In Japan, the sword has long been regarded as the “soul of the samurai,” and the utmost care was lavished on its manufacture and decoration. The MFA owns more than one hundred outstanding blades dating from the eleventh to the nineteenth century, as well as several thousand sword fittings and a number of fine suits of armour.
Snowflakes Japanese, late 16th–early17th century Denman Waldo Ross Collection 06.233
Hitotsuyanagi Tomoyoshi VII, Japanese, 1846–1922 Metal Ornament in the Form of a Hakutaku Charles Goddard Weld Collection 11.5310
