Samurai Exhibition at the British Museum

"Visitors to the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum, expecting to see a fearsome collection of armour, swords, knives and other implements of warfare, bloody scenes of battle and death and destruction, won't be disappointed. Yet this magnificent exhibition is so much more, delivering a myth-busting, eye-opening panoramic view of the life of Japan's legendary warrior class that is a complete revelation."

"Who of us knew that many of the Samurai were women, or that they were also bureaucrats and government officials, or that they were diplomats and artists and scholars, and that they liked mastering the art of making tea yes, tea or that they lived in comparative peace for a considerable length of time? I certainly didn't. While the Samurai are among our most enduring and powerful images of Japanese culture, our knowledge of them has been limited."

Samurai originated in the mid-900s as mercenaries serving the aristocracy and later became the ruling warrior class under a shogunate established in 1185 that governed through 1570. Many samurai served multiple roles beyond combat, including bureaucrats, government officials, diplomats, artists and scholars; women also served as samurai and practitioners. Samurai culture combined martial skill with refined arts, such as the tea ceremony, and produced extraordinary artefacts: armour, swords, firearms, bows, saddles, lacquerwork, silk garments, scrolls, paintings, ceramics and objects demonstrating remarkable craftsmanship and aesthetic sophistication.

Read at www.london-unattached.com