Further Media
Producer unknown to us
Short sword (Wakizashi)
Asia, Japan
Prior to 1882
Steel, forged
Heinrich Botho Scheube (doctor, lecturer)
Purchased by the museum from Scheube in 1909
OAs 04908 a-c
In feudal Japan, the single-edged shortsword was a weapon of status, carried mainly by samurai, but also by respected and wealthy citizens. It was complemented by a smaller knife (Kogatana) that was holstered in the scabbard of the sword.
The Botho Scheube Collection is an especially comprehensive private collection of nearly 700 objects that their original owner amassed during his time as a physician and lecturer at the Kyoto Medical School from 1877 to 1881.
He entrusted the collection to the museum for occasional exhibitions in 1891. Afterward, it took the museum 18 years to acquire the collection with the help of the citizens of Leipzig.
Dietmar Grundmann