The calligrapher and craftsman Hon’ami Kōetsu frequently collaborated with Tawaraya Sōtatsu, a painter who ran a studio that produced fans and screens. Sōtatsu’s work featured abstracted and flattened shapes, fields of color and gold, and asymmetry. In particular, motifs that appeared in small scale, such as flora and fauna, in early decorated Japanese papers were painted in a larger scale—blown up as if seen under a magnifying glass. For this handscroll, Kōetsu brushed poems from the autumn section of a poetry anthology onto silk with a landscape of pines in gold and silver likely painted by Sōtatsu.
View the original at Cleveland Museum of Art →A weapons statute that contains the most important art registry in the country. Article 2 defines a sword by measurement: a blade of fifteen centimetres or more for a sword, spear or naginata, five and a half for a dagger. Article 14 then carves out an exception. The prefectural board of education registers old firearms of value as art or antiques, and swords of value as art, on the basis of an appraisal by registration examiners appointed for their scholarly knowledge.
The cool part. A Japanese sword is lawful to own because it has been certified as art. Not because it was disarmed, not because it was licensed as a weapon. The judgement is made by the board of education, and Article 14 then requires the board to notify the prefectural public safety commission of what it has decided. The culture side rules, and the police are informed afterwards. Fail the appraisal and the same object becomes contraband.
Verify at e-Gov 法令検索 →Use it A motif small enough to blind-deboss, which is where restraint actually shows.
Description source: museum curator text — not generated