Customer Reviews

Lethal Elegance: Samurai Sword Fittings

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On top on anything else, this book has the best pictures of japanese sword fittings that I've had the chance to see so far. There are many good close-ups that show well the work done by the craftmen.
Earle goes through explaining the evolution of sword fittings by presenting the influence of History upon the samurai, and their needs.
He also exposes techniques, although not in depth - it is not the purpose of this book - and materials used in the making of the tsuba and other fittings.
I believe he succeeds in bringing the reader to understand the how and the why behind those very impressive works of art.
The works chosen - among the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; probably the greatest collection of japanese swords and sword fittings outside Japan - are just plain divine. The pictures were all taken using digital technology, and -as a photographer - I must say it is above anything I'd have expected from any technology and any subject. A must have for any japanese art/craft/design/sword lover.

Lethal Elegance: The Art Of Samurai Sword Fittings by Joe Earle is an impressive and seminal artbook showcasing 150 rare and beautiful masterwork fittings for Japanese swords. The full-color photographs reveal beauty and exquisite craftsmanship, while the informed and informative text aptly discusses the effects achieved with various alloys, how fitings changed in response to advances in warfare, symbolism, standards, and more. Nearly all the artworks presented were once owned by trained swordsmen, yet their elegance reveals as much of individual style and personality as they do lethal functionalist. Lethal Elegance: The Art Of Samurai Sword Fittings is a truly unique and captivating gallery which is especially commended to the attention of students of Japanese History in general, and samurai culture in particular.

This 256 page-book is, in essence, a catalog of the fittings held (but not on display) by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, acquired during "the craze for sword fittings that swept Europe and America in the closing decades of the nineteenth century" and donated by benefactors such as William Sturgis Bigelow and Charles Goddard Weld. The collection consists mostly of tsuba (sword guards), kozuka (small knife) handles, fuchi/kashira, along with some menuki and some more modern adornments including the occasional netsuke, tobacco pouch, or decorative box. That vast majority were made during the mid 1700's through the late 1800's spanning the Edo and Meiji eras, during a time when sword fittings shifted from simple, iron-based, utilitarian designs to a wide variety of other softer metals richly adorned with artistic scenes of impossible detail.

In fact, this book, written by Joe Earle, the Chair of the Department of Asian Art at the Boston MFA is something more than your average catalog, since the text for each piece while concise holds an abundance of information about the artist, materials, and artistic techniques employed for each piece. Still, the book's real selling point is the wonderful color photography with close up views of the intricate work involved in each piece, some of it accomplished by the artists looking through magnifying glasses. A variety of artistic styles is presented with a few pieces of older iron 'sukashi' (open design) work, a considerable amount of the wonderful 'shakudo nananko' style (with copper based fittings with raised figures and textures embellished with gold and a multitude of tiny "circular granulations" formed by the meticulous handwork of a small hammer/punch) that typified the Goto family during the Edo period, as well as 'katakiri-bori' in which a chisel is used to simulate the brush strokes of a calligrapher's pen. The level of craftsmanship is simply amazing and one marvels that each piece was carefully handcrafted by artists living 200-300 years ago.

I could mention a few particularly noteworthy pieces, but the point of this book is of course to see them. The photography is simply outstanding and no words could do justice to the 150 featured works of art. If you have any interest in nihonto and sword fittings, this is definitely a must have. The only funny thing is that the book's foreward claims that this is part of a larger project to include subsequent books and an online gallery, but already this volume seems to be no longer available on Amazon where it used to sell for $32 and at this moment it's also out of stock at the Boston MFA store. You might want to try to find a copy in case it has gone out of print and already some people are trying to sell it for hundreds of dollars. Yikes! It would be a shame to see what is practically the only English language books on samurai sword fittings go out of publication.

I bought this for a family member who is really into Japanese swords and he loved it .It was well presented, the photos are great and it is full of very precise information.

Being relativelly new to the subject of Japanese swords and fittings I was quite impresse by two things:
- Quality of the pictures
- Description of the items
I think this is worht having for anyone that trully appreciates the japanese swordmanship and art itself.

Very amazing photos, and quality information on each photo and sword. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Excellent book. Some of the best pictures of Samurai sword fittings that you will ever see. Extreme detail and research was done for this book and it shows. If you are a collector of Japanese swords or their fittings,this book is for you. Great read. Highly recommended.

A fantastic book! It offers a wide range of beautiful colour photographs on tsuba, menuki and fuchi/kashira of the prestigious Boston MFA's collection.
Just the book I was looking for!

THIS BOOK IS A MUST HAVE,IF YOU LOVE THE JAPANESE SWORD AND THE SAMURAI.TONS OF BEAUTIFUL PICTURES ALL IN COLOR.TSUBA AND FITTINGS.

This review is a joint effort with Laerte E. Ottaiano
The book is very good . It has a few annoying errors. I give example of two of them: On page 171 there is a tsuba described as "Design of Egret and Crab" . However the Crab is not there . It is on the back of the Tsuba and is relatively ugly in our opinion . On page 193 there is a tsuba described as "Design of deer and the moon". Again the moon can not be seem. It is on the back of the tsuba and is very,very, beautifull. You can check what we told in the book by Ogawa Morihiro on the Boston Collection. The great thing of this book is that it presents a new way to way to apreciate Tsubas.Kinko( as oposed to steel , sukashi tsubas) were underrated in the USA and Canada. Only steel tsubas were considered old and of true use by Samurai.As this book teaches us this is not so. Kinko Tsubas were used by Samurai and Sukashi Steel ( or Iron ) Tsubas are not usualy so old . This came as a great relief for us . We always thought that Kinko tsubas were works of art. It is a grest relieve to find this in this book