We were treated to an excellent preview of the new blockbuster exhibition at the British Museum, Samurai, by Professor Oleg Benesch, Head of the Department of History at the University of York, who has worked with Rosina Buckland of the British Museum to reassess how we perceive these iconic figures. The exhibition has been lauded with 5 star reviews, such as Jonathon Jones writing for The Guardian, and we offer our congratulations to Oleg and Rosina.
Oleg began his talk setting the broader (‘transnational’?) context for samurai, relating them to the romantic knights of yore in the British and European historical tradition. He then went on to bust a few myths (no spoilers here as you will want to see the exhibition yourselves), and ended up with the ways that samurai have been incorporated into modern Japanese (and global) popular culture – it is perhaps no secret that the exhibition also features the menacing outfit worn by Darth Vader from George Lucas’ Star Wars films, all heavily influenced by Japanese historical design.
Oleg’s talk was a welcome and worthy successor to our 2018 Ishibashi Lecture Series on Blades, Bushi and Benkei: weapons and warfare in premodern Japan, when Professors Mickey Adolphson and Karl Friday presented their own reassessments of the samurai trope. These talks are available to watch here and informed the subsequent publication arising from those talks.
The suit of samurai armour that inhabits the central part of the Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries at the British Museum has long been one of the most popular exhibits there – and this exhibition will doubtless further fuel interest in the samurai and Japan’s warrior culture. Before the talk, I was able to take Oleg into our own beautifully restored and recently re-opened Norwich Castle Keep, which has its own set of samurai armour, researched a decade ago by the late former Keeper of the Department of Japanese Antiquities, Victor Harris, himself a formidable practitioner of kenjutsu, or the arts of the sword, and Dr Sam Nixon, who is now in charge of the African collections at the British Museum. Further information on the Japanese collections at Norwich Castle can be found here.
Samurai is currently open at the British Museum until 4th May. I suspect it will merit repeat visits.
Professor Simon Kaner
Executive Director
