The Harold B. Lee Library opened its latest yearlong exhibit of Japanese artifacts with a joint lecture featuring professors Paul Hyer, Jack Stoneman and Aaron Skabelund.
PROVO, Utah (November 6, 2014)—For the next year, the first thing students see as they walk through the doors of the Harold B. Lee Library will be swords, scrolls and armor from Japan. These and other artifacts make up the library’s newest exhibit, “Guns, Scrolls, and Swords: Samurai Identities in Early Modern Japan.” Many of the items come from the library’s collections or were loaned by members of the community.
To open the exhibit, the library held a joint lecture with Paul Hyer (professor emeritus of Asian studies), Jack Stoneman (associate professor of Japanese literature), and Aaron Skabelund (associate professor of Japanese history). Professor Hyer donated the armor, and professors Skabelund and Stoneman were involved in planning and curating the exhibit.
Hyer – whose suit of samurai armor was previously located on the library’s fourth floor – spoke first. He focused his remarks on the extended history of feudal Japan and its transition into the modern period. As Japan observed European imperialism take root in Asia, Japanese leaders adopted a strategic and intense isolationist policy, which lasted until U.S. commodore Matthew Perry forced the opening of Japan to the West in 1854. This reopening meant the end of the samurai, whose armor, though structurally and effectively superior to European metal armor, had already been rendered obsolete by the rise of firearms.
With the end of isolation came exploratory expeditions into other countries. One group sent abroad landed in Utah, where they were impressed by the Mormon ability to develop desolate terrain and considered employing Mormons to develop Japan’s Hokkaido frontier. Most importantly, Japan became the first non-European country to develop nationalism, becoming dominant among its neighbors, and quickly industrialized.
Hyer was given the samurai armor by Hisao Kimura from the samurai stronghold of Satsuma. Kimura had been a secret agent in Lhasa, Tibet, during Japan’s invasion of the Asian mainland. Hyer was helping him prepare to publish a book on his adventure in Tibet.
Stoneman was next to speak and shared some of the work that went into securing the exhibit’s other items. He paid particular attention to an illustration – an antique copy of the Mogami Screen.
For years, the Mogami Screen has been the subject of debate among scholars, who have disagreed as to the scene being depicted. The most common consensus was that the screen depicted the battle of Osaka, a particularly brutal clash in which unarmored citizens were sent against well-armed samurai. The screen is unique for its honest and graphic portrayal of the brutality of war, and its refusal to glorify any of the battle’s nobility.
Regardless, the debate concerning the screen’s connection to the battle has been inconclusive. That is, until Stoneman found evidence in the form of firsthand accounts found in Collected Illustrations of Banners and Standards (Seiki shūzu, 1800), a book written by Tozawa Morinori and included in the exhibit.
Stoneman asked, “What are the chances that this book, produced in Northern Japan in 1800, and the battle of Osaka painting, produced in Tokyo in the 1840s, and the Tale of Osaka [another exhibit piece], produced in Kyoto in 1672, all so closely knit and mutually enlightening, would come together in an exhibit at BYU in Provo, Utah – 400 years to the very month after the epic battle of Osaka began?” It wasn’t until the acquisition process was underway that Stoneman realized the exhibit would coincide with the battle’s anniversary.
Skabelund closed the lecture by acknowledging the contributions made by BYU students. These students came from Skabelund’s History 343 class and Stoneman’s Japanese 441. The two groups worked together, employing skills learned in their respective classes. For Stoneman’s students, the most important skill was the ability to read and understand sources. For Skabelund’s, it was the ability to understand a source within its greater historical context.
“The students in Jack’s 441 course started the arduous task of preparing materials in Special Collections for display in this exhibit,” Skabelund said. “Seven items were eventually included in the exhibit, all of which required some level of preparation.” Preparation included background research into authors, artists and historical context, as well as transcription of the handwritten characters and translation into English. Skabelund applauded these undergraduate students for rising to the challenge of tasks other universities would reserve for their graduates.
The “Guns, Scrolls, and Swords: Samurai Identities in Early Modern Japan” exhibit will run for one year. For more information about upcoming library events, visit the library website.
—Samuel Wright (B.A. American Studies ’16)
Images courtesy of the Harold B. Lee Library