Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG
03 February – 04 May 2026
The word samurai comes from the Japanese verb ‘to serve’. This exhibition, bringing together 280 exhibits, traces the evolution of the samurai image and myths. The exhibition includes not only the expected exquisite armour and weaponry, but also ceramics, prints, paintings, books and clothing. It follows the samurai into manga, video games, television and film. We discover that women could be samurai too, including rare examples of women on the battlefield.
Suit of armour, entrance to the Samurai exhibition.
Suit of armour, metal, lacquer and silk. Made about 1570, assembled about 1610, restored 1970s, Japan. A gift, intended for King James V1, as a symbol of Japan’s strength, from Tokugawa Hidetada.
Samurai, exhibition ‘main street’.
Palanquin. Wood, lacquer, gold, gilt-bronze and textile, 1700-1900, Japan. High ranking women were carried around town in a palanquin. Around fifty percent of Samurai families, who consisted of about ten percent of the population, were women.
Tsukioka Settei (1726-86), Women’s Elegant Bravery Compared, Woodblock- printed book, 1757, Japan. This book depicts Minazura using a naginata, a weapon famously used by female warriors.
Business dress. Jacket and trousers, hemp and silk, 1800-68, Japan. This was formal clothing for men in peace time, all parts decorated with the family crest.
Chobunsai Eishi (1756-1829), Handscroll painting, ink and colour on silk, 1790-1800, Japan. Eishi was a samurai artist who specialised in paintings of beautiful women. This sensual piece depicts two servants eavesdropping.
Utagawa Hiroshige 11 (1826-69) Procession at Nihon-basjhi in the Eastern Capital, Colour woodblock, 1863, Japan. The shogun lemochi leading several thousand men across a bridge, heading to Kyoto to discuss with the government how to expel the Americans and Europeans.
Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-89) Takanawa on the Tokaido, Colour woodblock print, 1863, Japan. The shogun departing Edo in 1863.
1869, The Samurai Class is Abolished.
Noguchi Tetsuya (born 1980), Duck and Man, Mixed media sculpture, 2025, Japan. This work was created for the exhibition by Noguchi Tetsuya, transferring a samurai into the present day.
Tenmyouya Hisashi (born 1966), Football Poster, 2006 (original painted in 2004), Japan. A commissioned piece for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, combining traditional Japanese painting with modern imagery, a style he calls ‘neo-Nihonga’ or ‘new Japanese-style’.
John Mollo and Aggie Guerard Rodgere, Darth Vader costume. Wool, leather, fibreglass, plastic, cotton, metal, tape, paint and rubber. About 1976-83, USA. George Lucas was inspired by samurai armour for Darth Vader’s helmet, and the plot of the original Star Wars film was based loosely on the Kurosawa Akira film Hidden Fortress.
