I had a strange experience this weekend. lexica510's folks invited us to go to the SF Asian Art Museum to see the Lords of the Samurai exhibit. Several of my friends have already gone, and had a great time. I was looking forward to this, not in the least bit because that's not an inexpensive museum to get into, so going as a member's guest was the only way I was going in the front door (been through the servant's entrance loading dock more than a few times), to say nothing of getting into the special exhibits.

Yeah, yeah, first Sunday is free, but grinding through space, cramped up against the sweaty human tide is great when there's a pounding dance beat, sub-optimal for museum viewing.

High level summary was that I was almost completely unmoved by the experience. This surprised me to no end.

I thought the fact that the exhibit was made up not only of national treasures from the Samurai era, but that almost all of it came from one (still existing) family's collection, would be extra cool points. The old family castle has been turned into a museum.

Nothing.

The artifacts in the in the temperature-controlled glass cases were exactly like every book/website/historical source I'd ever read on the Samurai said they would be. They looks just like the detailed drawings and descriptions.

Yeah, great. Reality confirms that the authors weren't lying or insane. But that's all I felt. Some of these things are so fragile and old that they can only be on display for part of the stay at the AAM, before being rotated out for other items. Did we really need to truck them all the way to SF just so that people could look at them up close?

Miyamoto Musashi, possibly the best known samurai in all of Japanese history was, late in life, a retainer of the Hosokawa family. That fact was fascinating to me. There was a pair of wooden bokken, possibly carved by the hand of Musashi himself on display.

All I could think was I can get a polypropylene bokken from Cold Steel that doesn't need to be stored in a temperature controlled glass box, and which I can train with and not worry about destroying cultural heritage in the process.

Musashi (or whoever) didn't carve those wooden sword to be a work of art, they were tools to teach swordsmanship. Physically, they were indistinguishable from the $20 bokken in the gift store, lack of nicks and dings from use included. This was not the pair of bokken Musashi supposedly defeated sword-armed enemies with.

But the ones on display had a story behind them. I wanted to reach out and swing them and smack them against someone else's wooden sword because that's what they were meant to do.

There was copy of Musashi's Book for Five Rings scrolls, supposedly copied down by Musashi's student (the originals are lost). I have a paperback copy that won't piss millions of ¥en down the drain if I throw it in my backpack and spill coffee on it. It's also conveniently translated into English, a language I can read.

Musashi's teachings are alive (to me) in the paperback. I don't read Japanese, and can't carry an ancient scroll on BART. I felt nothing looking at it.

There was a teacup made by the hand of master *SOMETHING*-san. Probably hadn't had warm tea in it for hundreds of years.

I've grown up watching Samurai movies most of my life. I saw Seven Samurai and Yojimbo long before I saw The Magnificent Seven or For A Few Dollars More. Lone Wolf & Cub is a freakin' masterpiece (as well as meticulously researched). But seeing the actual artifacts...

They were just things. Old, well-made, well-preserved things.

I thought they would move me. They didn't, though the ideas behind them still do. At least nobody paid extra for me to discover that.

Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the maintainance of fire
-Gustave Mahler

Previously in O,DIKTO?:

-Bartender-of-Fortune: Working the Museum Circuit

-Sci-fi geeks: we know the future

-Tokyo-Dance Trooper

-Most. Fucked-up. Candy. EVAR!

So I mentioned in my Amgen Tour of California '08 write-up about the techno version of the "Star Wars Imperial March" being more than I could stand, day after day.

So now, for your viewing pleasure edification sins finger to make clickety-click with, I present Tokyo Dance Trooper

"Shibuya"


"Akihabara"


"Dance Vader"


Previously in O,DIKTO:
-Tom & Jerry: Gettin' Medieval On Each Other
-Need more tall, black cowboys making music in your life?
-How do you take your ice?
-Bartender of Fortune: Dancing the night away

Armor for cats and mice.

SO MUCH FUCKING WIN! Big props on out to Lexi for hipping her monkey to this badasstacularity.