"The show, simply titled " Samurai," dives into the myth of the samurai and how it came to be, to teach viewers how this fierce warrior class emerged during the early medieval period in the 1100s and evolved over the next few centuries to become an elite class of bureaucrats. The exhibition also examines portrayals of samurai in modern-day popular culture, and how that compares to reality. Yes, the samurai started out as fierce fighters, but their identity is much more complex than that."
"The emergence of women samurai came later, after 1615, during Japan's peaceful Edo period. (Wealthy households often hired samurai as private security at that time, and they also became government officials and scholars.) The women samurai didn't fight, but were considered samurai nonetheless. "So we show a samurai in normal everyday clothing like a business suit. We show them that there are women."
The British Museum is hosting a major samurai exhibition that challenges common myths and traces samurai origins to the early medieval period in the 1100s. The display explains how samurai evolved from fierce fighters into an elite bureaucratic class over subsequent centuries. The exhibition highlights that after 1615, during the peaceful Edo period, half of the samurai class were women who held samurai status but typically did not fight. Wealthy households employed samurai as security, and many served as officials and scholars. Curatorial displays include everyday clothing, women's robes, dressing sets, mirrors, and etiquette manuals. The show also compares cinematic and pop-culture portrayals with historical reality.
Read at Artnet News
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