Samurai

For Japan’s warriors, prowess on the battlefield was matched by an acute aesthetic sensibility. Samurai presents the art and ethos of this warrior culture. From the austerity of lacquer and tea bowls to the opulence of golden screens and armour, this exhibition demonstrates how the ethos and tastes of the Samurai (a military elite whose name means ‘one who serves’) permeated every aspect of Japanese art and culture from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries.