Helen Cowen Gunsaulus (1886–1954)

Helen C. Gunsaulus Assistant Curator of Japanese Ethnology, Berthold Laufer Curator of Anthropology from preface In June, 1916, Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus presented to Field Museum of Natual History a collection of 919 Japanese sword-mount, among these 746 sword-guards adn 1732 examles of sword-furniture. The mucleus of this collection had been formed aby Edward Greey, who firs visited Japan in 1854, completing his collection in 1886. In course of time, other specimens were added by Dr. Gunsaulus from such notable collections as that of Alfred Beit of London and Justus Brinkmann of Hamburg. Dr. Gunsaulus' valuable gift to the Museum was accompanied by 1,793 negatives of sword-guards (the obverse and reverse of each having been taken), a catalogue in manuscript prepared by his daughter, Miss Helen C. Gunsaulus, after many years of earnest study of the subject, as well as by a fine series of books pertaining to Japanese arts. In 1917 the entire collection of sword-fittings was placed on exhibition in the old museum building, arranged in two cases on narrow shelves in such a manner that each object culd be plainly viewed and studied from both sides. This is essential, as the majoritiy of swordguards are decorated or inscribed on both the obverse and reverse. In 1919, Miss Helen C. Gunsaulus was appointed assistant curator of Japanese ehtnology in this Museum, and revised completely the catalogue of the sword-fittings. She devoted more than two years to a thorough study of the entire subject, the results of whch are embodied in this publication. The collection is now re-installed in Frank W. Gunsaulus Hall, which was opened on the 5th of August, 1922. A selective method has been adopted, only 228 guards and 118 smaller mounts having been chosen for exhibition. The remainder of the collectin has been classified and depositied in a cabinet in office 51 on the third floor, where it is available for students. Despite the important contributions which have been made ot this subject by such able students as the late Marquis de Tressan and Henri Joly, it is hoped that this volume, by its compact and critical presentation of the material at hand and the addition of novel information in respect to the metal craftsmen, will prove of interest and make an appeal to the students of Japan, as well as the enthnologists and folklorists in general. The signatures appearing on the sword-mounts, names of artists, families, and localities, have been arranged in an alphabetical index with Chinese characters. It is hoped that this index will be a useful and convenient insturmentality to the reader and to those who may be endeavoring to catalogue or arrange for exhibition purposes examples of this craft. The illustartions are all selected from specimens in the Gunsaulus collection, with the exception of those reproduced in Plates I and II, for which credit is due the the Brooklyn Insitute Museum, Brooklyn, and teh Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It is a matter of profoung regret that Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, who make this collefctin and followed with keen interst eavery step make in the prog4resss of its study, has not beeen allowed to live to see this work completed.-B. Laufer Contents Preface List of Plates Introduction I. Early types of swords, ken and tachi; The court sword and its fittings II. The dai-sho: katana and wakizashi; Small swords and daggers; Nomenclature of te fittings and alloys used for mouknts on the dai-sho III. Tsuba of swordsmiths and armorers, Kanayama and Shingen tsuba IV. Kaneiye and Myochin Nobuiye and his followers V. Early inlays: Onin, Fushimi, Yoshiro, Tempo, Heianjo, Kaga, Gomoku-Zogan, Shoami, and Awa VI. The sixteen masters of teh Goto School and their followers VII. The Umetada familky; The Ito school VIII. Froeigh nfluence illsutrated in the Hirado, Namban, and Hizen tsuba; Jakushi and Soten of Hikone IX. Higo, Akasaka, sunagawa, Akao, and Satsuma tsuba; Kinai of Echizen X. The Nara and Hamano schools; Iwama Masayoshi and his followers XI. The schools of Bushu and Choshu; Tetsugendo artists XII. The Yokoya school and its subsidiary branches: the Iwamoto, Yanagawa, Sano, and Inagawa families XIII. The Omori and Ishiguro schools XIV. The Ichinomiya school and Hosono Masamori of Kyoto; Skumizogan, Guribori, Murakami and Enamels XV. The schools of Mito; The Tamagawa familky XVI. The Uchikoshi and Tanaka schools; The Sonobe familky XVII. The Otsuki school; Haruaki Hogen XVIII. Goto Ichijo and his pupils Appendix; Observations on teh restoration of patina by Henry W. Nichols List of Signatures on sword mounts General Index… (altro)

Free ebook from https://archive.org/details/japanesecostume00guns Retr. 2017 May

A public-domain (and therefore, downloadable) reference concerning traditional Japanese clothing. Written in the early 20th century, its focus is on the (then-current) traditional kimono worn by common folk- however, it affords copious room and detail to traditional court costumes and accessories dating fro the Heian era. The book covers many of the details kimono enthusiasts take for granted- such as the sleeve tucks in young girls' kimono- and therefore provides an easily-cited reference source for writing papers and website references on the topic of wafuku (traditional Japanese clothing.)[return][return]And you can't beat the price: if you're willing to search online for the title and read an ebook version of it, this public-domain reference is free! Highly recommended for anyone from SCA-JML or IGF (you know who you are!)… (altro)

A public-domain (and therefore, downloadable) reference concerning traditional Japanese clothing. Written in the early 20th century, its focus is on the (then-current) traditional kimono worn by common folk- however, it affords copious room and detail to traditional court costumes and accessories dating fro the Heian era. The book covers many of the details kimono enthusiasts take for granted- such as the sleeve tucks in young girls' kimono- and therefore provides an easily-cited reference source for writing papers and website references on the topic of wafuku (traditional Japanese clothing.)[return][return]And you can't beat the price: if you're willing to search online for the title and read an ebook version of it, this public-domain reference is free! Highly recommended for anyone from SCA-JML or IGF (you know who you are!)… (altro)

This is a collectors pamphlet. It's not particularly interesting nor does it have much in the way of photographs which in MY library counts for A LOT since my library is exclusively related to textile arts which is VISUAL. I like lots of picture in my books since as we know a picture is worth 1000 words.
It's hard for me not to give all my books 5 stars because I love them all, but I consider this an artifact more than anything else and I am pleased to have procured it but I didn't want to mislead other folks about this so I give it 3 stars.… (altro)