Japanese Sword Collecting in America: A Phenomenological and Consumer Culture Approach to Understanding Collecting from 1945 to 2020

Abstract

The Japanese sword is often called the ‘soul of the samurai’ and has come to be a recognizable symbol of Japanese history and culture. The American fascination with Japan began in the late nineteenth century, following the United States’ actions to open the country to Western trade in 1853. This resulted in the exportation of Japanese art and goods and America’s fascination with the ‘exotic’ fueled consumer culture on many levels. Japanese swords and their accompanying fittings were admired and collected by a number of Americans. To this day many reside in the museums to which they were donated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (e.g., the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum). The increased nationalism and militarization of Japan in the early twentieth century culminated in World War II and changed the nature of the relationship between the two countries. The ‘souvenir’ swords that many Allied servicemen brought home with them sparked a collectors’ market in the decades following the war. Through interviews with twenty collectors (ages eighteen to eighty-three) this research seeks to identify why they collect, how they view these swords, and understand what has made the Japanese sword grow as a cultural and collectible icon in America. It also investigates the role of women collectors in a field stereotyped as ‘masculine.’ The principal framework used to analyze Japanese sword collecting from 1945 to 2020 is Merleau-Ponty’s perceptual phenomenology. Merleau-Ponty argued that material culture is an extension of individuals and objects may exert influence over people, just as people influence objects. This idea is supported by the findings of this study, which illustrates that physical exposure to the Japanese sword itself was an important inspiration for new collectors post-World War II. Consumer Culture Theory also provides a framework for understanding how consumer and popular culture evolved over this seventy-five year period to provide alternative entry points for collectors’ interest in Japanese swords to be piqued. Martial arts, movies/TV, books, and anime/manga provided new outlets to learn about the sword and eventually led these individuals to seek out the physical Japanese sword. Perceptual phenomenology and consumer culture share a symbiotic relationship that is cyclical in nature and evolves with time and technology, inspiring new collectors each generation.