Japanese swords on display at Lentz Gallery The Lentz Center for Asian Culture's winter exhibition is Steel Art: Japanese Swords from the Collection of Professor Peter Bleed, Ph.D. The show runs Feb. 15 through May 8. An opening reception, free and open to the public, will be from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 19.
Sword guards are featured in the collection.
Bleed is an associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of anthropology. He has studied Japan since his graduate school days at the University of Wisconsin when he wrote his dissertation on early Japanese ceramics. His studies have included numerous visits to Japan. Well known as a sword collector, Bleed has not shown his swords at the Lentz Center for more than a decade. During that time he has added to the collection. The exhibition will include a sword from the Han Dynasty in China (206 BCE-222 AD) and one from the Nara Period in Japan (645-749 AD). Most of the swords are from the 17th and 18th centuries. The collection includes long and short swords, various types of blades, fittings and tsubas (sword guards). A samurai helmet and matchlock pistols will also be on display. Other relevant objects from the Lentz collections will be on exhibition as well. Bleed aided Donald and Velma Lentz in their founding and early management of the Lentz Center for Asian Culture and is a member of the Center's Policy Advisory Board. The Lentz Center is located in the lower level of the Hewit Place at 1155 Q St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturdays and 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sundays. It is closed Mondays. For more information, visit the web site at www.unl.edu/lentz.
