Just to present an opposing (and perhaps heartening?) view:
About a 20 years ago, I attended a touring exhibition put on by an armoury from either Switzerland or Austria (the details have slipped my mind--argh!). It was gorgeous, weaponry from the late Medieval/early Renaissance, well-displayed and dazzlingly curated.
Given the fascination with heroic movies (Lord of the Rings, Last Samurai, Matrix, Blade, etc), I think it's pretty goofy that no one is out there trying to set up a touring exhibition.
No one, by the way, includes us. While we obviously don't have the old European weapons to hand, some of the UK museums do, and perhaps it's time that they set up and sent out a touring company to show something like, "the evolution of the western sword."
Simply with our own resources from this board, we could probably mount an exhibition of "the Tao of the Dao (Dha, Dharb, daab, tao, to)" talking about the multifarious (possibly infamous) ways that single-edged blades have been built in Asia, how they spread, bred, and were adapted to local conditions, from 18th century weapons of conquest, to 20th century tourist items and martial arts toys, to farmer's tools throughout SE Asia.
I fully agree with the complaints that everyone's voiced. The question is: can we do something about it?
Fearn
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