NEW YORK, NY.- Bonhams New York will hold the first of a series of sales from The Paul Goodman collection of Japanese arrowheads, swords and fittings on Tuesday, October 20 at 10 a.m.

The Goodman Collection of arrowheads boasts not only extensive variety but also numerous examples of the finest quality, featuring no fewer than seven examples made by the master smith, Umetada Motoshige, as well as what is thought to be the largest arrowhead ever forged in Japan.

Jeff Olson, head of Bonhams’ Japanese department, said, “The collection is not only breath-taking in quantity but also in quality, material and subject matter. It is simply one of the most comprehensive and finest single-owner collections of arrowheads ever to have been offered at auction."

Although the samurai are renowned as swordsmen, it was archery that was considered the highest skill. One of the most celebrated incidents in Japanese history occurred during the Genpei War (1180–1185), at the Battle of Yashima, when the Heike clan, defeated in battle, fled to their boats. Their pursuers, the Genji clan, were halted by the sea. As the Heike attempted to sail away, they hoisted a fan up the mast of one of boat as both a taunt and a challenge to the Genji. One of the Genji samurai, Nasu no Yoichi, won immortality when, accepting the challenge, he rode his horse into the surf, and shot the fan clean through with his first arrow.

Arrows used in war by the samurai featured a variety of tips called yajiri or yanone; these arrowheads were forged using the same steel (tamahagane) and methods as traditional Japanese swords, thus, their survival and desirability to collectors such as the late Paul Goodman. However, as warfare became rarer, arrowheads became pieces of art in their own right—pierced and elaborately chiselled with landscapes, birds, flowers, dragons, and Buddhist divinities—they were created to be admired for the beauty of their metalwork and design, rather than for the purpose of archery.

Goodman’s interest in Japanese arrowheads (yanone), swords and fittings was first sparked when his grandparents returned from a stay in Japan after World War II, bringing back many beautiful pieces. After their deaths, Goodman inherited their collection, which he began to supplement with judicious buys of his own.

Goodman admired yanone due to their unique designs and the formidable challenge of finding examples for his collection. Fine yanone have been prized in the West for generations, and the large early collections in the US are now housed in the Metropolitan Museum. There are many different types of arrowheads and they all have their own distinctive name:

• Togari-Ya referred to a simple pointed design
• The Yanagi-Ba, also known as “Willow-Leaf,” was known for its elegant design
• Karimata have a unique split point, sometimes referred to as “Rope-Cutters”
• The barbed “Flesh-Torn,” was known as Watakushi
• The Tagone-Ya was shaped like a chisel
• Kaburi-Ya was used for signalling and creating fear with the loud whistling noise it would produce. They were also large enough that they could be signed on the tang by the fletcher in the manner of Japanese swords.

View the catalogue online. Auction preview hours (open to the public): Oct 16 from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. EDT; Oct 17 from 12 p.m.–5 p.m. EDT; Oct 18 from 12 p.m.–5 p.m. EDT; Oct 19 from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. EDT.