frameworks that the modern NBTHK certification system and living sword culture continue to build upon.
Characteristics of This Era
- Haitorei-triggered transition from weapon to art object as the defining paradigm shift
- Former daimyo and aristocratic collections preserving masterworks from dispersal
- Imperial Museum's role in canonizing swords as a category of 'Japanese fine art'
- Post-Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese War nationalism driving a collecting boom
- Taisho-period legal and institutional frameworks anticipating modern preservation bodies