When we talk about European’s history, we will remember about The Renaissance. What is actually the Renaissance? Why is it so significant to so many people in European? The Renaissance was an intense period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic “rebirth” after the Middle Ages. The Renaissance took place from the 14^th century to the 17^th century where the Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature and art. There are a few countries that are influenced by The Renaissance. In this section we focus on The Renaissance in French. As we know, European is famous for artefacts sculpture. There was a famous sculpture known as The Resurrection in the history of the Renaissance in French.

The history of the sculpture begins when Catherine de Médicis, the widow of King Henry II of France, had a luxurious circular funerary chapel built on one side of the basilica of Saint-Denis where the Kings of France is buried. The Rotonda, which began around 1560 and was delayed due to civil war and lack of funds, remained unfinished. What is The Rotunda? The Rotunda was a monument built by the queen mother (Catherine de Médicis). The monument was built within the confines of the abbey cemetery and was intended to house the tombs of the Valois dynasty. It was demolished in 1719 because it was in danger of collapsing. Supervised by Francesco Primaticio, a renowned painter and sculptor who was appointed to be a director of the royal tombs by the queen, Germain Pilon was entrusted with the task of carrying out the royal tomb, as well as several sculptures, including the Resurrection.

Figure 1 shows the two Roman soldiers fell to the ground in awe at the sight of the resurrected Christ. With his head bent at a slight angle and his eyes lowered, this athletic-looking, muscular-legged Christ appears to be rising up into the sky. The picture tells us that the group which refers to the two Roman soldiers was commissioned by Queen Catherine de Médicis for the Chapel of Valois, which the Queen had built in the abbey of Saint-Denis, but it never left the sculptor's studio during his life.

The figure was thrust upwards, as if the body were weightless, which the argument was based on a justifiable impression since the figure is the glorious body of Christ ascending into heaven. Besides, the position of the body where the body bust pushed forward, head bent, lowered gaze, which emphasizes the rise of Christ appears to be leaning forward to bless mankind who must remain on earth.

The history of Japanese Samurai has always been fascinating for many, especially with those cool fighting scenes with swinging swords that sparked intense emotions among many Japanese culture enthusiasts. But little do we know that each of the swords that the Samurai held was unique on their own, from having official certificates from the Society for the Preservation of the Japan Art Sword (Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai), an organization remitted by the Japanese government for screening and certifying judgements onto Japanese swords, to being recognized with full name complete with last and first name, sometimes even with honourable titles (Yes, some swords in Japan have better social status than us). The history of Japanese swords can be traced back to the 8th century. Nonetheless, the specific sword that will be the spotlight in this article is a type of Japanese sword called Uchigatana. Uchigatana comes from the Japanese word 打刀（うち がたな） means “sword to strike with”. Izuminokami Kanesada, or 和泉守兼定（いずみのかみ かねさだ）which shares the name of the smith who forged it is currently a part of Hijikata Toshizo Museum collection. Despite it currently being housed in a museum, not everyone who visits the museum gets to see it. Izuminokami only goes onto the display on special occasions, such as the anniversary of Hijikata Toshizo’s passing (which is on the 11th of May every year).

At 70.3 centimetres long, Izuminokami Kanesada was around the average size for uchigatana of the late Edo period (Willing, 2020). It is a sword, also an artefact noteworthy by the future generations not only because of its significance as physical evidence of the samurai history in Japan, but it is also due to its deceased master, Hijikata Toshizo. Hijikata Toshizo　（土方歳三） was the vice Commander of Shinsengumi, a vicious samurai who resisted the Meiji restoration during the 18th century. More importantly, he was a symbolic representation of the last generation of Japanese samurai （最後のサムライ）. Samurai performed military service before the concept of “police” or “private security” exist in Japan during the times of warfare. They were a class of warriors arose in the 10th century CE and their existence slowly died out in the 19th century (Cartwright, 2019). People, especially the rich ones, usually hire these warriors as protection. Eventually, after the restoration of the Meiji government, all Japanese, including samurai were prohibited from weapons, especially swords, possession through the enact of Sword Abolishment Edict（廃刀令）in 1876 (Japan’s Samurai Revolution, n.d.). Since then, the importance of samurai and local armies was greatly reduced following the stabilising policies of the Tokugawa Shogunate which brought relative peace across Japan (Cartwright, 2019).

In the year 1863, the government, or Bakufu （幕府）set up Shinsengumi as the special police force to maintain the discipline in Japan, mainly in Edo¹ where the Tokugawa shogunate resides. Shinsengumi lasted for 6 years before the abdication of the Tokugawa Shogun to the emperor². Izuminokami Kanesada has accompanied its owner throughout his years as a Vice Commander of the Shinsengumi. The various nicks and scratches on the blade are the signs of their battles when Hijikata fought fiercely to protect his homeland from extremists and outsiders (Willing, 2020), including few well-known battles such as the Ikedaya Incident and the Boshin war. The end of the Boshin war marked the end of the Shogunate era³. As Hijikata’s nickname of “Demon Vice Commander”（鬼の副長）indicated, he was a ferocious warrior, a reliable comrade, and a proud samurai. He held onto his Bushido⁴ alongside his comrades, fought as furious as a lion, charging towards enemies with Izuminokami Kanesada fearlessly, until the last moment of his 34 years of life. “...Hijikata Toshizo, who had been present at the formation of the Shinsengumi, was destinated to die in its final combat.” “...The last stand of the Shinsengumi took place at Hakodate, Where Hijikata led sword charges against the besiegers camp. With the city surrounded on all sides, Hijikata left the Goryokaku fortress after composing a farewell poem, and was shot dead while on horseback as he led his troops into battle like a samurai of old.” (Turnbull, p192, 2008).

Note:

¹ Edo or Edogawa（江戸川）, was the capital of Japan before 1868, which is now currently known as Tokyo.

² In Japan, the emperor （天皇）is the head of the state of Japan, to understand it in Malaysian’s context, you can see him as the Agung. During the 18th century, Tokugawa Shogunate once overpowered the Meiji emperor and took over Japan. After many years of war and negotiations, the Tokugawa gave in during 1868. The return of power to the emperor is called “Meiji Restoration”.

³ Boshin war（戊辰戦争） is a battle between the ruling power of Tokugawa Shogunate (i.e. Shinsengumi) and those who wanted to overthrow shogun for the restoration of the Imperial Court’s political power. It lasted from 1868 to 1869. The Tokugawa Shogunate was defeated, hence the Meiji Restoration comes after that.

⁴ The Bushido or shido, meaning the 'way of the warrior,' is the famous warrior code of the samurai, but it was only compiled in the late 17th century CE by the scholar Yamago Soko (1622-1685 CE) (Cartwright, 2019)