Samurai exhibition to challenge myths of Japan’s warrior elite at British Museum

By Fatma Zehra Solmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - A major samurai exhibition that aims to rethink “everything we think we know about Japan’s warrior elite” will open at the British Museum in February.

Titled Samurai, the exhibition moves beyond weapons to reveal the deeper culture and legacy of Japan’s warrior class, the Guardian reported Sunday.

The show also highlights that samurai society was not an exclusively male domain, as women were educated, held authority, and at times took up arms.

“This is the first exhibition to tackle the myths. Most of the previous exhibitions have been about the ‘boys’ toys,’ as I call them sometimes, somewhat facetiously – the weapons,” Rosina Buckland, the exhibition’s lead curator, told the Guardian.

Buckland said Japan has hosted exhibitions on the “arts of the samurai,” but much of the subject remains “misunderstood and based on myth.”

“Swords are important, but they are by no means the whole story,” she added. The aim, she said, is to challenge the narrow image of “this male warrior in armor wielding a sword,” which represents only a fraction of their history.

“They were warriors in the beginning,” she said, but their legacy also spans literary and artistic traditions, which she said form “a huge part of the story.”

She noted that rediscovering female samurai history challenges the hypermasculine image reinforced by film, anime and gaming.

Emerging in the 900s as hired fighters for the imperial court, samurai rose to political power by the 1100s. After 1615’s long peace, they became officials, intellectuals and patrons of the arts until their hereditary status was abolished in the late 19th century as Japan modernized.

The exhibition will include more than 280 objects, many shown in the UK for the first time, along with pieces from the British Museum’s own collection.

In addition to weapons, it will feature paintings, prints, books, clothing and ceramics reflecting the craftsmanship of samurai culture. One highlight is a newly acquired suit of armor with a gold-leaf helmet and iris-shaped crest designed to make its wearer unmistakable and intimidating.

Buckland said armor was often reused across generations, combining durable old parts with newly remade elements.

She added that even “samurai” is a foreign-influenced term; historically, warriors were called musha or bushi, while “samurai” originally meant “subordinate” and carried a negative tone.

However, she noted that Japan has adopted certain Western ideas about samurai because they benefit the tourism industry.